Question
THE FAITH OF ABEL
Genesis 4:1-26
Key Verse: Hebrews 11:4
** By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice
1. Read vs.1-4a and describe the difference between the offering brought by Cain and the one brought by Abel. Hebrews 11:4a says that Abel's offering is better than Cain’s. In what way is it? Why is it not always easy to bring “to the Lord” what you “earned” as a “sacrifice” to the Lord? Yet, we are told that Abel was able to offer God a better sacrifice “by faith.” What does “by faith” mean? What can we learn from Abel?
** By faith he was commended as a righteous man
2. Read vs. 4b-5a and compare this passage with Hebrews 11:4b. What do the expressions “Abel and his offering” and “Cain and his offering” indicate about the relationship between the one that offers and the offering he brings? Why is it significant for the Lord to look upon one and one’s offering with “favor” or commend anyone as a “righteous” man?
3. Consider the meaning of Hebrew 11:4b again. What does “by faith” show about the way for one to secure a “righteous” standing before the Lord?
** By faith he still speaks
4. Read vs. 5b-24. How did Cain fare in terms of his relationship with: 1) the Lord; and 2) his neighbors? What does this show us about the kind of fruit his life bore? Why did he end up living this way? In what respect do many still walk in the way of Cain?
5. Read vs. 25-26 along with Hebrews 11:4c. What is the significance of men beginning to call on the name of the Lord? Physically Abel is dead. Yet, Hebrews 11:4c says, “By faith he still speaks.” What does Abel’s example tell us about the work of faith?
Manuscript
Message
THE FAITH OF ABELPRIVATE
Genesis 4:1-26
Key Verse Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
Last Sunday we studied Mark 11:22, in which Jesus taught his disciples to have faith in God. Jesus taught us the faith that can accomplish what is impossible on our own. With human abilities we can accomplish many things. But we cannot overcome our sinful nature. By faith in God we can overcome the sinful nature and develop a godly character.
In today’s passage, Abel set a good example of faith. By faith he overcame himself and the world. Through the victory in faith, he got his name at the top of the list of the heroes of faith recorded in Hebrews 11. Let us see how he did it.
I. By faith he offered a better sacrifice
The Lord God created a beautiful universe. He made the earth harmonious. He made the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve. In the Garden of Eden they could have enjoyed a blessed life with the blessed Lord for all eternity.
But one day, through temptation by a serpent, the agent of the devil, Adam and Eve lost faith in the Lord. Doubt about God’s love arose in them. They ate the forbidden fruit. They broke God's command. Then they found themselves to be no good. Misery then began.
Despite their unfaithfulness, however, the Lord God did not give up on them. Rather, in his tender mercy, God provided Adam and Eve with a way for their sins to be forgiven. The Lord gave them the way to overcome their sin problem, come back to him, and continue to have fellowship with Him. How did he do this? The means for them to come back to the Lord did not rest on man's merits. Rather, it rested on man's faith in the Lord. The solution to man's problem is always compatible with the way in which the problem developed. Man fell into trouble because of his loss of faith in the Lord. The solution was found in the recovery of faith in the Lord. Hebrews 11:4 says that by faith Abel approached God and recovered a blessed relationship with the Lord.
At first it sounds easy for one to have faith in the Lord's perfect goodness and remain in fellowship with Him in a perfectly harmonious way. But in actuality, it is not as easy as it seems. In fact it requires a lot of struggling on our part, particularly the struggle to overcome all obstacles that stand in the way of our coming to the Lord.
What stands in the way? There are many things. But in view of the way in which the Lord God trains his children, like Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, we can see that the first stumbling block is materialism. What is materialism? It is to put created things above God. It is to put money before God. It is man’s worship of material things rather than God. In today’s passage, Abel overcomes the power of materialism.
How did he do it? Let us open the Bible to Genesis 4 and read verses 1-4. “Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.’ Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering.”
Hebrews 11:4 says that Abel brought to the Lord a better sacrifice than Cain did. Here a “better sacrifice,” especially the word “sacrifice,” indicates that unlike Cain, Abel won a clear-cut victory over the power of materialism. He sacrificed the best of his best for the sake of worshiping God.
