[The outline was borrowed from John MacArthur’s Hebrews commentary.]
Hebrews 11:4—“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it HE BEING DEATH YET SPEAKETH.”
James Moffatt wrote, “Death is never the last word in the life of a righteous man. When a man leaves this world, be he righteous or unrighteous, he leaves something in the world. He may leave something that will grow and spread like a cancer or a poison, or he may leave something like the fragrance of perfume or a blossom of beauty that permeates the atmosphere with blessing.”
Dead men do tell tales. They are not silent, but still speak to those who will listen. From many thousands of years ago, Abel speaks to twenty-first-century man. This man who lived when the earth was new, who was of the second generation of mankind, has something to teach modern, sophisticated, technological man. He lived in a far distant age, in a far different culture, with far less light from God than we have. But what he has to tell us is more relevant than anything we are likely to read in our current newspapers or magazines [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Hebrews, p. 295].
Abel’s faith led to three things: TRUE SACRIFICE, TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS, and TRUE WITNESS.
I. BECAUSE HE BELIEVED, HE OFFERED A BETTER SACRIFICE.
II. BECAUSE HE OFFERED A BETTER SACRIFICE, HE OBTAINED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
III. BECAUSE HE OBTAINED RIGHTEOUSNESS, HE IS FOR ALL THE AGES A LIVING VOICE SAYING, “RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BY FAITH.”
Genesis 4:1-12
I. BECAUSE ABEL BELIEVED, HE OFFERED A BETTER SACRIFICE (v. 4a).
“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. . . .”
Why was Abel’s sacrifice more excellent than Cain’s? He offered it “BY FAITH.”
Faith must always have a revelation from God on which it is based.
Romans 10:17—“. . . faith cometh by hearing, and haring by the word of God.”
God had spoken to Cain and Abel’s parents, Adam and Eve, BY ACTION.
Genesis 3:6-10, 21
Four truths were displayed when God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skins:
1. IN ORDER FOR A SINNER TO STAND BEFORE A HOLY GOD, HE NEEDED A COVERING;
2. THAT WHICH WAS OF HUMAN MANUFACTURE WAS WORTHLESS (Genesis 3:7);
3. GOD HIMSELF MUST PROVIDE THE NEEDED COVERING;
4. THE NECESSARY COVERING COULD ONLY BE OBTAINED BY THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD.
By killing the lamb and offering it to God, Abel acknowledged at least three things:
1. He acknowledged that HE WAS A GUILTY SINNER WHO DESERVED DEATH;
2. He acknowledged that GOD IS HOLY AND MUST PUNISH SIN;
3. He acknowledged that GOD IS MERCIFUL AND WILLING TO ACCEPT THE DEATH OF AN INNOCENT SUBSTITUTE.
Romans 6:23—“The wages of sin is death. . . .”
I must be paid those wages and suffer that death, or another—an innocent one, on whom death has no claim—must be paid those wages in my stead.
Hebrews 9:22—“. . . without shedding of blood is no remission.”
M. R. DeHaan—“The Bible is a book of blood . . . wholly distinct from all other books for just one reason, namely, that it contains blood circulating through every page and in every verse. From Genesis to Revelation we see the stream of blood” [Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 76].
The thought of innocent animals being killed and their blood being shed is revolting. And that reveals to us the ugliness of sin.
THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB IS A PICTURE OF JESUS CHRIST.
Genesis 22:7-8—“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF A LAMB FOR A BURNT OFFERING. . . .”
Isaiah 53:7—“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: HE IS BROUGHT AS A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
1 Peter 1:18-19—“. . . ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. . . but WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, AS A LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH AND WITHOUT SPOT.”
The first sacrifice in Scripture was Abel’s lamb—ONE LAMB FOR ONE PERSON.
Later came the Passover—with ONE LAMB FOR ONE FAMILY.
Exodus 12:3, 5-7, 13
1 Corinthians 5:7—“. . . Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
Then came the Day of Atonement—with ONE LAMB FOR ONE NATION.
Finally came Good Friday—ONE LAMB FOR THE WHOLE WORLD.
John 1:29—“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
The blood of lambs COVERED the sins of the Jews, but the blood of Christ TAKES AWAY the sins of the whole world.
On the corner of the square of Rotterdam, Holland, there once stood a house known as the House of Terrors. The name comes from the sixteenth century when King Phillip II of Spain, an arch-Roman Catholic, came against the Protestants of Holland, sending the Duke of Alva to slaughter them.
Spanish troops when house to house throughout Rotterdam, searching out Protestants and killing them. In this one particular house, a handful of men, women, and children heard the soldiers approaching. They heard the pounding of doors, the screams of victims, and the marching of feet coming toward them. Terror gripped their hearts.
