back to indexSunday Service 10.18.2020
00:00:56.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:01:16.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:02:24.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:02:44.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:03:12.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:03:20.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:03:40.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:04:08.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:04:18.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:04:28.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:04:36.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:04:46.000 |
I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy. 00:26:01.000 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11. 00:26:04.000 |
We're going to be reading from verse 1 through 4. 00:26:07.000 |
And main text today is going to be on one verse, verse 4. 00:26:11.000 |
Again, I promise we are going to be going faster than just one verse a week. 00:26:16.000 |
It's just that we want to make sure that we cover this and set the right foundation 00:26:19.000 |
before we get to the other heroes of the faith. 00:26:26.000 |
So I want to read all four verses before we get started this morning. 00:27:00.000 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for your anointing over this time. 00:27:07.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to hear from you and to glean from this verse, this passage, 00:27:14.000 |
I pray that you would give us eagerness, Lord God, to hear from you, 00:27:23.000 |
All right, again, I want to apologize if you are not a Lakers fan. 00:27:30.000 |
Just for today and then next week maybe consider it again. 00:27:33.000 |
But again, as you guys know, Lakers won their 17th championship 00:27:46.000 |
But after every game that happens, obviously they'll put up the banner up there. 00:27:53.000 |
And then they'll have the Hall of Famers whose jerseys have been retired. 00:27:58.000 |
And then eventually other people will get retired. 00:28:01.000 |
And the reason why they do that is obviously to venerate, 00:28:04.000 |
just to kind of honor that these are the teams that win, 00:28:08.000 |
And the new people that have come and they retired their jerseys 00:28:14.000 |
When they look up, this is what Lakers is about. 00:28:19.000 |
But obviously you can look at that and the new players coming in 00:28:22.000 |
and get intimidated and think, "I will never be able to live up to that." 00:28:26.000 |
Now obviously these guys are Hall of Fame basketball players. 00:28:29.000 |
So it's not assumed that every basketball player, 00:28:32.000 |
in fact more than 99% of the players that come in and play for Lakers 00:28:36.000 |
are not going to have their jerseys retired like that. 00:28:38.000 |
But the reason why they do that is not simply to intimidate but to inspire. 00:28:42.000 |
So they're kind of like the Hall of Fame or the heroes basically of Lakers, 00:28:50.000 |
I say all of this because Chapter 11 is a Hall of Fame for people of faith. 00:28:56.000 |
And so everything that the author has been saying has been leading up to Chapter 11 00:29:00.000 |
saying that not to drift, but here's some examples of people who live by faith 00:29:07.000 |
And then after he does that, starting from Chapter 12, 00:29:09.000 |
he's going to point back to them saying, "Considering the cloud of witnesses," 00:29:16.000 |
"that we ought to follow that example and continue to persevere in our faith." 00:29:20.000 |
So today is the first person in the Hall of Fame. 00:29:23.000 |
So he's like the first retired jersey that we're looking at today. 00:29:28.000 |
So we're looking at verse 4 and starts out of the story between Abel and Cain, 00:29:35.000 |
how Abel's offering was acceptable and Cain's offering was not. 00:29:41.000 |
Just to kind of--before we even jump into it, that we understand what's going on. 00:29:47.000 |
The story of Cain and Abel is the first generation of people who were born into sin. 00:29:59.000 |
So the first generation of people, the first fruits of Adam and Eve after they fell 00:30:09.000 |
The stories that we see in the Old Testament and New Testament 00:30:12.000 |
are not a collection of random things that happen 00:30:14.000 |
and just kind of telling us this is what happened. 00:30:17.000 |