Money can be useful. It has its own purpose. What is money's purpose? Genesis teaches us that the material world was made to be the environment for man. It is to remain subservient to man’s need. Its purpose then is to serve man. So, man's position is above materials but below God. The world was made for the glory of God. Man was made to rule over and manage the world. So we have a three-tiered order: God first, man second and the world third. This order puts money in the right perspective. Money is to serve man who serves God.
With this in mind let us now put into perspective what Abel did. What did he do? He brought to the Lord a better sacrifice. That is, he brought fat portions of the firstborn. He brought to God the best of the best. This is a classic example of overcoming materialism. It is a Biblical example of the right use of money.
With money you can open a liquor store. With money you can build a church. With money some people make movies that promote evil. With money some make spiritual movies like The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson is from Australia. He lives not far from Melbourne. He used $50 million of his own money to make The Passion of the Christ.
In this materialistic society, it is not easy to sacrifice money for God's glory. Of course some do sacrifice money for Gods' purpose, but not as wholeheartedly and sincerely as Abel did. Some are willing to sacrifice their leftover money. But Abel did not do so. He brought to God what is best. He is like a man who, after getting a job, brings to God all of his first month's paycheck.
I have a friend who is familiar with Hasidic Judaism. He shared this with me: in Jewish tradition, if anyone is to be regarded as “sacrificial” to the Lord in making material offerings, the minimum percentage will have to be 47%! There is no law in the Bible that demands that you must pay 47% of your gross income as an offering to the Lord. But still some do. In Jesus’ day there was a poor widow who brought not only 47% but 100% to the Lord's temple. While some rich people were throwing big piles of leftover money into the offering box, she donated two pennies, all she had to live on. Jesus was so moved by what she had done that Jesus told his disciples about it and commended her faith. There is no law that says you have to make offerings of all you have to live on. But God wants us to offer willingly by faith what we have. Students don’t have much money. But they have time and youthful energy. In fact these things are more precious than money. Shepherd Jay Irwin set a good example. Although he was financially strapped, in order to serve the Lord’s world mission purpose, he took many days off, went to Bolivia, and served Bolivian students. And he did it by faith.
In today’s materialistic society it is not easy for us to bring a better sacrifice to the Lord. And I do not think that the situation was any easier for Abel or Cain. Having been recently evicted from the Garden of Eden, Abel’s life as a shepherd was not as prosperous as we might think. Like many of us, living in a cursed world, he had to work hard to keep the flocks and get them to multiply. Yet, when the first lambs were born, the first thing he did was to bring some of the best ones to the Lord. He kept his priorities straight. He expressed his thanks first to God.
Then the question becomes this: How did he do it? The answer is clear: He did it by faith. What then do we mean by faith? What did he believe about the Lord that Cain didn't? Well, it is anyone's guess. But we find a clue in Hebrews 11:1-3. Let us open the Bible, look for this passage and read it. Here, Abel saw the invisible God. He also believed in God, who created the universe and everything in it. This faith sounds simple and easy enough for everyone to understand. But in reality few people believe and practically live by this faith. For example, suppose your boss pays you $10,000 a month as a salary. To earn this much money, maybe you had to work hard. You might have even worked overtime, sacrificing your weekends. You also might have spent sleepless nights to earn that much money. Suppose God says out of the blue in a thunderous voice, “Hey, I know you just deposited your paycheck into your bank account. Why don’t you make an offering of $2,000?” What will you say? Probably, you will be tempted to say, “Who, me? Are you talking to me? Who are you? This is my money. Why do I have to give it to you?” But, if indeed God is the Creator of everything, simple logic says that “There is nothing we can claim as our own: everything belongs to God.” Even what you worked for and what you earned is not yours. God made you in such a way that you are able to earn what you have earned. So who are you to talk back to God, saying, “Who are you?”
Indeed, Abel had creation faith. By faith he understood that all material earnings, like the fat portions of the firstborn, come from God. Then he was deeply thankful to God. And he offered it by faith in the Lord who provided him with all that is good. And as he brought what he brought, perhaps he felt sorry for not being able to bring more.
