back to index2020-10-18 Better Sacrifice Better Worship
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11. 00:00:08.100 |
We're going to be reading from verse 1 through 4. 00:00:11.200 |
And main text today is going to be on one verse, verse 4. 00:00:14.780 |
Again, I promise we are going to be going faster than just one verse a week. 00:00:19.220 |
It's just that we want to make sure that we cover this and set the right foundation before 00:00:29.880 |
I want to read all four verses before we get started this morning. 00:00:36.160 |
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 00:00:43.440 |
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what 00:00:47.880 |
is seen was not made out of things which are invisible. 00:00:51.200 |
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony 00:00:58.120 |
God testifying about his gifts and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 00:01:04.720 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for your anointing over this time. 00:01:11.200 |
Help us, Lord God, to hear from you and to glean from this verse, this passage, what 00:01:18.240 |
I pray that you would give us eagerness, Lord God, to hear from you, that we may apply all 00:01:26.760 |
All right, again, I want to apologize if you are not a Lakers fan. 00:01:30.760 |
I'm going to mention this just for today, okay, just for today and then next week maybe 00:01:37.040 |
Okay, but again, as you guys know, Lakers won their 17th championship, tying the record 00:01:45.360 |
So now they're tied, so next year they'll break it, I'm assuming. 00:01:49.280 |
Okay, but after every game that happens, and obviously, like, they'll put up the banner 00:01:54.960 |
up there, it's the 17th championship banner, and then they'll have the Hall of Famers, 00:01:58.400 |
who, jerseys have been retired, and obviously, Kobe's was retired, and then, you know, eventually 00:02:04.480 |
And the reason why they do that is obviously to venerate, you know, just to kind of honor 00:02:09.320 |
that these are the teams that win, won the championship team, and the new people that 00:02:13.360 |
have come and that they put, retired their jersey and put it up there to inspire people, 00:02:18.560 |
When they look up, this is what Lakers is about, this is what you should aspire for. 00:02:22.760 |
But obviously, you can look at that and the new players coming in, maybe get intimidated 00:02:26.400 |
and think, "I will never be able to live up to that." 00:02:29.200 |
Now, obviously, these guys are Hall of Fame basketball players, so it's not assumed that 00:02:34.260 |
every basketball player, in fact, more than 99% of the players that come in and play for 00:02:39.480 |
Lakers are not going to have their jerseys retired like that. 00:02:42.060 |
But the reason why they do that is not simply to intimidate, but to inspire. 00:02:46.360 |
So they're kind of like the Hall of Fame, or, you know, the heroes, basically, of Lakers, 00:02:53.920 |
I say all of this because Chapter 11 is a Hall of Fame for people of faith. 00:02:59.920 |
And so everything that the author has been saying has been leading up to Chapter 11, 00:03:04.240 |
saying that not to drift, but here's some examples of people who live by faith and what 00:03:10.520 |
And then after he does that, starting from Chapter 12, he's going to point back to them 00:03:13.880 |
saying, "Considering the cloud of witnesses, this Hall of Fame people who live by faith, 00:03:19.960 |
that we ought to follow that example and continue to persevere in our faith." 00:03:24.360 |
So today is the first person in the Hall of Fame, so he's like the first, you know, first 00:03:29.320 |
retired jersey that we're looking at today, right? 00:03:32.280 |
So we're looking at verse 4, and it starts out of the story between Abel and Kane, how 00:03:38.720 |
Abel's offering was acceptable and Kane's offering was not. 00:03:45.600 |
Just to kind of, before we even jump into it, that we understand what's going on. 00:03:51.560 |
The story of Kane and Abel is the first generation of people who were born into sin. 00:04:03.280 |
So the first generation of people, the first fruits of Adam and Eve after they fell was 00:04:13.640 |
The stories that we see in the Old Testament and New Testament are not a collection of 00:04:16.920 |
random things that happen, and just kind of telling us this is what happened. 00:04:21.240 |
So whenever we study the Bible, you know, we're doing inductive study of 1 Thessalonians, 00:04:26.340 |
