Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] All right, so I typically try to start with a question. I'm going to do so today. The question is this.
[00:00:23] Do you know that you and I were created for pleasure?
[00:00:30] Like, when you think about the Christian life, does the word pleasure ever come to mind?
[00:00:36] Or the word delight or the word joy?
[00:00:43] You and I were created for pleasure. We were created for delight, and we were created from joy.
[00:00:52] God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit did not have to create everything. He wasn't obligated to create everything, to create the world and create all the people within it.
[00:01:02] But you and I were created for pleasure. And that's because you and I were created for worship. Okay, we worship. How do we know what we worship? Essentially what I'm saying is this is that every single one of us in the room is a worshiper.
[00:01:18] Regardless of whether or not you worship the God of the Bible or you worship something else. All of us are worshipers because we were created by God to be worshipers.
[00:01:27] One author who has passed away was not a Christian. Said this at a commencement speech, okay? Listen to what he says to a bunch of college kids. He says, because here's something else that's weird but true. In the day to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism.
[00:01:47] There's no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.
[00:01:56] And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of God to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
[00:02:04] If you worship money and things, if they're where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.
[00:02:13] It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you'll always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you worship power. And you'll end up feeling weak and afraid and you'll need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear.
[00:02:34] Worship your intellect being seen as smart, you'll end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.
[00:02:43] Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they are evil or sinful. It is that they are unconscious.
[00:02:50] They're default settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into day after day without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing.
[00:03:01] So that's all of us in a variety of ways. The thing that you worship is the thing that you most value in Life, that's the thing that you and I worship. It's not that the thing in and of itself is wrong often. It's not that the desires are wrong, it's that the desires need to be redirected.
[00:03:20] And so what does Cain and Abel have to do with all of this? I think when you get to the part of the story of Cain and Abel which we're going to look at in Genesis chapter four. So if you want to just hold your place in Hebrews chapter 11 and then flip all the way back to the beginning of your Bible in Genesis chapter four, if you're new to the Bible, that's okay. Genesis is the first book of the Bible and so you can go all the way back to the beginning. Go to the table of contents if you have to, and look up the page that it's on. But it's chapter four of the book of Genesis. I think when you boil down the story of Cain and Abel is that you and I are reminded that what we worship in many ways defines who we are. But almost equally important to what we worship is how we worship.
[00:04:09] How, how do you, on a day by day basis, seek to approach God?
[00:04:18] How do you seek to relate to God?
[00:04:28] For those who worship Jesus, where does your confidence in approaching him come from?
[00:04:34] So I want to propose today, through this passage, I'm going to reread it to us, that they're really two choices. When it comes down to how one draws near to God. We have two choices, two different ways that we can draw near to and worship God.
[00:04:52] One of those ways is guaranteed to lead to pride, anger, despair, and eventually destruction.
[00:05:05] But the other way leads to life, joy, peace, and eternal relationship with God forever.
[00:05:17] So Hebrews 11:4 says by faith. That's the key word in the chapter. 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.
[00:05:43] So let's look at Genesis 4:1 10. I'm just going to read this section of the Bible. Everybody there in Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter 4, verses 1, 1, 10.
[00:05:55] This is the story of Cain and Abel. Okay, so again, if you're unfamiliar with the Bible, praise God that you're here. This is where we're at so far in the book of Genesis. In the very beginning, the Bible says God created the heavens and the earth. That means you're not here by accident. You don't exist by accident or by random chance, like all of this has a purpose because all things were created by God.
[00:06:19] That's how the Bible starts. That's the most fundamental thing that you and I must understand, is that God created everything.
[00:06:29] And so we under. We have. We must understand that, and we must accept that reality. God created everything. He creates Adam and Eve, the first two people to be in a. In a relationship with him. And it's only through that relationship with him that Adam and Eve have the fullness of pleasure and joy that they were created to have.