But this is not the real point of the message. What is the real point of the message? The real point is that Abel himself was greatly blessed by his act of faith. Abel set the correct spiritual order: God first, man second, and material third. In doing so he prepared the environment for God's absolute blessings to thrive in his life and in the lives of many through him. This is the beauty of Abel's sacrifice. Let us never misunderstand. Although money is morally neutral, it is so attractive that many fall victim to the love of money. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” In this materialistic society so many people are addicted to money. Because they are hooked on it, it is hard to say who the boss is: money or man? But by faith Abel conquered materialism. He kept money in the right place by positively dedicating the best part of his possessions to God! And he did it by faith in the Lord!
II. By faith he was commended as a righteous man
Another victory Abel achieved through his faith in the Lord is the victory over his sinful self. Then the tree of his faith bore a beautiful fruit: a righteous standing before God.
Since the fall, man's relationship with the Lord has been broken. This is the tragedy of tragedies. Since the fall, man started to hate himself. This hatred expresses itself in many ways: a sense of guilt, fits of anger, depression, and so on. Sin causes man to malfunction in all faculties of his existence. His spirit becomes warped. His way of thinking goes crooked. His emotion, will power, and intellect start operating in a disorderly manner. His eyes, particularly spiritual eyes, start seeing in a distorted way. His tongue gets sharp. His view of God, men, and nature turns corrupt. In this way, all faculties of his life, including imaginative and illuminative functions, go awry. The Bible has a simple way to label these symptoms. Romans 3:23 says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
The most tragic consequence of man's fall is man’s inclination to unplug himself from his relationship with the Lord and run away from the Lord. Sinful man keeps hiding from the Lord’s presence. Although the Lord keeps extending his hand of invitation, man keeps distancing himself from the Lord. This is what we see happening in the life of Adam and his descendants.
But Abel overcame this sinful nature. Abel rather was commended by God as a righteous man. The word “righteous” means to be right with God. It refers to the standing of a man who can approach God without shame or guilt. The Bible says that God is surrounded by inapproachable light. He is too holy for anyone to even consider exposing oneself to his presence. But Abel got himself qualified for fellowship with the Lord. Between God and Abel, there was no separation. When you think about it, this righteous standing is the foundation of all the blessings from God – the joy of life, the sense of wholesomeness, peace flowing like river, and much more. God is the ultimate provider and sustainer. By him all things are held together. All glories and blessings stem from God. And in his presence are found the eternal pleasures.
How could Abel acquire this standing? One may think that Abel gained it because he was inherently a better person than Cain. One might think that Abel’s genetic combination might have been better than that of Cain. But this is not true. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Psalm 53:2-3 says, “God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” These statements affirm one truth: Abel was born as rotten a sinner as Cain. After all, even the name Abel means "futility" or "emptiness." He was an empty person. But he overcame this rotten status. He rose from a totally broken condition to a brand new condition. He became a new creation.
How did it happen? The answer is the same: by faith. Faith in what? Faith in God’s love and power, especially the love that forgives man of his sins. Perhaps he must have learned from his parents how the Lord God killed animals, shed blood, and made a covering for his parents (Gen 3:21). In Genesis 3:21, we see the Lord granting the first fallen family the gospel of Jesus in a primitive form, by killing animals, shedding their blood, and thereby atoning for the sin of Adam and Eve. Abel must have been taught God’s way of atonement for man’s sins. He must have then approached the throne of God's grace with this faith, the faith that believes in the Lord's sin-forgiving love. I think that even before approaching the Lord with the choice offering, he must have repented a lot. As he sincerely repented of his sins, perhaps confessing all the sins he ever committed, he made a sacrifice to the Lord. The Lord saw the contriteness of Abel's heart. The Lord then forgave all of his sins. He thus was commended by the Lord as a righteous man. In short, we can say that by faith Abel won a victory over his sinful self.
There are many people who are smart and able. In their pride they do not fully admit that they are sinners. These people may never think that they need a Savior. They then never approach the throne of God's grace for forgiveness either in public or in private. Does this mean that they are all right? No. God knows that they are not. Unless and until you are right with God, you will never be right. If you think otherwise, then what the apostle Paul says in Romans 3:4 is true: “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”
III. By faith he still speaks even though he is dead
Genesis 4:5b-26 records a tragic story about the conflict between Cain and Abel. As tragic as this story is, we still find one powerful victory in the life of Abel, that is, Abel did not retaliate. He died in defense of his gospel faith. He became the first martyr in the entirety of human history. He then reminds us of our Lord Jesus, for referring to Jesus, 1 Peter 2:23 says, “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” Like our Lord Jesus he endured a brother who was sinning. Being a shepherd for the flock, he could have wielded his club or staff and struck Cain back in self- defense. But he did not do that. Rather, while blow after blow were being leveled at him, he might even have been praying for Cain saying, “Father! Forgive him.” How could he do that? Again, he was able to do it by faith. He believed in God, who is the judge of all. He was conscious of the one who can even raise the righteous from the dead. He believed in God, who will fully reward those who earnestly seek him.