So whenever we study the Bible, we're doing inductive study of 1 Thessalonians, 00:30:22.000 |
one of the key things that we have to constantly ask is, 00:30:27.000 |
Not only the context of the immediate text of the letter of the Old Covenant and New Covenant, 00:30:33.000 |
but in his redemptive, in the meta-narrative of the Bible, 00:30:37.000 |
in the redemptive history, where does this fit? 00:30:42.000 |
Other than to just tell us that Adam and Eve had children and they ended up, 00:30:50.000 |
Well, we're going to see here what he says here is really foundational to our faith. 00:30:56.000 |
What he says in this one verse really sets the table 00:31:01.000 |
of how we understand the rest of redemptive history. 00:31:05.000 |
And so hopefully we will be able to unpack that together this morning. 00:31:09.000 |
So I want to look at verse 4 again, just verse 4. 00:31:12.000 |
And then we're going to deal with two things that he says here this morning. 00:31:16.000 |
Verse 4, "By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain." 00:31:21.000 |
So that's the first point we're going to look at. 00:31:23.000 |
It was a better sacrifice. What made this a better sacrifice? 00:31:27.000 |
And then 2, "Through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous." 00:31:32.000 |
Through the better sacrifice, Abel became righteous. 00:31:36.000 |
God testifying about his gift and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 00:31:42.000 |
What is it about his testimony, what is it about him becoming righteous 00:31:49.000 |
So that's the second part we're going to be looking at. 00:31:56.000 |
So in order for us to better understand what is going on here, 00:31:59.000 |
it's good for us to understand what is a sacrifice. 00:32:02.000 |
Sacrifice, another way of saying a sacrifice is an offering. 00:32:07.000 |
Now in our modern day worship, we don't use the word sacrifice. 00:32:10.000 |
Typically when we say sacrifice, we're talking about giving up something that is valuable to us. 00:32:15.000 |
But here, in the context of sacrifice, it's talking about offering. 00:32:20.000 |
And offering is what is given in the context of worship. 00:32:25.000 |
So, another way to say this is, God looked at the offering that Abel gave and he says, 00:32:39.000 |
So what is laid here, basically is telling us, through the story of Cain and Abel, 00:32:44.000 |
what worship is acceptable and what worship is not acceptable. 00:32:52.000 |
the Bible says that we are created for the purpose of worship. 00:32:57.000 |
So if our central identity, central identity, 00:33:02.000 |
is not what nationality, what language you speak, or your economic status, 00:33:12.000 |
God says he created us in his image, to bear his image. 00:33:17.000 |
In other words, we were to reflect his glory. 00:33:21.000 |
And so when he says to Adam and Eve that this is acceptable worship, 00:33:26.000 |
this is not acceptable worship, he's laying the foundation for sinners to be able to come to him. 00:33:39.000 |
Now, in order to better understand what worship is, 00:33:42.000 |
again, I'm going to use the analogy of sports, right? 00:33:45.000 |
If you are a casual fan, let's say if you're... 00:33:48.000 |
I would say I'm not a fanatic, I would say I'm a fan. 00:33:51.000 |
I enjoy watching Lakers, but my car is not purple and gold, 00:33:55.000 |
I don't have purple and gold underwear, I don't have purple and gold socks. 00:33:58.000 |
You see some fanatics when you go to the arena, 00:34:01.000 |
I mean, they are fanatics, they'll paint their face, 00:34:04.000 |
they'll take off their shirt, they'll have their favorite player's number printed on their chest. 00:34:12.000 |
And we would say they're not just fans, they're not just casual fans, they are fanatics. 00:34:16.000 |
If you go into their room, their room is painted purple and gold, right? 00:34:20.000 |
And they know the shoe sizes of every player, 00:34:23.000 |
they know when they got married, how many children they have, 00:34:26.000 |
and their stats, and they know everything, right? 00:34:29.000 |
So a fan is somebody who just casually enjoys it from a distance, 00:34:33.000 |
and if they happen to be in championship, we kind of get on board, 00:34:39.000 |
But a fanatic is day and night, 24/7, that's what he does. 00:34:45.000 |
