Abel (Hebrews 11:4 Jeff Kliewer)

I saw the

Lord answer me, and deliver me, a radian, be ashamed, be ashamed.

This poor man crucified me, and saved me from the cross.

The Son of God surrounds

His saints, He'll deliver them, and exalt

His name forever. Oh, taste and see that the

Lord is good. Oh, bless and see who hides and who saves.

He crucified me.

Come exalt His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me.

Come exalt His name forever.

Let us bless the Lord every day and night. Let our never -ending praise make our voices rise to our

King and our Savior Jesus Christ. Let us bless the

Lord every day and night. Let our never -ending praise make our voices rise.

Let us bless the Lord every day and night.

Let our never -ending praise make our voices rise. Let us bless the

Lord every day and night. Let our never -ending praise make our voices rise.

Magnify the Lord with me.

Come exalt His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me.

Come exalt His name forever. Magnify the

Lord with me. Come exalt

His name together. Glorify the

Lord with me. Come exalt

His name forever. I was reminded of Psalm 71 throughout this week, and then the song came to mind,

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less. You're probably familiar with that song. I was encouraged.

I saw a gentleman come in, and he has a T -shirt that says, Jesus is my rock. He is the foundation.

He is the one that in Matthew 4 is described as building your house upon the rock.

Our church is named Cornerstone because we build our foundation on that rock. Let's sing this song together.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest phrase, but wholly trust in Jesus' name.

Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong in the

Savior's love. Through the storm,

He is Lord, Lord of all.

Darkness seems to hide His face. I rest on His unchanging grace.

In every high and stormy gale, my anger holds within the veil.

Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong in the

Savior's love. Through the storm,

He is Lord, Lord of all.

When He shall come, when He shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may

I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne, faultless to stand before the throne.

Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong in the

Savior's love. Through the storm,

He is Lord, Lord of all.

He is Lord, Lord of all.

Yes, He is our rock. Jesus is our rock and our anchor, and He is enough to satisfy.

Christ is my reward, and all of my devotion.

Now there's nothing in this world that could ever satisfy.

Through every trial, my soul will sing, no turning back,

I've been set free. Christ is enough for me.

Christ is enough for me.

Everything I need is in You.

Everything I need. Christ's my all in all, the joy of my salvation, and this hope will never fail.

Heaven is our home. Through every storm, my soul will sing,

Jesus is here. To God be the glory.

Christ is enough for me.

Christ is enough for me.

Everything I need is in You. Everything I need.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

The cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back.

The cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back.

Christ is enough for me. Christ is enough for me.

Everything I need is in You. Everything I need.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

It's our prayer that you've made that decision, that you've decided to follow Jesus and never look back, but look forward.

Amen. So John mentioned that we have a new baby in the congregation, little

Walter, who is named after my dad. My dad is a Walter. This one's not named after my dad, but that's not a very common name.

Even after first service, a little baby was brought up to me, and I haven't held a baby for a long time.

My kids are like, my daughter's taller than my wife at this point. So the mom handed me this little baby, and I was just like, forgetting how do you hold a baby, and I was just trembling, making sure

I didn't do anything wrong. But so cute, another baby, and then there's another baby being born this week, at least the due date.

Katie Diebold's baby should be here. So my wife is in the nursery. If she thinks it's busy today, three more coming.

It's crazy, but I bring this up because we're experiencing this gift of life in the church, babies being born.

And I, this morning, am going to be talking about life, the pro -life movement, and things of that nature, in the first introductory part of my sermon.

So parents, if you have younger children here, and you don't want them to be exposed to that,

I'm not going to say anything graphic, but just talking about abortion and things of that nature, you may want to take that into consideration if you think that it's too mature content.

So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, this morning, as we're humbled before you, singing praise to your name and contemplating the price that was paid for us, the blood of the

Son of God, and pledging that we will follow you. Lord, we recognize how desperately we need you, and we ask that now you would move in our hearts, that we could make good on that pledge.

We have decided to follow you, no turning back. Lord, we can't do that in our strength.

We can do it by faith. And even that is a gift from you. So we pray that you would grant us faith to believe.

We pray that you would open the word to us this morning, that we would hear and be changed by it.