[00:06:47] So they're created by God to be in relationship with God and to be in relationship with one another. But through the choice and the rebellion of these first two people, they turn away from God. And because God is holy, as we just sang, okay, the word holy just means set apart. It means utterly good in all of who he is, because that's who God is. God must punish evil, otherwise he wouldn't be good. He wouldn't be holy. And so man is separated from God under the curse of God. And this is where we find ourself. In Genesis chapter four, Adam and Eve begin to have kids. And their first two kids are two sons, one named Cain and one named Abel. And this is what the text says. Now, Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man 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.
[00:07:44] In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the ground.
[00:07:51] And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.
[00:07:57] And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.
[00:08:04] So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
[00:08:10] The Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why is your face fallen?
[00:08:14] If you do well, will you not be accepted?
[00:08:17] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.
[00:08:22] Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.
[00:08:29] Cain spoke to Abel, his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
[00:08:39] Since the first act of murder in all of history.
[00:08:45] And so what. What led to that violent moment? What led to that? Let's just look for a moment at Cain's progression. Okay, so here's. Here's the. We're thinking about two ways to. To. To draw near to God. The first way is the way that we're going to see embodied in the person of Cain. This is one way to attempt to draw near to God. And it's the way of legalism.
[00:09:15] It's the way of legalism. Okay?
[00:09:21] This is Cain worshiping God his way.
[00:09:25] So look. Look at the progression of what happens with this particular man. Says Cain was a worker of the ground. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground.
[00:09:36] And then it says that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but no regard for Cain or his offering.
[00:09:44] So here I thought I'd be able to do it. It's going to be fine. Okay, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for the men working outside. All right.
[00:09:54] Cain has two choices before him in this moment. Okay, so here's again, let's try to picture the moment. Cain brings an offering to the Lord, Abel brings an offering to the Lord. And it says that the Lord has regard for Abel and his offering. Not just Abel's offering, but Abel.
[00:10:10] But for Cain and his offering, the Lord has no regard. Okay? The word regard just means respect.
[00:10:16] God has no respect for Cain or his offering. And so Cain has a choice here. Humble himself before God or continue to try to approach God his way.
[00:10:30] And so it says that his response is that he became angry and that his face fell. A more literal way to translate that could be that Cain became hot.
[00:10:43] Anybody ever been so angry that you feel hot?
[00:10:49] Me too.
[00:10:52] My son asked me the other day. He said, dad, what's the hardest part about being a preacher? I was like, that's a great question. Here's what I think. It is my own sin.
[00:11:03] And most often, it's not cliche. It's true. Like, when you preach on a particular thing, you just kind of struggle with that thing all week.
[00:11:12] It's nobody else's fault. That's my fault.
[00:11:15] Anger. Anger is difficult for me. It's a weakness of mine.
[00:11:20] Quickness to anger.
[00:11:24] He became hot.
[00:11:27] So it says he spoke to Abel. There's premeditation in this.
[00:11:31] We don't know what he said, but he spoke to his brother.
[00:11:36] Somehow he talked him into going out into the field.
[00:11:39] And while they were alone in the field, he killed him.
[00:11:48] Author Dick Keys, who worked many years, I think still might, for Francis Schaeffer's ministry, says this about anger.
[00:11:58] I want to encourage you to listen, okay? This is not a me against you. We're in the same boat here. We all need Jesus. Listen to what he says.
[00:12:06] Anger is both attractive and terrifying at many levels of our existence.
[00:12:13] Our personal futures rest on how we and our fellow humans cope with it.
[00:12:22] In anger, we have a tool for almost unlimited destruction on all levels, but also A source of formidable motivation for constructive change.
[00:12:34] Okay, so anger in and of itself, as Taylor talked about a few weeks ago, is not the problem.
[00:12:41] There is righteous anger that's necessary for change in society, but there's unrighteous anger that leads to destruction and violence.
[00:12:56] He says if all we had to cope with was righteous anger, we would all be very different people and the world a different place.
[00:13:05] Unfortunately, a large portion of our anger is unrighteous.
[00:13:10] He says the wisdom, literature and scripture teaches that the angry person, especially the one who expresses anger quickly, is a fool and does not know the way to live.
[00:13:26] They are not self directed people.
[00:13:29] They do not rule their own spirits.
[00:13:32] Though they might rule a city.