So the difference between a fan and a fanatic, 00:34:48.000 |
a fanatic, that's his primary thing that brings him the greatest joy. 00:34:53.000 |
That's it. That's what brings him the greatest joy. 00:35:02.000 |
In fact, most fanatics, their friends will actually tell them to calm down, right? 00:35:09.000 |
Most fans are like, "Yeah, you know, we're going to get together and watch, 00:35:12.000 |
you know, watch basketball together," but if you're a fanatic, 00:35:17.000 |
you probably have some friends that are concerned about you. 00:35:20.000 |
You know, "You're spending too much money. You're--too much time. 00:35:26.000 |
See, in the context of worship, God did not call us to be fans. 00:35:38.000 |
Because the Bible says--what is the greatest commandment? 00:35:41.000 |
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." 00:35:47.000 |
He says what God is looking for, people are going to worship him in spirit and in truth. 00:35:52.000 |
He said, "You will seek me and find me if you seek for me with what? 00:36:01.000 |
God is commanding us to be fanatics of who he is. 00:36:06.000 |
Now, when we look at that, because typically when we think of a fanatic, 00:36:09.000 |
we're thinking about somebody who went too far. 00:36:12.000 |
But the reason why he commands and desires fanatics of who he is 00:36:22.000 |
And the moment that we are separated from him, there we find death. 00:36:27.000 |
So the only way that we can truly experience true life 00:36:34.000 |
So his commandment to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength 00:36:39.000 |
is really for our benefit, because that's what he created us for. 00:36:45.000 |
So in the church, it doesn't take much to make fans. 00:36:50.000 |
If we have enough people your age with similar interests, 00:36:57.000 |
if the leaders aren't too boring and they have an embezzled money, 00:37:01.000 |
and it's like, "Ah, we can follow that," and they're somewhat interesting, 00:37:04.000 |
it doesn't take a lot to make fans of people. 00:37:08.000 |
But a fanatic is not something that you can create, 00:37:11.000 |
unless that person really finds the greatest joy in this. 00:37:16.000 |
Only an individual who has genuinely encountered this God 00:37:22.000 |
And that's the struggle that we have in our generation, 00:37:25.000 |
because there seems to be no distinction between a fan and a fanatic. 00:37:30.000 |
In fact, every once in a while, there is somebody maybe who takes it too far 00:37:36.000 |
You should become a missionary, because you're not like the rest of us." 00:37:41.000 |
Not realizing that that person may be doing exactly what God has called all of us to do. 00:37:47.000 |
You know, you can become a fanatic of pretty much anything. 00:37:56.000 |
you are willing to do whatever it takes to make money. 00:37:59.000 |
If you are a fanatic of friendship, if you are a fanatic of prestige, 00:38:04.000 |
if that's where you find your greatest joy and greatest life, 00:38:12.000 |
Years ago, when we first started going out to India, 00:38:17.000 |
even our missionary friends were telling us, "Don't go there, 00:38:19.000 |
because there's not a lot of support out there." 00:38:21.000 |
And there's a few of us that went there that first year, 00:38:26.000 |
We got off in Bangalore, and we took five hours to drive out to Bellary, 00:38:30.000 |
and then from Bellary we had at least about two hours to drive to the village, 00:38:37.000 |
I would say about a third of the road was paved, 00:38:42.000 |
And we were going hours and hours into the countryside, 00:38:45.000 |
and we were thinking, "Man, if anything happens here, 00:38:50.000 |
Well, once we got there, obviously we're the only foreigners, 00:38:57.000 |
the first thing that you look for is either McDonald's or Starbucks, 00:39:00.000 |
because there's some familiarity, or at least some English, 00:39:08.000 |
But as the years went by, we started seeing the roads being paved. 00:39:12.000 |
In fact, now I would say more than two-thirds, 00:39:18.000 |
And now the same hotel that we go to, we will see foreigners hanging out there. 00:39:27.000 |
the only reason why anybody would be out here, 00:39:29.000 |
it's the same reason we're here, is to share the gospel. 00:39:34.000 |
that India is starting to rise in their economy, 00:39:37.000 |
so the more and more business people are coming into that area. 00:39:42.000 |