And Lord God, I'm asking you that you would take over. Give me the words to say, because I am just a jar of clay.

And without the all -surpassing treasure, I have nothing to offer. So Lord God, would you come and use me to bring these words in Jesus' name,

I pray. Amen. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the year 1992, spoke these wicked, heartless words.

At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.

Judge Anthony Kennedy was giving his opinion in the court case

Planned Parenthood v. Casey. And the definition he offers says that part of being free, having liberty, is for you to be able to define existence.

Liberty involves one's own concept of human life.

And where that becomes applicable in the court case is that if a baby were to be killed in the womb, the charge would rightly be homicide.

In fact, most states, I think 37 states, have lifelong prison sentences for killing a baby in the womb.

Intentionally killing the baby in the womb. Which sounds a lot like abortion, which is intentionally killing a baby in the womb.

Yet, Anthony Kennedy said, the difference there is that the mother has the autonomous right to define whether or not the child inside of her is a human being.

Conferring that concept, not on almighty God, but on one's individual right of liberty.

Effectively, making a woman God in the case of the child inside of her. Deifying the woman.

It is, as I said, a wicked teaching. Praise God, this last month there was a bill introduced in Texas that would protect the life of the unborn in the mother from the moment of a heartbeat being detected.

And that is being brought to the Supreme Court. So we, church, need to begin to pray for Justice Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett and Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and Alito, that those five would stand strong.

We know that Sotomayor and Kagan and probably Roberts and Breyer, those guys will rule like Kennedy did for the death of the unborn.

But see, there's a fundamental difference between believing in the right to have life and any other thing.

Some would say that the words written in our Declaration of Independence had nothing to do with the unborn.

We know that God has endowed us with certain unalienable rights, inalienable rights, among which are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

But nowadays, people will say, well, the Founding Fathers did not mean the unborn as part of that inclusion of what life is to have the right to exist.

However, if you go back to the original Founding Fathers, James Wilson was one of the original

Supreme Court justices, and he signed his name to the Declaration of Independence.

A Founding Father on the Supreme Court from 1789 to 1798, he said this, the principal object of government is to acquire a new security for the possession of those rights which were previously entitled by the immediate gift of our all -wise and beneficent

Creator. Where does James Wilson locate the right to life?

Is it something given by man or determined by a mother, or is it given by the all -beneficent

Creator? He said, from the Creator, and he even spoke to the issue of abortion.

He said, in the contemplations of life, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb.

By the law, life is protected. That's the words of James Wilson. Now, by stir in the womb, what he meant is as soon as a woman is able to detect that she is pregnant, she has knowledge of that pregnancy, that baby is protected.

Of course, nowadays, by technology, we can know much sooner than the stirrings of the child.

In fact, by science, we are able to understand that life begins at conception.

And we can know that scientifically, as well as from the Word of God. Psalm 139 tells us that God is the one who fashions us together in the womb.

By the way, that word fashion will come into play today because the word cain means fashion.

It was by the help of God that cain was fashioned in the womb of that first mother,

Eve. God is the one who gives life. Life is a gift from God.

The culture in which we live doesn't recognize that fundamental right. And if a person does not first recognize the right to life, everything else that they teach and hold is subject to decay.

It's untrustworthy. If someone cannot at least acknowledge the right of a human being to live, that means that their moral compass is completely broken.

So if you look at the national right to life and how they rank the members of Congress in their voting record, you will see that the persons who have 100 % truth in upholding the right to life, according to the

National Center for, what did I call it, Right to Life, the

Institute for the Right to Life, their voting record matches perfectly with those who protect private property.

Now these two things are completely unrelated, so you wouldn't think life and private property would have anything to do with one another.

But the people who vote for the death of the unborn also vote for the confiscation of private property, the lowest ranking in that way.

Why is there a correlation? And the same people who uphold life would also uphold

God's ordination of differences between genders. Whereas people who advocate for gender fluidity and the quote -unquote right of children to transition their gender, these are the same people that don't believe a person has a right to live.

Why is it that you see two camps forming? Well, the world has reasons that they want to offer because they notice that there's a distinction, a moral difference in the way people live.

So they look for some kind of binary arbitrarily to explain the difference.