one of the key things that we have to constantly ask is, how does this fit into the context? 00:04:31.480 |
Not only the context of the immediate text of the letter of the Old Covenant and New 00:04:37.160 |
Covenant, but in his redemptive, in the meta-narrative of the Bible, in the redemptive history, where 00:04:45.920 |
Other than to just tell us that Adam and Eve had children and they ended up, you know, 00:04:53.640 |
Well, we're going to see here what he says here is really foundational to our faith. 00:05:00.960 |
What he says in this one verse really sets the table of how we understand the rest of 00:05:09.420 |
And so hopefully we will be able to unpack that together this morning. 00:05:12.640 |
So I want to look at verse 4 again, just verse 4, and then we're going to deal with two things 00:05:20.040 |
Verse 4, "By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain." 00:05:25.160 |
So that's the first point we're going to look at. 00:05:30.760 |
And then 2, "Through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous." 00:05:36.520 |
Through the better sacrifice, Abel became righteous. 00:05:40.480 |
God testifying about his gift and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 00:05:48.960 |
What is it about him becoming righteous that is still speaking to us today? 00:05:53.340 |
So that's the second part we're going to be looking at. 00:06:00.880 |
So in order for us to better understand what is going on here, it's good for us to understand 00:06:07.040 |
Another way of saying a sacrifice is an offering, right? 00:06:11.200 |
Now, in our modern-day worship, we don't use the word sacrifice. 00:06:14.080 |
Typically, when we say sacrifice, we're talking about giving up something that is valuable 00:06:19.080 |
But here, in the context of sacrifice, it's talking about offering. 00:06:24.320 |
An offering is what is given in the context of worship. 00:06:29.120 |
So another way to say this is God looked at the offering that Abel gave and he says, "Abel's 00:06:42.960 |
So what is laid here basically is telling us, through the story of Cain and Abel, what 00:06:48.880 |
worship is acceptable and what worship is not acceptable. 00:06:53.280 |
And the reason why this is so foundational, the Bible says that we are created for the 00:07:01.520 |
So if our central identity, central identity, is not what nationality, what language you 00:07:16.920 |
God says he created us in his image, to bear his image. 00:07:21.200 |
In other words, we were to reflect his glory. 00:07:25.760 |
And so when he says to Adam and Eve that this is acceptable worship, this is not acceptable 00:07:31.040 |
worship, he's laying the foundation for sinners to be able to come to him. 00:07:43.840 |
Now in order to better understand what worship is, again I'm going to use the analogy of 00:07:49.600 |
If you are a casual fan, let's say if you're, I would say I'm not a fanatic, I would say 00:07:55.240 |
You know, I enjoy watching Lakers, but I don't, my car is not purple and gold, I don't have 00:07:59.600 |
purple and gold underwear, I don't have purple and gold socks, you know, and you see some 00:08:03.840 |
fanatics when you go to the arena, I mean they are fanatics, they'll paint their face, 00:08:08.640 |
you know, they'll take off their shirt, they'll have their favorite, you know, favorite player's 00:08:13.080 |
number printed on their chest, there's no shame, right? 00:08:16.520 |
And we would say they're not just fans, they're not just casual fans, they are fanatics. 00:08:20.920 |
If you go into their room, their room is painted purple and gold, right? 00:08:24.120 |
And they know the shoe sizes of every player, they know when they got married, how many 00:08:29.160 |
children they have and their stats, and they know everything, right? 00:08:33.400 |
So a fan is somebody who just casually enjoys it from a distance, and if they happen to 00:08:38.440 |
be in championship, we get kind of get on board and we find excitement in that, but 00:08:42.920 |
a fanatic is day and night, 24/7, that's what he does. 00:08:49.480 |
So the difference between a fan and a fanatic, a fanatic, that's his primary thing that brings 00:08:58.080 |
That's it, that's what brings him the greatest joy. 00:09:01.360 |
He's willing to become a fool, he's willing to spend a lot of money. 00:09:05.760 |
In fact, most fanatics, their friends will actually tell them to calm down, right? 00:09:13.520 |
Most fans are like, yeah, you know, we're going to get together and watch, you know, 00:09:17.720 |