Hyundai came in and set up a huge factory out there, 00:39:44.000 |
and that's part of the reason why the roads got paved. 00:39:54.000 |
They had to come to a foreign place that they weren't familiar with, 00:40:00.000 |
leave their family behind for a period to establish all that. 00:40:03.000 |
Now it's becoming more and more foreigner-friendly, 00:40:31.000 |
That would bring somebody out to a place like that permanently, 00:40:36.000 |
although we're only there for a short period of time. 00:40:39.000 |
See, God knows that if we are not a fanatic of God, 00:40:44.000 |
most likely we are a fanatic of something else. 00:40:47.000 |
Because God created us for the purpose of worship. 00:40:50.000 |
You and I gain the greatest satisfaction in life 00:40:53.000 |
when we live according to the way He created us. 00:40:57.000 |
So when we are not finding the satisfaction in life in Christ, 00:41:03.000 |
we are most likely fanatics of something else. 00:41:12.000 |
maybe going to new places, or finding friends or community, 00:41:19.000 |
If we are not, if we don't find life in being a fanatic of Christ, 00:41:28.000 |
most likely you are a fanatic of something else. 00:41:38.000 |
That you are willing to sacrifice, possibly cheat and lie, 00:41:43.000 |
in order to either hold on to it or to attain it. 00:41:49.000 |
See, what God is saying here about Abel's offering 00:41:55.000 |
but He's distinguishing between a worship that will lead to life 00:42:02.000 |
just so that we better understand what's going on here, 00:42:04.000 |
in Genesis 4, 4-5 it describes Abel's offering. 00:42:08.000 |
It says, "Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock 00:42:17.000 |
And then verse 3, it describes Cain's offering. 00:42:21.000 |
"So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering 00:42:28.000 |
I don't know if we can put the two verses together simultaneously, 00:42:32.000 |
but if you notice the difference between the sacrifice that is given by Abel, 00:42:38.000 |
he says, "On his part he brought a firstling." 00:42:54.000 |
it's describing Abel's offering as the best of the flock, 00:42:59.000 |
and even of that, the most precious part of that animal. 00:43:06.000 |
"It came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering." 00:43:12.000 |
it just says, "An offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground." 00:43:17.000 |
When you read that casually, just kind of reading through the Bible, 00:43:30.000 |
is the distinction between giving the best versus just giving. 00:43:44.000 |
So God required it, so I'm just going to give it to him. 00:43:47.000 |
Where Abel also gave of the flock, and he was a herder, 00:43:52.000 |
And even of the portion, he didn't keep the best portion to himself, 00:43:55.000 |
but the fattest portion, he offered it to God. 00:43:57.000 |
And it is in that, that by at least the initial distinction, 00:44:00.000 |
is between their attitude and the way that they gave. 00:44:08.000 |
God has been saying this to the nation of Israel over and over and over again. 00:44:15.000 |
is because they kept on giving God defective worship. 00:44:19.000 |
Isaiah 29 verse 13, "Then the Lord said, 'Because these people draw near with their words, 00:44:25.000 |
and honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me, 00:44:31.000 |
and their reverence for me consists of traditions learned by rote.'" 00:44:39.000 |
How often times do we come to worship simply because it's Sunday? 00:44:43.000 |
How often do we come saying, "I'm going to worship God." 00:44:52.000 |
See, we can attend worship by just getting up, being clothed, and coming and sitting, 00:44:57.000 |
and then when the worship starts, you sit, and when the worship ends, you go home, 00:45:04.000 |
But there's a difference between attending worship and actually worshiping God. 00:45:09.000 |
There's a huge difference between a fan and a fanatic. 00:45:19.000 |
Jesus says the same thing in the book of Matthew, chapters 15, 8 through 9. 00:45:23.000 |
"This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. 00:45:28.000 |
But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." 00:45:45.000 |
Should we start first? Should we do the offering in the middle? 00:45:49.000 |
Should we have membership at church? How should we organize our Bible study? 00:45:52.000 |
All of these things are obviously ways for us to get to God, 00:45:58.000 |