They will say, it must be the color of your skin. So look around, and how much pigment is in the flesh?

How much melanin is in the skin? And they will create an arbitrary construct where there are people of color and white people, which according to our

Bible is absolute nonsense. We are all one race descended from Adam.

So there is no distinction between people of color. There's not colored people and uncolored or colorless people.

Rather, there's only one race in Adam. Or they'll try to divide the world by gender and turn men against women and women against men.

Or draw an arbitrary line of how much possession someone has and divide the world by the poor and the rich.

Or some other form of difference among people, but what they're failing to recognize is that there is a distinction.

And the difference is faith versus faithless. There are really two descendants from Adam, Cain and Abel.

There is Cain, who has no faith. And not recognizing the

Creator, he walks in his own reasoning, identifies himself as a victim, and hates the

God of the Bible. And there is Abel, who humbly brings what he can by the revelation of God.

The Bible will alternately describe those who have faith and those who are faithless.

The faith are described as sheep, and the others are described as goats.

The faithful are the wheat, and the faithless are the tares.

The wheat and the tares grow up together, but in the end day, they will be separated. So there is a fundamental distinction between Cain and Abel, to whom we turn today.

Turn with me in your Bible to Hebrews 11, verse 4. And you're waiting for me to say four through what?

But today we grind almost to a halt. One verse! Did you think

I could do that? Hebrews 11, 4. But the reason for it is

I'm not just going to make up a bunch of stuff after reading one verse. We're going to go back to Genesis 4 and get the context for what we have here.

There is a fundamental distinction between Cain and Abel, a distinction that exists to this day and that you see all around.

Humanity divides between those who, identifying as victims, follow the prototype of Cain and those who, having faith, follow after Abel.

Remember also from last week the definition of faith? What is faith? The assurance of things hoped for, the certainty of things not seen.

It's not a matter of just making a decision and by your willpower saying

I'm going to give something a try and going for it. No, it's to be sure of something, to have a light bulb go off in your brain that you know something that you otherwise couldn't have known.

Your eyes didn't see Jesus. You didn't hear His voice speaking from the clouds and yet you have the assurance like someone who saw or heard.

One author has described it as like having another invisible organ in your body. Your eyes give you physical sight but the eyes of faith in your heart are able to see and know something that the physical senses cannot perceive.

That's the idea of Hebrews 11 .1. Faith is being sure of things that you cannot see.

That's a gift from God. Where else would assurance come from unless you had the eyes of your heart open, eyes to see, ears to hear, the heart of stone turned to a heart of flesh.

This is the miracle of regeneration. So this gift of faith is pleasing to God and God commends people for it.

Now let's look at verse 4. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous,

God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith though he died he still speaks.

Powerful verse. And it has at least four major things to say to us about faith.

How many of you here want to walk by faith? Amen. Well let's learn how.

First, you need to understand that this life that you are living is a vapor.

It's a mist. It comes and it goes. Well where do you get that from the text?

By faith Abel. The word Abel comes from the

Hebrew Havel. Havel. We also see that same word in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 2 where the preacher

Solomon says vanity of vanities. Havel of Havel.

Meaning meaningless. Meaningless. Vapor. Breath. The word

Abel actually means breath. The idea is just a breathing out or a sigh.

A quick passing through. Back in the days of Cain and Abel the original fathers used to live close to a thousand years.

Who lived the longest? Bible nerds. Methuselah. You just called yourself a nerd.

969 years old. They used to live a long time. But Cain killed Abel while he was yet young.

Pointing out this idea that his life was just like a breath. In Psalm 90 verse 10 and then we'll reference verse 12 we're told in verse 12 first of all teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

The first thing we learn is that faith sees the eternal and doesn't get caught up in the brief life in which we live.

We're looking for a kingdom. A future and eternal kingdom. Not caught up in this short span what some have called the dashes on the tombstone.

1977. I don't know when my death year is but there's a dash in between and that's my life span.

Teach us to number those days. So I did that literally. 365 days a year.

I'm 43 years old. I'm somewhere between 15 ,000 and 16 ,000 days old.

How old are you? How many days old are you? We're told by the Bible teach us to number those days.