watch basketball together, but if you're a fanatic, you probably have some friends that 00:09:22.240 |
are concerned about you, you know, you're spending too much money, you're, too much 00:09:29.920 |
See, in the context of worship, God did not call us to be fans. 00:09:39.000 |
He called us to be fanatics, because the Bible says, what is the greatest commandment? 00:09:44.800 |
To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:09:50.920 |
He says what God is looking for, people are going to worship him in spirit and in truth. 00:09:56.120 |
He said, you will seek me and find me if you seek for me with what? 00:10:05.120 |
God is commanding us to be fanatics of who he is. 00:10:10.120 |
Now when we look at that, because typically when we think of a fanatic, we think about 00:10:16.280 |
But the reason why he commands and desires fanatics of who he is, is because he is the 00:10:26.440 |
And the moment that we are separated from him, there we find death. 00:10:31.720 |
So the only way that we can truly experience true life is to reconnect with the author 00:10:38.540 |
So his commandment, to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, is really 00:10:43.880 |
for our benefit, because that's what he created us for. 00:10:49.160 |
In the church, it doesn't take much to make fans. 00:10:54.880 |
If we have enough people your age, with similar interests, if there's nice people on our welcome 00:11:00.880 |
team, if the leaders aren't too boring, and they have an embezzled money, and it's like, 00:11:05.760 |
"Ah, we can follow that," and they're somewhat interesting, it doesn't take a lot to make 00:11:12.160 |
But a fanatic is not something that you can create, unless that person really finds the 00:11:20.400 |
Only an individual who has genuinely encountered this God will become a fanatic. 00:11:26.720 |
And that's the struggle that we have in our generation, because there seems to be no distinction 00:11:34.680 |
In fact, every once in a while, there is somebody maybe who takes it too far and says, "You 00:11:41.180 |
You should become a missionary, because you're not like the rest of us." 00:11:45.640 |
Without realizing that that person may be doing exactly what God has called all of us 00:11:54.680 |
You can become a fanatic of pretty much anything. 00:11:57.620 |
If you are a fanatic of making money, you are willing to do whatever it takes to make 00:12:04.280 |
If you're a fanatic of friendship, if you're a fanatic of prestige, if that's where you 00:12:09.460 |
find your greatest joy and greatest life, you're willing to sacrifice anything. 00:12:16.720 |
Years ago, when we first started going out to India, and I remember the very first year 00:12:20.400 |
we went, even our missionary friends were telling us, "Don't go there, because there's 00:12:25.720 |
And there's a few of us that went there that first year, and we literally went into the 00:12:31.280 |
We got off in Bangalore, and we took five hours to drive out to Bellary, and then from 00:12:35.400 |
Bellary, we had at least about two hours to drive to the village, and it really felt like 00:12:41.040 |
I would say about a third of the road was paved, and the other two thirds was like dirt 00:12:46.840 |
And we were going hours and hours into the countryside, and we were thinking, "Man, 00:12:50.840 |
if anything happens here, we would be completely lost." 00:12:53.880 |
Well, once we got there, obviously, we're the only foreigners. 00:12:57.400 |
You don't see anything familiar there, and typically, whenever you travel, the first 00:13:02.080 |
thing that you look for is either McDonald's or Starbucks, because there's some familiarity, 00:13:06.240 |
or at least some English, something that you're familiar with. 00:13:12.080 |
But as the years went by, we started seeing the roads being paved. 00:13:16.520 |
In fact, now, I would say more than two thirds, maybe about 90% of the road has been paved. 00:13:22.400 |
And now, the same hotel that we go to, we will see foreigners hanging out there. 00:13:26.280 |
So the first time I saw a foreigner like us, my initial thought was, "The only reason why 00:13:31.700 |
anybody would be out here is the same reason we're here, is to share the gospel." 00:13:36.280 |
But we realized that through the years that India is starting to rise in their economy, 00:13:41.120 |
so the more and more business people are coming into that area. 00:13:45.240 |
Hyundai came in and set up a huge factory out there, and that's part of the reason why 00:13:50.440 |