[00:13:35] They're not secure enough to ignore and insult, but must leap to do battle in their own defense.
[00:13:45] All right, this is where we find Cain.
[00:13:50] This is where we find many of us, maybe this morning.
[00:13:55] Anger feels like that one emotion that so easily rules us, doesn't it?
[00:14:02] Like I don't often feel like I'm ruled by sadness or like I'm ruled by joy, but anger so easily rules us. And I think it's really sweet and important to.
[00:14:18] I thought about this this morning, just feeling like, oh my gosh, what, how are you going to get up to hear the voice of God in this text? What does God do with Cain?
[00:14:29] Like God knew the outcome. He's, he's all knowing.
[00:14:34] He's sovereign. He's in control of all things.
[00:14:38] God doesn't belittle Cain, does he?
[00:14:42] Why are you angry? God says to Cain.
[00:14:48] And God does this throughout the Bible. He does it with Jonah too.
[00:14:53] Do you do well to be angry?
[00:14:57] Why are you angry?
[00:15:00] God is a gentle counselor.
[00:15:04] And though God came to Cain in gentleness and in patience, desiring Cain's repentance, Cain's jealousy and frustration over his brother led to bitterness.
[00:15:22] And that unresolved bitterness led to resentment.
[00:15:27] And that unrepented resentment led to contempt.
[00:15:32] And here's what happens, friends. When contempt takes root in our heart, then you just begin to live and think that you're better than other people and everybody's against you.
[00:15:47] And the people that are created in the image of God, that you're called to love by God, all of a sudden become a threat to you.
[00:15:59] When Cain was confronted by God, he had a choice.
[00:16:05] Continue to harden himself and seek to draw near his way because his sacrifices were the better ones, or humble himself and run into the merciful arms of God.
[00:16:20] And unfortunately, he chose the former.
[00:16:26] Frustration, bitterness, resentment, contempt, violence.
[00:16:37] And so that's One way we're all created to worship, and we're created to worship God, but we worship all sorts of other things, and we'll get to the good news of what God's done in a moment. But one way we can think about how to approach this God is by doing it your way, offering your own sacrifices, whatever those sacrifices are, whether it be, I'm going to live a good life, I'm going to tithe more money, going to go to church more. All good things, like all necessary parts of our discipleship.
[00:17:10] None of them, however, will make you right with God.
[00:17:15] None of those things will give you the peace that your heart so longs for, will quench the thirst that you experience.
[00:17:23] None of those things. How good is good enough?
[00:17:30] So what's the second way?
[00:17:33] Is that we might, by the grace of God, worship God his way, can worship God our way, whatever that way is. Or we could worship God his way.
[00:17:47] Worshiping God his way, leads to joy, peace and eternal life.
[00:17:55] Why did God accept Abel and his offering? This is like the million dollar question, right? Like why? Why did God accept Abel in his offering?
[00:18:06] The kind of sacrifice that Abel offered revealed the heart of the one who was offering it. So God doesn't just accept the offering that Abel gives, he accepts the offerer. And it all has to do with what was going on inside Abel's heart.
[00:18:23] So first, what was the heart of the offerer? What was Abel's heart in this?
[00:18:28] Well, 1 Samuel 16:7 says, for the Lord sees not as man sees, man looks at the outward appearances, but the Lord looks on the heart, the Lord looks on the heart. This is what God cares about.
[00:18:44] 1st Samuel 15:22 these are just random, not random. These are passages in the Old Testament that talk specifically about what kind of sacrifices God delights in. 1st Samuel 15:22 and Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams.
[00:19:10] And then Psalm 51, 16:17, which is penned by King David after he commits the most atrocious sin of his life, has adultery or has an adulterous affair, commits an adulterous affair, has the husband of the woman that he slept with and impregnated murdered, puts his nation at risk, and in the midst of all of that, turns to the mercy of God and says to God, for you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
[00:19:43] The sacrifices of God are A broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. This is the kind of heart that God desires.
[00:19:57] Not one of pretentiousness or self righteousness or I've got a lot to offer you, God, but the one that says, the only thing that I have to offer you, O God, is, is my brokenness.