But it's not just to keep a running tally it's to keep it in perspective. Because now look at verse 10.

The years of our life are you're gonna be like deer in the headlight when you hear this.

70. Psalm 90 verse 10. Anybody got the wide eyes like wait a minute

I'm already past 70. Or by reason of strength 80. I don't bring that up to be depressing but rather to remind you that we're living for an eternal kingdom.

You might live beyond 80. You might live to 90, 100, 110. Praise the Lord if you do. But we know it's just a vapor.

It's an able, a breath compared to eternity. We have to see the world through those eyes.

So we're not caught up in the things of this earth. Faith is looking beyond this dash of a life to something bigger.

Secondly, here's the big idea for today's sermon. Abel's faith speaks to us about what makes offerings acceptable.

All of us come to the house of God on a Sunday morning wanting to be found acceptable. We're here to offer

God something. Our praise, our worship. We want to come to the end of our lives.

And hear him say well done good and faithful servant. But what makes an offering acceptable?

Let's look in verse 4. Hebrews 11. By faith Abel offered.

So the idea here is what he's offering to God. Offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.

Through which he was commended as righteous. God commending him by accepting his gifts.

So here is an age old question. Why did God accept Abel's gift but not

Cain's? Until the time of Christ the Jewish rabbis and teachers and scribes, they were in agreement as to what that was.

They all saw it as Abel bringing the best part, the first fruit of his flock.

Bringing the fat of his offering. And his heart was more in it whereas Cain seems to have just brought kind of willy nilly a little bit of vegetable.

And burned that on the altar. But I think there's something deeper going on than that.

Look at verse 4. I'm going to give you two clues in this verse and then we're going back to Genesis 4. So you might want to get your finger there.

First. The phrase through which in verse 4.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. Through which he was commended as righteous.

The sacrifice that Abel offered was an instrument. It was something through which

God commended him as righteous. The sacrifice did something between Abel and God.

As a mediation between the two. And through that sacrifice he was counted as righteous.

The theological word for what we're seeing here is propitiation. A propitiation is a sacrifice that appeases the wrath of God.

God rightly has anger towards sin. The soul that sins shall die.

The wages of sin is death. And so God seeing sinners like Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and all of us here in this room today.

Has rightful indignation and even wrath toward our sin. But he has done something.

He made a sacrifice. For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son.

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross propitiates God's wrath and through that sacrifice he counts us as righteous.

How so? That the blood of the son is poured out on the ground.

In sacrifice. And God sees that as satisfactory. He's satisfied the demand for justice and so he's just and the justifier of the one who comes by faith.

Through which means the sacrifice is instrumental and important and it accomplishes something that Abel can't do on his own.

Propitiation. Number two. This is Hebrews 11, 4. Through which, the sacrifice, he was commended as righteous.

Now to understand the significance of this, we need to understand that the New Testament author of Hebrews whoever he is has access to the book of Romans.

Romans is written in the early 60's A .D. This is probably 68 to 69 A .D.

Based on textual clues that scholars look at. In any case Paul had been teaching all through the

Roman Empire his theology of justification by faith. And the language of the book of Romans the language of Paul's theology is that God justifies the ungodly by faith.

Crediting them with righteousness on account of their faith. Turn with me to Romans 4, 5.

I want you to see a parallel between the language of Hebrews 11, 4 and Romans 4, 5.

The context here is that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Or counted to him.

Or imputed to him as righteousness. Look at Romans 4, 5. To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness.

It's credited to him as righteous. In other words Christian, when God sees you believing in his son.

He is so pleased with his son. He sees you in union by faith with his son and he credits

Christ's righteousness to you. He imputes you with a righteousness that's foreign to you.

It's an alien righteousness. Not your own. Not the works that you've done. It's the righteousness of Christ imputed to you.

So the second thing is imputation. Hebrews 11, 4. Through which he was commended as righteous.

He was considered to be righteous. Counted righteous. That's an important concept.

Now, I'm going to make my point from Genesis 4. Turn back with me. What does

God find acceptable in an offering?

Let's read the story of Cain and Abel. Just the first five verses. Now Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bore

Cain saying, I have gotten a man. I have fashioned a man. Fashion means

Cain. With the help of the Lord. And again, she bore his brother

Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a worker of the ground.