But I can imagine the first group of people who came out there to make money, they had 00:13:57.840 |
They had to come to a foreign place that they weren't familiar with, eat foods that they 00:14:01.360 |
weren't familiar with, leave their family behind for a period to establish all that. 00:14:07.320 |
Now it's becoming more and more foreigner-friendly, but there were people who came out there and 00:14:12.200 |
did the same thing that we did, all for the purpose of making money. 00:14:18.800 |
People all over the world will sacrifice, leave their families behind, sometimes even 00:14:23.360 |
ruin their marriages because they are fanatics of money. 00:14:28.180 |
And in a place like that, I can only say, either you are a fan of money or you're a 00:14:35.720 |
That would bring somebody out to a place like that permanently, although we're only there 00:14:43.600 |
See, God knows that if we are not a fanatic of God, most likely we are a fanatic of something 00:14:52.440 |
Because God created us for the purpose of worship. 00:14:55.240 |
You and I gain the greatest satisfaction in life when we live according to the way He 00:15:02.120 |
So when we are not finding the satisfaction in life in Christ, and we are just casual 00:15:07.360 |
fans, we are most likely fanatics of something else. 00:15:12.300 |
You either watching Korean drama, K-pop, I don't know what it is, maybe going to new 00:15:18.140 |
places or finding friends or community, whatever it might be, buying new things, whatever it 00:15:24.420 |
If we are not, if we don't find life in being a fanatic of Christ, whether you are aware 00:15:31.260 |
or not aware of it, most likely you are a fanatic of something else. 00:15:34.980 |
Fanatic of security, fanatic of success, fanatic of money, fanatic of reputation, whatever 00:15:43.020 |
That you are willing to sacrifice, possibly cheat and lie in order to either hold on to 00:15:53.860 |
See what God is saying here about Abel's offering is really a statement not only about 00:15:59.620 |
Abel, but He is distinguishing between a worship that will lead to life and a worship that 00:16:05.460 |
See the background behind this, just so that we better understand what's going on here, 00:16:09.660 |
in Genesis 4, 4-5 it describes Abel's offering. 00:16:12.380 |
It says, "Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat 00:16:22.420 |
And then verse 3, it describes Cain's offering. 00:16:26.140 |
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of fruit 00:16:32.740 |
I don't know if we can put the two verses together simultaneously, but if you notice 00:16:38.260 |
the difference between the sacrifice that is given by Abel, he says on his part he brought 00:16:46.620 |
Firstling, meaning the very first, right, of whatever it is that he had, of the flock. 00:16:56.500 |
So in those three descriptions, it's describing Abel's offering as the best of the flock and 00:17:03.820 |
even of that, the most precious part of that animal. 00:17:08.440 |
But of Cain's, look what it says, "It came about in the course of time that Cain brought 00:17:14.760 |
Not a first offering, not the best offering, it just says, "An offering to the Lord of 00:17:21.900 |
When you read that casually, just kind of reading through the Bible, you may not catch 00:17:26.900 |
But when we slow down and ask the question, "What made Abel's offering acceptable and 00:17:31.660 |
what made Cain's offering unacceptable?" is the distinction between giving the best versus 00:17:48.340 |
So God required it, so I'm just going to give it to him. 00:17:51.740 |
Where Abel also gave of the flock, and he was a herder, but he gave what was best. 00:17:56.740 |
And even of the portion, he didn't keep the best portion to himself, but the fattest portion 00:18:02.200 |
And it is in that, that by at least the initial distinction is between their attitude and 00:18:10.140 |
It says in Isaiah 29 verse 13, "God has been saying this to the nation of Israel over and 00:18:17.260 |
It is the reason why they're going into captivity, it was because they kept on giving God defective 00:18:23.740 |
Isaiah 29 verse 13, "Then the Lord said, 'Because this people draw near with their words and 00:18:30.660 |
honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me, and their 00:18:35.980 |
reverence for me consists of traditions learned by rote.'" 00:18:44.500 |
How often times do we come to worship simply because it's Sunday? 00:18:48.660 |