In contrast, Cain had no faith in the Lord. Although he might have been endowed with many good privileges as the eldest son, he not only became an unbeliever but the first murderer. Since then, he remained a fugitive.
Cain's example shows us the tragic consequence of humanism - humanism in the sense of man putting himself above God. First, Cain became angry with God when God saw Abel and his offering with favor but not Cain himself and his offering. The fact that he was angry with God shows that he put himself above God. Then he murdered Abel. Cain had no right to kill Abel. But he murdered Abel and thereby defied God's will to keep Abel alive. The Lord could have gotten rid of Cain. But in his mercy and long-suffering patience, the Lord kept bearing with him, waiting ever so patiently so that he could come back to his senses, repent of his pride, and ask God for the forgiveness of his sins. But still Cain did not repent. He kept rebelling against God.
As he shut God out of his life and went away from the presence of God, he ended up bearing only bad fruit. Literally, he became like a branch cut from a tree.
But Abel is different. Physically Abel is dead. But God blessed his faith in the Lord. In his place God granted a new son named Seth. Seth also had a son. Then people from Seth's line began to call on the name of the Lord; they started having fellowship with the Lord. This shows that the seed of faith was still alive and bearing fruit through the descendants of Seth.
When we have Abel's faith, then we too can outlive the limitations of our physical body. Even though we may die physically, the seed of faith we leave behind will continue to bear fruit in the lives of those who see and learn from the example of our faith.
One word: The faith of Abel
PAGE
PAGE 1
Manuscript
Biblenote
The faith of Abel
Genesis 4:1-26
Key Verse Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
In this passage we can learn the work of faith which keeps a man in a right relationship with the Lord and his neighbor and from there on enables him to bear good fruit from generation to generation, fruit that lasts forever, expanding God's kingdom forever.
Abel's example of faith bears great importance because all peoples on earth are either in the line of Abel or in the line of Cain. There is no middle ground.
There are so many people here on earth doing many different things having different standards of life, but the outcome of their lives is classifiable into two categories, that is, some bear good fruit, some bad. But what enables him or her to bear fruit either good or bad? Why do people succeed in bearing good fruit, or fail, bearing only bad fruit? Or why do you bear good fruit at one point of your life but bad fruit at another point? What makes the difference? The answers are all here, in the stark contrast between the life of Abel and the life of Cain. All the tales of human beings in human history are only the tales of two people: Abel and Cain.
** By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice
1. Read vs.1-4a and describe the difference between the offering brought by Cain and the one brought by Abel. Hebrews 11:4a says that Abel's offering is better than Cain’s. In what way is it? Why is it not always easy to bring “to the Lord” what you “earned” as a “sacrifice” to the Lord? Yet, we are told that Abel was able to offer God a better sacrifice “by faith.” What does “by faith” mean? What can we learn from Abel?
** Abel's is better in that it was "fat" portions of the some of the "firstborn" of the flock, whereas Cain's was from merely "some of the fruits of the soil."
Abel's represents the best of the best. Nowadays people regard fat as bad but as used here, "fat" means best. Firstborn is also a biblical idiom for what is best.
Some say Abel's is better for it involves blood, and Cain’s is bad for it does not involve blood. But this line of thought sounds invalid, for the Lord also ordained that the Israelites bring grain offerings as well. Read Lev. 2.
** It is not easy maybe for a number of reasons: 1) Lack of understanding that all things are from God; 2) Lack of thankful heart, for his heart had been stopped up with worldly desires, particularly greed, being unable to give thanks to God for all that God has done and is doing for us; 3) Lack of faith that believes that God is good and that he can fill all of one's needs, etc. and so forth.