In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.

And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the

Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.

So Cain was very angry and his face fell. Now we do recognize that Abel seems to have his heart in it, right?

He's bringing the firstborn. He's bringing the fat. And there's no real heart in what

Cain has to bring but we can't know that for sure. Verse three says, the course of time

Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. Well, he's a farmer. That's what he does. But is there something more significant going on here?

I would say there definitely is. You see, the story unfolds that Cain will slay his brother

Abel. Murdered him! And the blood of that murder speaks.

It calls out to God from the ground. Following that? It's calling for justice.

And God then will call on Cain to account for what he has done. And Cain of course says, what am I, my brother's keeper?

And God then sentences him. Well, he says, your brother's blood is calling out from the ground. And he gives him a sentence that from now on, what?

The earth will no longer produce fruit for you. You're just going to be a wanderer.

As a farmer, you're done. The earth itself will revolt against you. Because the blood of your brother has fallen to the ground.

The idea here is that the value of human blood was completely dishonored by Cain.

In the same way that these innocent babies are slaughtered at the abortion mill, the value of their blood is completely disregarded.

And the ground itself will revolt against this. God is saying in this story that he values life.

And no one can take life. Of course, in Genesis 9, human government will become the punisher of those who do.

Human government is to visit by the Noahidic laws, the death penalty for those who do take innocent life.

Point being, the blood is valuable. The image of God is in the life of Abel, and yet he's been slain.

Next. If this be the case, what is it that pleases

God about the killing of an animal? Why would this be valuable to God that Abel is killing a sheep?

The stewardship of Genesis 1, 26 -28 in the creation mandate to have dominion over the sheep and all the animals and everything that moves was not a mandate to kill them, but to have dominion and to govern them.

Why would God find pleasure in the killing of a sheep? You see,

Cain brought a third day creation, plants. But Abel brought a fifth and sixth day creation.

The fifth day were the birds and the fish. The sixth day were the sheep.

So it was a sixth day creation. There was an inherent value in the life of these animals.

Not the level of humanity, which is made in the image of God, but still something to be protected.

And God would find no pleasure in the arbitrary sacrificing of a lamb unless it was pointing to something still more valuable.

And so the answer to this riddle comes to us in Genesis 3. Look one chapter back.

In chapter 3, verse 7, we see the insufficiency of a plant -based loincloth.

Not something I ever thought I would say from the pulpit. Plant -based loincloths are not sufficient, folks!

But theologically, see what I'm saying here in verse 7. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

The issue here is their sin plunged them into guilt before God, and their shame was recognizing that they were naked.

Now there was no problem in that because they were husband and wife. And yet they felt shame because they were now tainted by sin.

And their remedy was a plant -based loincloth. Was that sufficient?

No. Turn to verse 21. Having dealt with Adam and Eve and the serpent, promising that the serpent's head is going to be crushed by the coming

Messiah. Genesis 3 .15. Now look at Genesis 3 .21. And the

Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin.

Skins and clothed them. That is significant because it means that the covering like clothes of our shame requires the spilling of animal blood.

Follow? A sacrifice had to be made in that Garden of Eden, that pure place where there was no death.

Now Adam must see it. The death of an innocent lamb. Traumatizing no doubt.

To someone who lived in perfection, now because of his sin, this animal must die.

And God will take from the bloody sacrifice and make a coat of skin to cover them. Because the death of these animals will cover their sin for a time.

They needed to see that. Why? Because it did point forward to something. You see, it was impossible for the blood of a sheep to take away sin.

It could only cover it like clothing for a time. But there was something deeper going on.

The animal sacrifices that began in Genesis 321 and moved through the

Bible to the Passover lamb, to Isaiah 53, to John the

Baptist in the wilderness saying behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The sacrifice comes in the person of Christ. And all of those lambs were pointing to the

Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. His blood actually takes away sin.

So God gave animal coverings for a period of time like clothing to cover their shame until the time, the appointed time would come when the

Son of God comes into the world like a lamb led to the slaughter. He opens not his mouth.

He lays down his life and he dies the death that we deserve. Our sin is taken away by the sacrifice of the

Lamb of God. That's the meaning of this. And so in Genesis 4,

Abel, he doesn't get it all. You think he understood all that? I don't think I get it all yet.