How often do we come saying, "I'm going to worship God," or "I'm going to attend the 00:18:56.540 |
See, we can attend worship by just getting up, being clothed, and coming and sitting, 00:19:01.860 |
and then when the worship starts, you sit, and when the worship ends, you go home, and 00:19:08.700 |
But there's a difference between attending worship and actually worshiping God. 00:19:13.700 |
There's a huge difference between a fan and a fanatic. 00:19:16.820 |
A fan may come on board when it's exciting, but when it's not exciting, you can't tell. 00:19:24.220 |
Jesus says the same thing in the book of Matthew chapter 15, 8 through 9, "This people honors 00:19:28.580 |
me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. 00:19:33.140 |
But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. 00:19:42.100 |
So, you know, our order of worship, we made it up. 00:19:53.260 |
You know, should we have membership at church? 00:19:56.740 |
All of these things are obviously ways for us to get to God, but these are just rules 00:20:02.840 |
So if you go to another church, there's another set of rules. 00:20:05.420 |
If you go to another church, they have another set of rules. 00:20:08.100 |
And so he says, "All these people are doing is just following rules and attending worship, 00:20:19.320 |
An offering that we give, let's say if you're giving a gift to a friend, right, and you're 00:20:23.980 |
giving it to that person and you put some thought into it. 00:20:27.540 |
You know, you sacrifice, you save that money, and the offering that you give to that person 00:20:31.100 |
or the gift that you give to that person has a lot of meaning behind it because you pour 00:20:36.740 |
I had a friend, and I mentioned this before, who would always carry around precious moment 00:20:43.100 |
He would always have three or four in his car because he would constantly forget anniversaries 00:20:48.600 |
and birthdays, or maybe he said something dumb, you know, to his wife and his wife would 00:20:56.840 |
He would go to the back of his car, take out one of those precious moment dolls, and he 00:21:02.540 |
So he figured out a way to appease her wrath. 00:21:08.340 |
He's not loving her, he's not taking care of her, that's self-centered. 00:21:12.500 |
I want to eat breakfast tomorrow, and the only way that I'm going to do that is appease 00:21:18.740 |
And so he figured out a way, and she's okay, she's not happy with it, and she knew he was 00:21:23.460 |
doing that, but he said, "Okay," you know, because she loved the doll so much, right? 00:21:35.980 |
And he's actually looking for the offering that we bring in our hearts. 00:21:41.860 |
And that's why he was constantly telling the nation of Israel that what you are doing is 00:21:47.860 |
In fact, he actually says that assembly of God's people at the temple was a burden to 00:21:59.500 |
What he's, the distinction that he's making between Abel and Cain's offering is a distinction 00:22:07.060 |
You look, you can see what was going on in Cain's heart by the way he responded when 00:22:13.900 |
In fact, if you look at it carefully, God is actually very gracious to him. 00:22:18.220 |
"Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? 00:22:24.700 |
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?'" 00:22:29.420 |
If you do well, basically meaning if you follow what I told you to do, if you did what Abel 00:22:34.660 |
did, God is giving him an opportunity to repent. 00:22:39.220 |
He's not saying you did it wrong so you're going to die tomorrow. 00:22:43.660 |
He said your whole situation would change if you would just repent. 00:22:48.860 |
Instead of being angry and jealous and having a serious countenance, if you do well, wouldn't 00:22:57.140 |
And if you do not do well, if you choose to remain on this path, he says sin is crouching 00:23:02.780 |
at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it. 00:23:07.540 |
If your pride and anger and jealousy, if you embrace that and allow that to percolate and 00:23:13.100 |
bear fruit, he says sin basically is going to master you. 00:23:17.980 |
Either you repent and get it right and master it, or you allow it to percolate and bear 00:23:28.980 |
Cain chooses to embrace this sin, and in his anger, he becomes the first murderer in human 00:23:38.140 |
In fact, in the book of Jude, verse 10 and 11, it describes, God describes Cain's sin 00:23:43.500 |
this way, "But these men revile the things which they do not understand, and the things 00:23:51.380 |