So, if you go to another church, there's another set of rules. 00:46:00.000 |
If you go to another church, they have another set of rules. 00:46:03.000 |
And so, he says, "All these people are doing is just following rules and attending worship, 00:46:14.000 |
An offering that we give, let's say if you're giving a gift to a friend, 00:46:18.000 |
and you're giving it to that person, and you put some thought into it. 00:46:22.000 |
You know, you sacrificed, you saved up money, 00:46:24.000 |
and the offering that you give to that person, or the gift that you give to that person, 00:46:28.000 |
has a lot of meaning behind it because you poured your heart into it. 00:46:34.000 |
who would always carry around precious moment dolls in his car. 00:46:38.000 |
He would always have three or four in his car 00:46:40.000 |
because he would constantly forget anniversaries and birthdays, 00:46:45.000 |
or maybe he said something dumb to his wife, and his wife would be ticked off. 00:46:52.000 |
He would go to the back of his car, take out one of those precious moment dolls, 00:46:58.000 |
So, he figured out a way to appease her wrath. 00:47:03.000 |
He's not loving her. He's not taking care of her. 00:47:08.000 |
I want to eat breakfast tomorrow, and the only way that I'm going to do that is appease this wrath. 00:47:18.000 |
And she knew he was doing that, but he said, "Okay." 00:47:20.000 |
You know, because she loved the doll so much. Right? 00:47:32.000 |
He's actually looking for the offering that we bring in our hearts. 00:47:37.000 |
And that's why he was constantly telling the nation of Israel that what you are doing is not worship. 00:47:44.000 |
In fact, he actually says that assembly of God's people at the temple was a burden to him. 00:47:54.000 |
The distinction that he's making between Abel and Cain's offering is a distinction between life and death. 00:48:02.000 |
You can see what was going on in Cain's heart by the way he responded 00:48:09.000 |
In fact, if you look at it carefully, God is actually very gracious to him. 00:48:13.000 |
"Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 00:48:19.000 |
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?'" 00:48:25.000 |
Basically meaning, if you follow what I told you to do. 00:48:34.000 |
He's not saying, "You did it wrong, so you're going to die tomorrow." 00:48:39.000 |
He said, "Your whole situation would change if you would just repent." 00:48:43.000 |
Instead of being angry and jealous and having a serious countenance. 00:48:48.000 |
If you do well, wouldn't your situation change? 00:48:52.000 |
And if you do not do well, if you choose to remain on this path, 00:48:56.000 |
he says, "Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it." 00:49:02.000 |
If your pride and anger and jealousy, if you embrace that and allow that to percolate and bear fruit, 00:49:09.000 |
he says, "Sin is basically going to master you." 00:49:12.000 |
Either you repent and get it right and master it, 00:49:23.000 |
Cain chooses to embrace this sin, and in his anger, he becomes the first murderer in human history. 00:49:32.000 |
In fact, in the book of Jude, verse 10 and 11, it describes, 00:49:39.000 |
"But these men revile the things which they do not understand, and the things which they know by instinct. 00:49:46.000 |
Like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. 00:49:50.000 |
Woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain." 00:49:59.000 |
And that's the difference between an animal and a human being. 00:50:04.000 |
He says, he just does whatever, right? An unreasoning animal who knows by instinct. 00:50:18.000 |
They don't sit down and make a list of, "These are important things that I need to get to today, 00:50:22.000 |
and these are not important things that I don't need to get to. 00:50:24.000 |
These are things that I prioritize. These are things I don't need." 00:50:28.000 |
So, if it's something that they like, they want it. 00:50:37.000 |
If they're tired of sleeping, they get up, and they run. 00:50:41.000 |
That's what he's describing, the sin of Cain. 00:50:44.000 |
He's living by his flesh, whatever satisfies him. 00:50:48.000 |
The Bible describes the sin of Israel repeatedly, over and over again, in the same way. 00:50:54.000 |
He says in the book of Judges, their primary sin, 00:50:57.000 |