But a young man suddenly got an idea. He took a goat in the house, killed it, and swept its blood under the doorway out onto the street. When the soldiers reached the house, they saw blood flowing from under the door, and, assuming their compatriots had already taken care of the job in that house, went their way [Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 78].
You can only be saved from sin through the blood of Christ.
II. BECAUSE ABEL OFFERED A BETTER SACRIFICE, HE OBTAINED RIGHTEOUSNESS (v. 4b).
“. . . by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. . . .”
Abel illustrates the truth of SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.
Cain pictures MAN’S FUTILE ATTEMPT TO SAVE HIMSELF BY GOOD WORKS.
Cain offered to God the work of his own hands.
Isaiah 64:6—“. . . all our righteousnesses are a filthy rags.”
Titus 3:5—“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. . . .”
It was not the personal excellence of Abel that God looked at in counting him righteous, but the excellence of the sacrifice that he brought and his faith in it.
Abel did it GOD’S WAY.
Cain did it MAN’S WAY.
Proverbs 14:12—“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Acts 4:12—“Neither is there salvation is any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Because Abel BELIEVED God, he OBEYED God by offering the proper sacrifice.
TRUE FAITH AND OBEDIENCE ARE NEVER APART.
OBEDIENCE DOES NOT BRING FAITH, BUT FAITH WILL ALWAYS BRING OBEDIENCE.
John 8:31—“If ye CONTINUE IN MY WORD, then are ye my disciples indeed.”
We cannot claim to have faith in God and then continually disregard His Word.
James 2:14-20
OUR FAITH IS ONLY REAL WHEN IT RESULTS IN WORKS.
Disobedient faith is not real faith.
Ephesians 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Hebrews 11:4 says, “God testifying of his gifts.” In other words, “God spoke well of his offerings” (NIV).
A. W. Pink—“Where there is justifying faith in Christ which moves the Christian to walk according to the Divine precepts, God honors that faith by granting assurance to its possessor.”
1 John 5:13—“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that YE MAY KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
III. BECAUSE ABEL OBTAINED RIGHTEOUSNESS, HE IS FOR ALL THE AGES A LIVING VOICE SAYING, “RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BY FAITH” (v. 4c).
“. . . and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”
There is a sense in which faith enables a man’s vocal chords to go on functioning long after his body is lying in the grave.
Genesis 4:10—“[God] said, “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”
Hebrews 12:24—The blood of Jesus “speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
Abel’s blood cried out for VENGEANCE, but Jesus’ blood shed on the cross speaks of FORGIVENESS.
Hebrews 9:12—“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but BY HIS OWN BLOOD he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Hebrews 10:19—We have “boldness to enter into the holiest BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.”
Colossians 1:20—“. . . having made peace THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS. . . .”
1 John 1:7—“. . . THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST HIS SON CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN.”
What does Abel say to us today? YOU CAN ONLY BE DECLARED RIGHTEOUS BY GOD THROUGH FAITH IN A BLOOD SACRIFICE.
CONCLUSION
“Everything about the death of Christ was bloody—the slapping of his face must have cut his face; the scourge ripped apart his back; the crown of thorns pierced his brow; blood from his hands and ankles spurted with every blow of the hammer; blood likely oozed from his nose and mouth as he writhed on the cross; blood and water gushed from His side when the lance tore Him open. It was not a bloodless death. It was a death designed to paint the cross crimson” [Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 76].
Robert Bruce of Scotland was leading his men in a battle to gain independence from England. Near the end of the conflict, the English wanted to capture Bruce to keep him from assuming his position as next in line for the Scottish crown. So they put his own bloodhounds on his trail. When they got close, Bruce could hear them pursuing. His attendant said, “We are done for. They are on our trail, and they will reveal your hiding place.” Bruce replied, “It’s all right.” Then he headed for a stream that flowed through the forest. He plunged in and waded upstream a short distance. When he came out on the other bank, he was in the depths of the forest. Within minutes, the hounds, tracing their master’s steps, came to the bank. But they went no farther. The English soldiers urged them on, but the trail was broken. The stream had carried the scent away. A short time later, the crown of Scotland rested on the head of Robert Bruce.
The memory of our sins, prodded on by Satan, can be like those barking dogs. But a stream flows, red with the blood of God’s own Son. By grace through faith we are safe. No sin-hound can touch us. The trail is broken by the precious blood of Christ [Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 81].
HAVE YOU BEEN WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB?
jonathanrmcleod@yahoo.com