Like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. 00:23:54.940 |
Woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain." 00:24:04.780 |
And that's the difference between an animal and a human being. 00:24:11.820 |
An unreasoning animal who knows by instinct, he just does whatever he feels like. 00:24:23.820 |
They don't sit down and make a list of these are important things that I need to get to 00:24:26.700 |
today and these are not important things that I don't need to get to. 00:24:29.260 |
These are things that I prioritize, these are things I don't need. 00:24:37.140 |
You know, they get excited about something, they run. 00:24:42.780 |
If they're tired of sleeping, they get up and they run. 00:24:50.120 |
He's living by his flesh, whatever satisfies him. 00:24:54.380 |
The Bible describes the sin of Israel repeatedly over and over again in the same way. 00:24:59.660 |
He says in the book of Judges, their primary sin, every time God would be gracious and 00:25:04.100 |
bring revival, they would fall right back into that sin because everyone did what was 00:25:11.580 |
Instead of following Christ or following God's precepts, everyone did what was right in their 00:25:21.260 |
The Bible describes man's rebellion as simply doing and following and chasing what we want. 00:25:30.020 |
And most of the greatest temptations in life are not obviously sinful. 00:25:41.020 |
I'm going to give to God whatever is convenient to me. 00:25:46.980 |
So I'm satisfied with just being a fan of who he is. 00:25:50.220 |
I'm going to give you another outdated song, Frank Sinatra. 00:25:55.500 |
Some of you guys, most of you guys probably know who he is. 00:26:00.100 |
So this guy is big enough that you guys would know. 00:26:05.540 |
I'm not going to read the whole thing, but just the first verse. 00:26:07.780 |
"And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. 00:26:12.180 |
My friends, I'll say it clear, I'll state my case of which I'm certain. 00:26:23.580 |
But more, much more than this, I did it my way." 00:26:30.860 |
What he describes here in this song, the Bible describes as a way of destruction. 00:26:36.700 |
It is broad, it is easy, it is convenient, and you just make decisions and you just do 00:26:45.620 |
And what our flesh naturally desires is a road to destruction. 00:26:51.360 |
In Proverbs 12-14 it says, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is 00:27:03.940 |
You ever experience that, even as a Christian, where you know you're not walking right with 00:27:10.060 |
And maybe you made some money, maybe your business did well, maybe your children were 00:27:13.860 |
sick and then they became healthy, but even in the midst of that, you know that you are 00:27:17.980 |
not walking the way God wants you to walk, and even in the midst of success, you experience 00:27:29.660 |
Because true life is only when we are connected to the author of life. 00:27:36.700 |
So if you experience, if you're chasing after life outside of Christ, that's what he's describing 00:27:45.540 |
That all your life, you experience one success after another success, after another success, 00:27:52.420 |
and all your life, you can tell other people, "If you do what I do, you can be successful. 00:27:58.580 |
And your life may be written in a book, saying that, "If you really want to be successful, 00:28:05.860 |
And at the end of that, he says, "It's grief." 00:28:10.580 |
Because the only true life is found when we are connected to the author of life. 00:28:16.460 |
The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways. 00:28:21.020 |
A backslider in heart will have his fill of his own way. 00:28:26.380 |
He will continue to make decisions and go after things according to what he desires, 00:28:32.340 |
but a good man will be established or be satisfied with his. 00:28:37.660 |
The distinction between Abel's offering and Cain's offering is a distinction between life 00:28:45.140 |
God warns Cain that sin is crouching at your door, that this temptation is going to overpower 00:28:54.820 |
See, what we need to pay attention to here is faulty worship was what led to the first 00:29:08.260 |
Faulty worship is what led to the first murder. 00:29:11.940 |
Now you may say, "You know, that's kind of hyperbole. 00:29:19.280 |
But I think that's exactly the point that he's trying to make. 00:29:22.960 |
Because God created us for the purpose of worship, when we're not satisfied with the 00:29:27.380 |
Creator, we end up chasing after the creation. 00:29:30.520 |