every time God would be gracious and bring us revival, 00:51:00.000 |
they would fall right back into that sin because everyone did what was right in their own eyes. 00:51:05.000 |
Instead of following Christ, or following God's precepts, 00:51:11.000 |
everyone did what was right in their own eyes, over and over and over again. 00:51:16.000 |
The Bible describes man's rebellion as simply doing and following and chasing what we want. 00:51:24.000 |
And most of the greatest temptations in life are not obviously sinful. 00:51:32.000 |
It's just, "That's what I want. That's what I desire. 00:51:36.000 |
I'm going to give to God whatever is convenient to me." 00:51:42.000 |
So I'm satisfied with just being a fan of who he is. 00:51:46.000 |
I'm going to give you another outdated song, Frank Sinatra. 00:51:55.000 |
This guy is big enough that you guys would know. 00:52:00.000 |
I'm not going to read the whole thing, but just the first verse. 00:52:03.000 |
"And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. 00:52:07.000 |
My friends, I'll say it clear. I'll state my case of which I'm certain. 00:52:13.000 |
I've lived a life that's full. I traveled each and every highway. 00:52:18.000 |
But more, much more than this, I did it my way." 00:52:25.000 |
What he describes here in this song, the Bible describes as a way of destruction. 00:52:35.000 |
And you just make decisions, and you just do whatever comes natural to you. 00:52:40.000 |
And what our flesh naturally desires is a road to destruction. 00:52:46.000 |
In Proverbs 12-14, it says, "There is a way which seems right to a man, 00:52:58.000 |
You ever experience that, even as a Christian, 00:53:02.000 |
where you know you're not walking right with God? 00:53:05.000 |
And maybe you made some money, maybe your business did well, 00:53:08.000 |
maybe your children were sick and then they became healthy, 00:53:10.000 |
but even in the midst of that, you know that you are not walking the way God wants you to walk, 00:53:15.000 |
and even in the midst of success, you experience emptiness and pain. 00:53:24.000 |
Because true life is only when we are connected to the author of life. 00:53:31.000 |
So if you experience, if you're chasing after life outside of Christ, 00:53:40.000 |
That all your life, you experience one success after another success, 00:53:45.000 |
and after another success, and all your life, you can tell other people, 00:53:52.000 |
You can make all the money, and your life may be written in a book, 00:53:56.000 |
saying that if you really want to be successful, do this, 00:54:01.000 |
And at the end of that, he says, "It's grief." 00:54:05.000 |
Because the only true life is found when we are connected to the author of life. 00:54:11.000 |
The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways. 00:54:16.000 |
A backslider in heart will have his fill of his own way. 00:54:21.000 |
He will continue to make decisions and go after things according to what he desires, 00:54:27.000 |
but a good man will be established, or will be satisfied, with his. 00:54:32.000 |
The distinction between Abel's offering and Cain's offering 00:54:40.000 |
God warns Cain that sin is crouching at your door, 00:54:43.000 |
that this temptation is going to overpower you and lead you to destruction. 00:54:49.000 |
See, what we need to pay attention to here is faulty worship was what led to the first murder. 00:55:01.000 |
Let me say that again. Faulty worship is what led to the first murder. 00:55:06.000 |
Now you may say, "You know, that's kind of hyperbole. You're exaggerating." 00:55:14.000 |
But I think that's exactly the point that he's trying to make. 00:55:17.000 |
Because God created us for the purpose of worship, 00:55:20.000 |
when we're not satisfied with the Creator, we end up chasing after the creation. 00:55:25.000 |
And when we chase after the creation, there comes covening, there comes slander, there comes murder. 00:55:30.000 |
All the other sins come as a result of forsaking the ultimate object of our worship. 00:55:40.000 |
Whatever causes us to give defective worship is an open door to all kinds of temptations. 00:55:53.000 |
We do not come and reconcile by our terms and by whatever is the most convenient for us. 00:56:03.000 |
Abel's sacrifice left a testimony and speaks to us even to this day. 00:56:08.000 |
It made him righteous. So we may look at that and say, 00:56:10.000 |