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this amazing reality of God's word and how it points to Christ.

So the big idea of my sermon today is that you want to bring an offering that's acceptable to God, there is one way to do it.

You come through Christ. His sacrifice on your behalf has opened a new and living way.

You can come by faith in Christ and you bring your best. You bring your life.

He'll find it acceptable if you come by the right sacrifice through the

Lamb of God, through Jesus Christ. The second thing that God makes a revelation to tell us what's acceptable as far as an offering.

The second thing for an acceptable sacrifice is that it must cost you something.

Abel's sacrifice cost him something. He brought the firstborn.

He brought the fat. He brought his best. One time

David began to get prideful and he began to count heads in his army. How many people are with me?

And in his pride, he puffed up and numbered the fighting men.

2 Samuel 24. So God punished him and he sent

Gad the prophet to give him three choices for how he wants to get his discipline. How do you want this

David? You can have famine, you can be chased by your enemies, or you can have pestilence.

David didn't want to be chased by his enemies, nor famine. So he said, let me fall into the hands of God, give us pestilence.

And so there was a plague that wiped out 70 ,000 Israelites. But God again giving a sacrifice, an animal sacrifice that points to Christ said this, you go to Arunah's field.

Now listen, God is very particular in how you are to approach him. He said, you go to Arunah's field and you build an altar there and you make a sacrifice and the plague is over.

Isn't that typical of the message of Christ? A sacrifice that's going to put an end to this judgment, propitiate the wrath of God.

Okay, so David goes and as he approaches Arunah, Arunah runs out to the king.

King David, what do you need? Well, I need to make a sacrifice on your field. Build an altar and kill an animal.

So Arunah says, here, here's my oxen. You can build an altar out of my stuff and the field is yours.

Take it, King David. David says, 2 Samuel 24 -24 No, but I will buy it from you for a price.

I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that costs me. You see,

David understood that when you bring an offering you are ascribing worth to the one you worship.

An offering says, here I am, Lord. And we are to bring our best of our time, our talent, our treasure.

Jesus didn't die that we would be a half -hearted people. He gave his blood that he would have a fully devoted disciple, a follower, who comes to him and says,

Lord, take me as the offering. You can have my time, my talent, my treasure, everything.

I lay it down. Romans 12, 1 and 2, a living sacrifice. David understood that.

You bring your best. You offer him what's in the heart.

And lastly, you need to bring without hypocrisy. If you come to church on a Sunday morning and you remember that you have this feud with your brother and you've wronged him, but you want to offer to God, no, first go be reconciled to your brother and then come back.

In other words, your offering, your love toward God needs to be without hypocrisy. Genuine love for God.

And that means if you love God, love others. He wants genuineness in our worship.

That's what Abel had. Now the last two points are very quick, but we could spend more time on it another day.

Abel's faith speaks to us about the opposition that the righteous will face.

Hebrews 11, 4. What happened to Abel?

For this great offering he brought, he wound up dead. The jealousy of the wicked will be inflamed against the genuine child of God.

In this life you will face trouble, but take heart. Our king has conquered.

And he is with us. We're told in 2

Timothy 3 .12, indeed all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

That means every Cain, every Abel will have his Cain. And every

Christian will be opposed. And sometimes the enemy will be members of your own family. This is to be expected, but take heart.

He has overcome the world. This will not be easy sailing. Expect persecution just as Abel died at the hands of his brother, only to be rewarded with eternal life.

Lastly, Abel's faith speaks to us about blood more valuable than our own.

Look again at, this is awesome, Hebrews 11 verse 4. My last observation here, it'll be quick, but it's amazing.

Look what it says. Even though he died, he still speaks when his brother slew him.

His blood fell to the ground, and God said what? The blood of your brother is calling to me from the ground.

The blood is speaking from the ground. What did

Abel's blood say? Justice. Vindicate me.

My brother killed me. God, where are you? Judge him. Crying for judgment.

Now turn one page to Hebrews 12 verse 24. We come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

So the last observation, Abel's blood reminds us that the soul that sins must die.