And when we chase after the creation, there comes covening, there comes slander, there 00:29:36.340 |
All the other sins come as a result of forsaking the ultimate object of our worship. 00:29:45.740 |
Whatever causes us to give defective worship is an open door to all kinds of temptations. 00:29:59.020 |
We do not come and reconcile by our terms and by whatever is the most convenient for 00:30:09.300 |
Abel's sacrifice left a testimony and speaks to us even to this day. 00:30:14.380 |
So we may look at that and say, "Well, maybe because Abel was smart and Abel gave what 00:30:24.060 |
He says it made him righteous and it gave him a testimony which still speaks to us today. 00:30:31.220 |
So what is it about that that points to speaking to us today and furthermore? 00:30:40.420 |
Now we know that animal sacrifice, like there is no mention of that in Genesis chapter 3, 00:30:44.820 |
saying like this is the only way of atonement. 00:30:47.260 |
But in Genesis chapter 3, we have what's called the proto-evangelium, which translation means 00:30:55.300 |
As soon as they fall, God has a plan that the serpent is going to bruise the heel of 00:31:02.140 |
the woman's seed and the seed is going to crush the head of the serpent. 00:31:05.860 |
And that's the description of how Jesus is going to come and he's going to overpower 00:31:12.700 |
Now that's not explained, but when we know what's going on in the New Testament, we look 00:31:15.940 |
back at that and say clearly he left evidence of that. 00:31:18.760 |
And so when we get to chapter 4, he says Abel gives blood sacrifice, which is acceptable 00:31:26.140 |
It doesn't describe for us how much they understood what was going on. 00:31:31.340 |
Even though we started through the book of Leviticus, Leviticus, all the offerings that 00:31:35.740 |
were given in the book of Leviticus was not the first time they did that. 00:31:40.380 |
You see it in Deuteronomy, you see it in Exodus, you see it all over Genesis, and you see it 00:31:45.020 |
as early as Genesis chapter 4, that there was an understanding that is not explained 00:31:52.420 |
There was an understanding that blood sacrifice was necessary. 00:31:56.380 |
And so when Abel gave his offering, not only was it the best, not only did he follow the 00:32:01.100 |
prescription, his blood sacrifice pointed to something that was coming. 00:32:11.500 |
In Hebrews chapter 9, 22, in Leviticus 17, 11 it says, "Without the shedding of blood, 00:32:20.260 |
The only way that even with our best effort that we can reconcile with this God is through 00:32:26.940 |
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 24, "And to Jesus, the medium of our new covenant, and to the 00:32:31.580 |
sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel." 00:32:38.220 |
Abel was just a precursor, a foreshadow of what he was going to do to reconcile people 00:32:46.900 |
So right off the bat, in Genesis chapter 3 and chapter 4, God is foreshadowing a way 00:32:54.740 |
for sinners to be reconciled to him from the get-go. 00:32:58.460 |
So the gospel is not introduced to us in John 3, 16. 00:33:02.940 |
The good news was embedded according to Ephesians when? 00:33:06.980 |
Before even the creation of the world, before you and I could even understand. 00:33:10.700 |
Even before this event, God had plans to reconcile sinners to himself. 00:33:17.720 |
So chapter 4 is describing to us, or verse 4 in this passage is describing to us, a way 00:33:29.660 |
Because it is only when we become true worshipers of God, we truly live. 00:33:36.820 |
So many people interpret John chapter 10, verse 10, when Jesus says, "I have come to 00:33:43.700 |
And they wonder why, "If God came to give me life abundantly, how come I'm having such 00:33:49.740 |
How come I have such a hard time with my family? 00:33:52.580 |
How come I have such a hard time to getting promoted at work because he said he's going 00:33:59.820 |
But the abundant life that he's referring to is not an abundant life here. 00:34:05.140 |
It's only life that you can have when you are reconnected with the author of life. 00:34:11.260 |
And only when you're reconnected with the author of life. 00:34:15.380 |
So the greater of a fan, greater of a worship that we are of him, the more we experience 00:34:21.780 |
I don't know about you, but the happiest people that I know in this world are people who are 00:34:44.340 |
Every new Bible comes out, they got to get the new one. 00:34:54.140 |