"Well, maybe because Abel was smart, and Abel gave what was best, and he worked harder than Cain." 00:56:17.000 |
That's not what he's pointing to. He says it made him righteous, 00:56:20.000 |
and it gave him a testimony which still speaks to us today. 00:56:25.000 |
So what is it about that that points to speaking to us today and furthermore? 00:56:35.000 |
Now we know that animal sacrifice, like there is no mention of that in Genesis 3, 00:56:42.000 |
But in Genesis 3, we have what's called the proto-evangelium, which translation means first gospel. 00:56:53.000 |
The serpent is going to bruise the heel of the woman's seed, 00:56:58.000 |
and the seed is going to crush the head of the serpent. 00:57:00.000 |
And that's a description of how Jesus is going to come, and he's going to overpower the accuser. 00:57:07.000 |
Now, that's not explained, but when we know what's going on in the New Testament, 00:57:10.000 |
we look back at that and say, "Clearly he left evidence of that." 00:57:13.000 |
And so when we get to chapter 4, he says, "Abel gives blood sacrifice, which is acceptable to him." 00:57:20.000 |
It doesn't describe for us how much they understood what was going on. 00:57:25.000 |
Even though we studied through the book of Leviticus, 00:57:28.000 |
Leviticus, all the offerings that were given in the book of Leviticus, was not the first time they did that. 00:57:34.000 |
You see it in Deuteronomy, you see it in Exodus, you see it all over Genesis, 00:57:39.000 |
and you see it as early as Genesis chapter 4. 00:57:42.000 |
That there was an understanding that is not explained to us. 00:57:46.000 |
There was an understanding that blood sacrifice was necessary. 00:57:50.000 |
And so when Abel gave his offering, not only was it the best, 00:57:54.000 |
not only did he follow the prescription, his blood sacrifice pointed to something that was coming. 00:58:05.000 |
In Hebrews chapter 9, 22, in Leviticus 17, 11, it says, 00:58:09.000 |
"Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." 00:58:14.000 |
The only way that even with our best effort that we can reconcile with this God 00:58:19.000 |
is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 00:58:21.000 |
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 24, "And to Jesus, the medium of our new covenant, 00:58:25.000 |
and to the sprinkle of blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel." 00:58:32.000 |
Abel was just a precursor, a foreshadow of what he was going to do to reconcile people to himself. 00:58:41.000 |
So right off the bat, in Genesis chapter 3 and chapter 4, 00:58:46.000 |
God is foreshadowing a way for sinners to be reconciled to him from the get-go. 00:58:53.000 |
So the gospel is not introduced to us in John 3, 16. 00:58:57.000 |
The good news was embedded according to Ephesians when? 00:59:01.000 |
Before even the creation of the world, before you and I could even understand. 00:59:05.000 |
Even before this event, God had plans to reconcile sinners to himself. 00:59:12.000 |
So chapter 4 is describing to us, or verse 4 in this passage is describing to us, 00:59:19.000 |
a way for mankind to reestablish the worship. 00:59:24.000 |
Because it is only when we become true worshipers of God, we truly live. 00:59:31.000 |
So many people interpret John chapter 10, verse 10, when Jesus says, 00:59:35.000 |
"I have come to give life, and to give this life abundantly." 00:59:38.000 |
And they wonder why, if God came to give me life abundantly, 00:59:41.000 |
how come I'm having such a hard time paying bills? 00:59:44.000 |
How come I have such a hard time with my family? 00:59:47.000 |
How come I have such a hard time to getting promoted at work? 00:59:50.000 |
Because he said he's going to make my life abundant. 00:59:54.000 |
But the abundant life that he's referring to is not an abundant life here. 00:59:59.000 |
It's the only life that you can have when you are reconnected with the author of life. 01:00:05.000 |
And only when you're reconnected with the author of life. 01:00:09.000 |
So the greater of a fan, greater of a worship that we are of him, 01:00:17.000 |
I don't know about you, but the happiest people that I know in this world 01:00:27.000 |
Almost to the point like, "Hey, calm down. Calm down. 01:00:33.000 |
Our worship's at 11. You don't need to show up at 10 o'clock. Calm down." 01:00:38.000 |
