Heb.11:4; Gn.4:1-11 A worshiper of faith, Abel

Heb.11:4; Gn.4:1-11 A worshiper of faith, Abel

Hebrews 11:4, By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
Genesis 4:1-11, 1Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."  8Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.  9Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 10The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.  11Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

  Every human being is worshiping more than one object. Sun, animals, trees, money, self, and humans. We worship only God the Creator. The story is about two sons of Adam, Cain farmer, and Abel cattle rancher, worshiping God. God rejected Cain and his sacrifice, and Abel and his sacrifice are accepted. Why did God accept Abel and his sacrifice? Let us examine our worship.

1. Abel's sacrifice was a worship of faith (Heb. 11:4).

  God accepted him and his worship by faith. Hebrews 11: 4, "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead." God is pleased with the worship of faith. Without faith, we can not please God (Hebrews 11:6). Abel worshiped by faith that God is my master. But Cain 's worship is a ritual and form. In August, Rev. Lim Hyunsoo was released two years and seven months later from North Korea detained. North Korea is a land worshiping KimJungEun as a god. There he worshiped God for 13 hours on Sunday. He worshiped with his life. God saw his tears worshiped and miraculously released him. All Saints! Let us worship God by faith, not worship of the law or form.

2. Abel was commended as a righteous man." (Hebrews 11:4, Genesis 4:4).

  Abel was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. 'Righteousness' means that sin has been concealed. Cain offered sacrifice without repentance of hatred and evil sin. His sacrifice was not accepted. Abel, however, was acceped faithfulness, repentance from sin, and sacrifice as the firstborn of the sheep to receive God's approval. His sins were covered. We must repent of sins in worship and be washed with the blood of Jesus. So we sing a lot of the Jesus' blood hymns at the time of worship.
The blood of Jesus Christ covers our sins. He cleanses us (Heb 9:12,14, I Peter 1:18,19). Let us all become worshipers of righteousness that receive the cleansing of all sins by His blood. I pray that you will be worshipers who are recognized before the Lord by the blood of Jesus who died for our sins, not our own ways.

3. Abel offered the best in the spirit of offering his life.

  Verse 3, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD, but God did not accept it. It was not the best. But Abel offered it as 'the firstborn of the sheep and the oil' (Gn. 4:4,5). 'The first baby and the oil' means to give the best. Abel's faith was God-centered, God-first. On the other hand, Cain worshiped as he wanted, and arbitrarily. Be a worshipper of the Lord who is pleased with all of us, in the heart of loving God, in giving the best of ourselves.

  A Christian named A.A. Harts was a huge debt owed to business failure. He broke, but repented and offered the best offerings. Eventually he came back to live as a man of blessing.
  A 16 years old boy came to New York with a dream. He believed in Jesus Christ through one Saints. He also learned wisdom to live by faith. He gave the best, tithe, two tenth, and three tenth as God blessed. His business has continued to thrive. He is the founder of the Colgate Co., William Colgate. 
 
  Abel gave sacrifices by faith, and volunteered gifts. He received two blessings. 1) He was titled 'the righteous'(Hebrews 11:4). Jesus also called Abel 'the righteous Abel'(Matthew 23:35). Abel, a true worshiper, was blessed to be justified by faith.  2) He was blessed with influence even after death. Verse 4, "He died, but by faith he speaks now also." His life is not end by death, but continues to be praised throughout history. Jesus also praised Abel's blood (Matt.23:35). The blood that Abel spilled leads to the blood of the Atonement that Jesus Christ shed. The martyr's blood runs stronger after his death. The blood of the true righteous testifies to all who are alive through death.

  I want the blood of Abel to flow strongly in your heart. We wish that the true faith worship that God accepts will continue to be offered to our worship. I hope that the true faith worship of Abel will be our worship today. I hope you will experience the amazing work of meeting God through this worship service. Saints, let us all worship as descendants of Abel. Because we met Jesus Christ, we are blessed worshipers. We wish all of you a living sacrifice of faith, a sacrifice of faith that is pleasing to the Lord, a justified worship of Jesus Christ, worship of supreme faith, true worship of the Holy Spirit and truth. Amen.