Living in this fallen generation, it is so easy for us to look at what is visible, like money in one's bank account, or the boss who cuts a paycheck for you, etc., but not the Lord who created the entire universe and sustains everything in it. It is also easy to give credit to oneself rather than God for his own "earnings". One might say, "Oh, I got this thanks to all of my hard work and effort." But who gave you the ability to work in the first place?
In the case of Cain, (and Abel as well) he must have known the fact that God is the Creator and He is the one who makes man's life prosperous, for example by sending rain so his crop would prosper. But, still living in a fallen world where it is only through toil and sweat that one can put food in his mouth, it is so easy for one to get caught in a materialistic way of thinking. But remember: even after the Fall, and the curse that fell on earth, still the Lord opened the way for men to come to Him by faith and get blessed by Him!
** Faith is defined in Heb 11:1-3. ‘By faith’ means the life that lives according to what this Hebrews passage says.
** And this definition answers the question. That is, he saw the invisible (God) who provided him with all he had. When we have this faith, with many thanks to God, we naturally can bring what is the best to the Lord.
** By faith he was commended as a righteous man
2. Read vs. 4b-5a and compare this passage with Hebrews 11:4b. What do the expressions “Abel and his offering” and “Cain and his offering” indicate about the relationship between the one that offers and the offering he brings? Why is it significant for the Lord to look upon one and one’s offering with “favor” or commend anyone as a “righteous” man?
** 1) They are not separable, even as what we hear people say, "Money talks."
2) It also says that God sees not only who we are but also what we bring, but first things first, that is, we must give our heart first and then bring what we have to the Lord.
Read: 2 Corinthians 8:5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.
Read also 2Co 8:14-9:8.
** The Biblical truth is that the Lord God is the source of all blessings. James 1:17. So it is a very serious problem for one and his conduct to not be viewed favorably by the Lord.
One of the meanings of the word righteous is to be in the right relationship with the Lord. By the same token, not to be righteous means you are on your own, meaning you remain cut off from the Lord. This then says you are like a branch cut off from a tree planted by the streams of water.
3. Consider the meaning of Hebrew 11:4b again. What does “by faith” show about the way for one to secure a “righteous” standing before the Lord?
** The way to secure it is not by our own efforts, but by acknowledging the existence of God, and by believing that he is good and perfect. Then, we can ask God for help in many different areas of our life, particularly in times we need his sin-forgiving love. Then in his love and mercy, he graciously forgives us of our sins. Through his word and Spirit he transforms us into a man of God, restoring His image in us.
** By faith he still speaks
4. Read vs. 5b-24. How did Cain fare in terms of his relationship with: 1) the Lord; and 2) his neighbors? What does this show us about the kind of fruit his life bore? Why did he end up living this way? In what respect do many still walk in the way of Cain?
** His relationship with God went from bad to worse, until it became not only remote and distant, but non-existent.
His relationship with his neighbors such as his brother also went downhill fast, sliding down the downward slope of quick downfall, until his sins worsened not only in terms of quality (heinousness) but also in quantity (like frequency).
** He bore only bad fruit, in an increasingly worsening and more brazen manner than before.
** When you remove God from your life, you are condemned to be subject to either or both of the following: making either men or money your god. There is no other way. Then as you let either men or money dictate your life, you end up bearing fruit that is only humanistic and materialistic. It never has God's dimension, the God who is perfectly good and good all the time.
5. Read vs. 25-26 along with Hebrews 11:4c. What is the significance of men beginning to call on the name of the Lord? Physically Abel is dead. Yet, Hebrews 11:4c says, “By faith he still speaks.” What does Abel’s example tell us about the work of faith?
** It is significant in that man started having fellowship with God, inviting God's influence into human society.
** Faith is a spiritual commodity, if you will. It is spiritual and eternal. It exists beyond a material level. Figuratively speaking faith is like a seed which is sown in fertile soil (i.e., God himself). Then this tree of faith grows and bears fruit again and again.
Example 1: Abraham's faith is still bearing fruit among those who walk in the footsteps of his faith.
Example 2: Dr. Samuel Lee lived by faith in the Lord. He is physically dead. But still he speaks by his faith, and his faith that is living in the lives of many keeps bearing fruit.
The end.
PAGE 2
PAGE 1