Every new Bible comes out, they got to get the new one. 01:00:41.000 |
They got to get to every conference. They're at every single conference. 01:00:44.000 |
They're always at the front. They're always singing the loudest. 01:00:48.000 |
And there's a joy that exuberates that comes from them that is not fake. 01:00:53.000 |
You can get fans to show up on time if you are A students. 01:00:57.000 |
You can get fans to open up the Bible, attend Bible study, 01:01:03.000 |
and attend, do this, and do everything that's expected. 01:01:15.000 |
That's something that happens because we encounter this God. 01:01:22.000 |
He didn't become who he was because Jesus spent a lot of time with him, 01:01:25.000 |
telling him right and wrong, and telling him the good word. 01:01:28.000 |
No, he encountered, he encountered the glory of Christ. 01:01:34.000 |
And it became rubbish. He wasn't discipled to think rubbish. 01:01:40.000 |
And from that point on, he was willing even to give his life 01:01:44.000 |
to tell other people about this because whatever comes after this, 01:01:48.000 |
meeting Christ, is way better than whatever it was that he was pursuing. 01:02:05.000 |
"Come to the throne of grace with confidence." 01:02:08.000 |
Because the whole purpose of salvation is in that statement. 01:02:25.000 |
Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, 01:02:37.000 |
That the door to life has been opened. Now come. 01:02:41.000 |
Not to simply admire it. Not to simply write about it. 01:02:45.000 |
Not to simply take pictures and put it on the wall. 01:02:58.000 |
That's what Cain and Abel's offering was pointed to. 01:03:05.000 |
"For if the blood of goats and bulls and ashes of 01:03:08.000 |
"hyphor, sprinkling those who have been defiled, 01:03:15.000 |
"who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, 01:03:18.000 |
"cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" 01:03:26.000 |
"Knowing that you are not redeemed with the perishable things like silver or gold 01:03:33.000 |
"but with the precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, 01:03:41.000 |
You know, it almost seems like a contradiction or an oxymoron to say 01:04:26.000 |
But from God's perspective, from an eternal perspective, 01:04:42.000 |
There's a lot of people who don't want to be here. 01:04:47.000 |
Living a long life is not a blessing in and of itself. 01:04:52.000 |
Existing in this fallen world with all the depravity, 01:05:00.000 |
with all the past pains that they have to live with, 01:05:02.000 |
living a long life is not a blessing in and of itself. 01:05:07.000 |
God did not call us so that we can live long. 01:05:13.000 |
God called us so that we can live, truly live. 01:05:30.000 |
And this righteousness and the blood sacrifice 01:05:33.000 |
and right worship of Abel speaks to us even to this day, 01:05:43.000 |
So as we look at the other people in Hebrews chapter 11, 01:05:52.000 |
"Oh, if I just believed, if I had more faith, 01:05:54.000 |
I can conquer enemies and I can do all this." 01:05:59.000 |
Because the point of this, there's the first part of it 01:06:02.000 |
where it will teach us that God used them and delivered them 01:06:23.000 |
So I pray that as we look at this foundation, 01:06:27.000 |
And again, and I'm going to say this over and over again, 01:06:30.000 |
as I've always been saying, and his point is the same. 01:06:42.000 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for grace that only you can give. 01:06:58.000 |
Lord, we are surrounded by so much temptation. 01:07:02.000 |
Lord, we struggle with controlling our own flesh and our own mind. 01:07:07.000 |
I pray that the power of your word would renew us 01:07:13.000 |
Help us, Lord God, as Abel's sacrifice speaks to us, 01:07:18.000 |
that it would be ringing in our mind and our hearts, 01:07:21.000 |
that we would be able to confess that we love you 01:07:25.000 |
with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 01:12:39.000 |
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, 01:12:47.000 |
To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, 01:12:50.000 |
be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. 01:14:28.000 |
All right, so if I can have this group just kind of go out through that door, 01:14:32.000 |
and then if you guys can give just a couple minutes, and then you guys can start going out that way.