And there's a joy that exuberates that comes from them that is not fake. 00:34:58.520 |
You can get fans to show up on time if you are A students. 00:35:02.940 |
You can get fans to open up the Bible, attend Bible study, and be responsible and become 00:35:07.380 |
good citizens and attend, do this, and do everything that's expected. 00:35:13.500 |
But a fanatic, fanatic of Christ is not something that you and I create. 00:35:21.340 |
That's something that happens because we encounter this God. 00:35:27.980 |
He didn't become who he was because Jesus spent a lot of time with him, telling him 00:35:31.460 |
right and wrong and telling him the good word. 00:35:46.460 |
And from that point on, he was willing even to give his life to tell other people about 00:35:51.980 |
this, because whatever comes after this, meeting Christ, is way better than whatever it was 00:35:59.740 |
See, he's calling us to be fanatics, to come deeper. 00:36:09.740 |
He says, "Come to the throne of grace with confidence," because the whole purpose of 00:36:17.180 |
The whole purpose of salvation is in, "Now you're no longer condemned. 00:36:31.620 |
Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, so I can give you rest. 00:36:36.460 |
Come to the throne of grace with confidence." 00:36:40.980 |
That's the good news of the gospel, that the door to life has been opened. 00:36:47.020 |
Not to simply admire it, not to simply write about it, not to simply take pictures and 00:36:56.380 |
Because true life is found in Christ, in Christ alone. 00:37:03.980 |
That's what Cain and Abel's offering was pointed to, that speaks to us to this day. 00:37:09.300 |
Hebrews 9, 13-14, "For if the blood of goats and bulls and ashes of hypher, sprinkling 00:37:14.860 |
those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more 00:37:19.260 |
will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish 00:37:23.740 |
to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" 00:37:30.460 |
And then finally, 1 Peter 1, 18-20, "Knowing that you are not redeemed with the perishable 00:37:34.540 |
things like silver or gold from your feudal way of life, inherited from your forefathers, 00:37:40.100 |
but with the precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." 00:37:47.980 |
You know, it almost seems like a contradiction or an oxymoron to say that the way of life 00:38:13.980 |
From a worldly perspective, if all we know is here, then what a tragedy. 00:38:20.160 |
The guy who was right before God, the guy who gave his best, the guy who gave the blood 00:38:23.900 |
sacrifice, he's the one who ended his life early. 00:38:32.220 |
But from God's perspective, from an eternal perspective, we can say that Abel died with 00:38:47.780 |
There's a lot of people who don't want to be here, because that's their personal testimony. 00:38:53.220 |
Living a long life is not a blessing in and of itself. 00:38:58.500 |
Existing in this fallen world with all the depravity, with all the chaos, with all the 00:39:02.940 |
hurts, with all the families that are broken up, with all the past pains that they have 00:39:07.580 |
to live with, living a long life is not a blessing in and of itself. 00:39:13.500 |
God did not call us so that we can live long. 00:39:18.900 |
God called us so that we can live, truly live. 00:39:23.700 |
And the only path that causes us to do that is the path of Abel. 00:39:29.300 |
By faith, he offered up a better sacrifice, which caused him to be righteous. 00:39:36.220 |
And this righteousness and the blood sacrifice and right worship of Abel speaks to us even 00:39:49.260 |
So as we look at the other people in Hebrews chapter 11, if we miss this point, you may 00:39:56.860 |
study the book of Hebrews and say, "Oh, if I just believed, if I had more faith, I can 00:40:05.420 |
Because the point of this, there's the first part of it, what will teach us that God used 00:40:10.440 |
them and delivered them and did all of this stuff. 00:40:12.500 |
And then the second part will come out, but some of these people died early, were tortured, 00:40:16.540 |
were beaten, but all of it did it because they believed. 00:40:22.420 |
They believed that life was in God, that promised land was not a physical land, but a land that 00:40:29.260 |
So I pray that as we look at this foundation, that that would embed into our hearts. 00:40:33.700 |
And again, and I'm going to say this over and over again, as I've always been saying, 00:40:37.940 |
and his point is the same, fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our