[00:20:11] I have nothing to offer you. I am nothing apart from you. I've completely blown it.
[00:20:19] Do you see the difference here? It wasn't that Abel was this just, upstanding, perfect man, but the heart of, like Abel in his heart, by the grace of God, understood more than Cain what kind of sacrifice mattered to God.
[00:20:39] And so, out of a heart of humility and neediness and dependency, Abel comes to God and offers a better sacrifice to God. And it began in the heart of the offerer, not in the offering itself.
[00:20:55] But the offering also mattered.
[00:20:59] Cain brought produce from the he brought fruit from the ground. Abel brings about the firstborn of his flock. He bought a better sacrifice.
[00:21:11] In Genesis chapter three. So right after Adam and Eve sin and God is in the middle of cursing the man and the woman because of their rebellion and then cursing the serpent. Okay, it says that Satan, who's the enemy of God, took upon the form of a serpent and tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God. So God curses Adam, he curses Eve, and then he curses the serpent. And right in the middle of all of those cursings, God gives them a promise.
[00:21:40] He says, I will put strife between you, the serpent and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This is the first indication in the Bible of the promise of, of Jesus, the one who's going to come and through his perfect life and death on the cross and resurrection, is going to have his heel bruised, but in the process is going to crush the head of the enemy on behalf of the people of God.
[00:22:13] And then God does this. In verse 21, just a few verses down in Genesis chapter 3, it says, the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them.
[00:22:26] So for the first time in history, blood has to be shed for the forgiveness of people.
[00:22:35] And guess what? And this is wonderful. It wasn't Adam and Eve's idea.
[00:22:41] Do you know what Adam and Eve were doing at this time?
[00:22:44] Man? They were wallowing in their shame.
[00:22:47] They didn't want to. They didn't want to be seen by God.
[00:22:51] They didn't want to be around one another. They were aware of their nakedness for the first Time they felt shame for the first time as a result of their rebellion against God. Their turning away from the one, from the lover of their souls. They felt shame. And God could have done so many things, but he kills an animal and he clothes their shame.
[00:23:14] He clothes them in the midst of their shame.
[00:23:19] God provides a way.
[00:23:23] God provides a sacrifice.
[00:23:26] Don't you know that Adam and Eve, though the text doesn't say this explicitly, that Adam and Eve told this story to their kids?
[00:23:38] I think they did.
[00:23:41] I think Cain and Abel had some sort of understanding way. God wanted his people to worship him was by his way and not their own way.
[00:23:56] He provided a way through a blood sacrifice.
[00:24:03] Not so that they could rely upon their own goodness and their own righteousness, but so that their only hope would be to rely upon his goodness and his righteousness and his mercy.
[00:24:16] And so what does Abel do? He takes the firstborn of his flock and he offers that live animal up to God.
[00:24:32] The only path to freedom. Friends, this verse says this. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
[00:24:42] The guilt and the shame that you and I rightly feel as a result of our rebellion against God, you'll never find freedom from it. You'll never find freedom from that burden that you feel as a result of your sin before God.
[00:24:57] Apart from the shedding of.
[00:25:03] And so what has God done?
[00:25:06] What's God done for you and I? That you and I, with humility and with boldness, might know him as Father and approach his throne of grace?
[00:25:20] Romans 3, 20, 26. And this is the new living translation. I really like it, this verse specifically because it gives so much clarity to what God's done.
[00:25:32] For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.
[00:25:39] The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
[00:25:44] But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.
[00:25:56] We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:26:01] And this is true for everyone who believes. No matter who we are. For everyone has sinned. We all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God in His grace freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin.
[00:26:25] People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned. In past times, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
[00:26:56] Abel offered to God a better sacrifice out of a heart of worship toward God. How much more are you and I on this side of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?
[00:27:08] Can look at the two options that you and I have of drawing near to God. You can either attempt to draw near to God on the basis of your own self righteousness, which will only lead to pride, despair, destruction and death, or you can take the invitation from God embracing the free gift that he's given you by sending his own son to be the better sacrifice for your sins.
[00:27:31] What an amazing invitation that we have.