Judgment for all of us, and yet that points us to better blood, because when

Jesus was lifted up on the cross, his blood fell to the ground, and the earth absorbed that precious blood, and that blood cries out, on our behalf,

Father, have mercy on them. They know not what they do. The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

His blood pleads for our forgiveness. He intercedes for us at his

Father's right hand, and there he pleads your righteousness, not your own, but his righteousness imputed to you.

His blood speaks on our behalf, and Abel's blood reminds us of that.

If it weren't for the blood of Jesus, we like Cain would fall to eternal destruction, but the blood of Jesus speaks mercy over us.

Amen. So, lastly, application. How do we take this message and make use of it?

Every day this week, try to think about this sermon. Don't just leave and forget what you heard, right?

Think about Cain and Abel, and pray Psalm 119, verse 34.

Maybe write that verse down. It's in your notes. Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it, observe it with my whole heart.

You see, the difference between sheep and goat, those on God's right, those on his left, the wheat, the tares, is really

God's word versus man's word. Abel came by the revelation he had.

He didn't have full understanding, but Adam had told him about the death of that animal in the garden, and he believed it was necessary, so he brought animal blood.

He lived by revelation, so we need to be taught a deeper understanding of God's word.

And that's how we gain a heart of wisdom and bring our whole heart in our offering. Next, kill your victim mentality.

Think about Cain. When he was being punished, how did he respond? Forgive me,

I murdered my brother. Was he repentant, beating his chest and torn up about what he had done?

No, he's saying what? My punishment is too much for me. He's still a victim when he's the murderer.

And all of us are prone to this victim mentality. We need to pray that God would help us kill the victim mentality, because it's a lot like Cain and nothing like Abel.

Kill our victim mentality. Lastly, two very practical things.

We are starting a new ministry later in the summer. And that will be to go to the abortion mills and cry out to young ladies not to kill their babies and offer the gospel.

Preaching Christ that there is life and offering help of every kind.

Connections with other resources that we could offer that help, even adoption. To do so graciously, but also firmly and clearly.

See the really tall guy back there? He's taller than me, but I can still dunk on him.

No, I can't. Jonathan is going down to Charlotte and he's going to be trained.

And when he comes back, he's going to train us on how to do this. The ministry is called Love Life, and so I'm going to encourage all of you now, when

Jonathan comes back and we send out this email that we're doing a training on how to go out and rescue babies who are being killed, that you would join in on that.

And we will train you on how to do it. I would love to see our whole church involved in this. Can you imagine what

Cherry Hill Women's Center would think if they saw this many people out there? Praying it to the ground.

So that's one thing. And lastly, we have another member in our congregation whose name is Elaine Simber.

And God has stirred her heart in this area. She has created a website which today is live.

And I want all of you to go to this at some point this week and begin to read articles, and you can use this as an evangelistic tool and as a way to protect life.

Elaine's website is amazing. You're going to really love hearing her story. It's called realhonestwithgod .com.

So she's from our church, and she's created this website, and we're going to make use of that as we fight for life.

Let's close in prayer. So Father, we have opened your word, and we remember the story of Cain and Abel.

We want to give you all the glory for the sacrifice that Abel's sacrifice points to.

The death of Jesus for our sins. And I pray for any here who don't yet know Christ, that you would open their eyes to see with the eyes of faith, to be sure that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

That he is the one who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. Let them see and believe.

And for us who believe, Lord, we pray that we would bring our best to you, like Abel. The fat portions, the firstborn.

To pour our lives out for the sake of the name that is above every name.

The name of Jesus, in which we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing. I once was lost in darkness night, yet thought

I knew the way. The sin that promised joy and light had led me to the grave.

I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will.

And if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still.

But as I ran, I held boundaries indifferent to the cost.

You looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross.

And I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place.

You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all

I know is grace. Alleluia!

All I have is Christ. Alleluia! Jesus is my life.

Be yours alone and live so all might see.

The strength to follow your commands could never come from thee.

Oh Father, use my ransom life in any way you choose.

And let my song forever be my only voice is you.

Alleluia! All I have is

Christ. Alleluia!

All I have is my life. Alleluia! All I have is

Christ. Alleluia!

Jesus is my life.

Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said to him,

I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her,

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.