[00:27:35] What an amazing reminder for those of you who are followers of Jesus already to look at the story of Cain and Abel and see two different options as it pertains to drawing near to God. We can do it our way, or we can be reminded that it's his way that's better.
[00:27:52] He provided the better sacrifice. Jesus is the better sacrifice.
[00:27:59] Jesus blood alone removes sins as far as the east is from the west. The burden that you and I feel as a result of our sin before God can only be taken away by looking can only be taken away by looking upon the cross of Jesus Christ and believing that Jesus lived the life that you could not live, that he died the death that you deserved and I deserved on the cross that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day, defeating our sin and defeating death for all time for all who would believe upon him.
[00:28:30] So in conclusion, these are our two choices. We can worship God our way or attempt to worship God our way, or we can worship God God's way through the gospel through faith in Jesus alone.
[00:28:45] What does it mean when it says that though Abel died, he still speaks?
[00:28:50] That's an interesting. That's an interesting phrase. What does that mean? So a question I've been asking all week that I've been trying to read up on, it's been very fascinating is what does he say? What's he saying?
[00:29:02] What does God want you and I to walk away with this morning in regards to that statement that though Abel dies, he still speaks? I think there are two things. Credit to author John Bloom for highlighting these things. It was really helpful reading this.
[00:29:18] What is Abel saying?
[00:29:20] Number one is he's saying a life pleasing to God is a life of trust in God.
[00:29:28] A life pleasing to God is a life of trust in God, primarily trust in Jesus and His finished work on your behalf.
[00:29:37] That's what pleases God.
[00:29:39] The Christian life is not about how do you figure out how to live the very best life and be the very best person you can? That's going to leave you exhausted.
[00:29:48] What pleases God is childlike trust in Jesus and what he's done on your behalf.
[00:29:54] That's where obedience flows from. That's where the fruit of the Spirit flows from. That's where courage flows from.
[00:30:01] Is a life of childlike trust in Jesus and what Jesus has accomplished on your behalf. Hebrews 11, verse 6 says, without faith or trust, it is impossible to please God. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
[00:30:24] And then the second thing that he says is that a life pleasing to God, that's a life by faith in Jesus, by trust in Jesus, will result in resistance and sometimes even persecution by the world.
[00:30:40] 1 John 3:2 3:12 says we should not be like Cain, who is of the devil, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.
[00:30:52] And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.
[00:31:01] So friends, there is a cost in following Jesus. We say this a lot.
[00:31:09] There is a cost in following Jesus.
[00:31:12] The New Testament says anyone who desires to live a godly life will be persecuted. That doesn't mean that we should live our lives going about seeking persecution or seeking to be offensive. It just means that when you and I are in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit are becoming more like Jesus as we seek to obey his commands by his power in us. It's going to expose the darkness around us. And when darkness is exposed, it pushes back.
[00:31:43] And so will you count the cost? Have you counted the cost of following Jesus?
[00:31:50] It isn't just about praying a one time prayer and then waiting for heaven like eternal life starts now.
[00:32:02] There will be a cost. Potentially great cost. Maybe we don't meet the same fate Abel did any of us. We do, like we've talked about in previous weeks, have brothers and sisters all over the world today who are experiencing that.
[00:32:15] Syria, Congo, like these things are happening like now with Christians.
[00:32:22] So maybe that's not us here in the United States. Maybe it's malignment, maybe it's abandonment, maybe it's fractured relationships. Maybe it's the loss of a job. It could be all sorts of things. There will be a cost in following Jesus. But listen, friends, the cost pales in comparison to the reward.
[00:32:44] Jesus says, last verse, and then I'm going to pray. John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.
[00:32:54] In the world you will have tribulation.
[00:32:59] You will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.
[00:33:06] That's our hope, that in Jesus we might have peace. And why can we have peace in Jesus? Because he's overcome the world.
[00:33:15] He defeated sin. He defeated death. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus by faith, and so by the grace of God. Might we model the example of Abel and his faith, not seeking to worship the Lord our own way, but embracing God's way through Jesus alone? Does that make sense? Let's pray together.
[00:34:26] Sa.
