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Faith of Abel
The document discusses the biblical story of Abel and Cain, highlighting the significance of Abel's sacrifice, which was favored by God due to its quality and the attitude of the giver. It emphasizes the importance of offering one's best to God with the right attitude, including spiritual preparation and cheerfulness. The text also reflects on the lasting impact of Abel's faith and how righteousness is rewarded with hope.
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Faith of Abel
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- 2. Search Faithbook Home Abel EditProfile Concerned about my brother… big time! Elohim 7 hrs Loved your sacrifice Abel. Your heart is right before me. Cain 5 hrs Nothing I do is good enough. I hate you Abel. Groups First Family
- 3. Search Faithbook Abel Edit ProfileOffering Your Best to God with a Proper Attitude Hebrews 11:4 Genesis 4:1-7
- 4. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Hebrews 11:4 4 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.
- 5. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Genesis 4 1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
- 6. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Genesis 4 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,
- 7. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Genesis 4 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
- 8. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Genesis 4 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” ֹּֽול־ב ָׁש ְמ ִּת /Timshal Bō “You may master it”
- 9. Offering Your Bestto God Abel First Post Faith is expressed through offering God a better sacrifice.
- 10. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Troubling Question Was God the first to show favoritism?
- 11. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Deuteronomy 10 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
- 12. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Why did God prefer Abel’s offering? •It was living whereas Cain’s offering was lifeless. F.F. Bruce
- 13. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Why did God prefer Abel’s offering? •It was stronger, Cain’s weaker. F.F. Bruce
- 14. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Why did God prefer Abel’s offering? •It grew spontaneously, Cain’s by human ingenuity. F.F. Bruce
- 15. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Why did God prefer Abel’s offering? •It involved blood, Cain’s did not. F.F. Bruce
- 16. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Second Post Faith is rewarded in receiving God’s commendation.
- 17. Offering Your Bestto God Abel In what way was Abel’s sacrifice superior? •If Abel’s sacrifice was not inherently superior, then the answer must lay not in the sacrifice, but in the sacrificer.
- 18. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Matthew 23 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
- 19. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Matthew 23 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
- 20. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Hebrews 11:4 4 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.
- 21. Offering Your Bestto God Abel What are the essential ingredients to an acceptable offering? •Spiritual preparation ✍ Acknowledging God’s holiness. ✍ Confessing my sins. ✍ Receiving God’s forgiveness. ✍ Thankfulness to God.
- 22. Offering Your Bestto God Abel What are the essential ingredients to an acceptable offering? •A right attitude ✍Giving cheerfully. ✍ Giving your very best.
- 23. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Application Our grandest sacrifices can be spoiled by a bad attitude.
- 24. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Third Post Faith enables us to make a lasting contribution to the Kingdom of God.
- 25. Offering Your Bestto God Abel Hebrews 11:4 4b ... And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
- 26. Offering Your Bestto God Abel What is it that still speaks to us? •Abel’s sacrifice? •Abel’s act of faith?
- 27. Offering Your Bestto God Abel God’s commendation of Abel reminds us that God rewards righteousness with hope.
- 28. Offering Your Bestto God Abel James Louis Petigru’s Epitaph UNAWED BY OPINION, UNSEDUCED BY FLATTERY, UNDISMAYED BY DISASTER, HE CONFRONTED LIFE WITH COURAGE, AND DEATH WITH CHRISTIAN HOPE. Our Daily Bread, May 29, 1995
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Editor's Notes
- #4 Offering Your Best to God with a Proper Attitude
- #5 Hebrews 11:4 4 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.
- #6 Genesis 4 1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
- #7 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
- #8 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
- #9 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
- #10 First Point Faith is expressed through offering God a better sacrifice.
- #11 Troubling Question Was God the first to show favoritism? There’s a wonderful story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young Bostonian being considered for employment. The Boston investment house could not say enough about the young man. His father, they wrote, was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowed. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys, and other of Boston’s first families. His recommendation was given without hesitation. Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: “We are not contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work.”
- #13 Why did God prefer Abel’s offering? It was living whereas Cain’s offering was lifeless.
- #14 It was stronger, Cain’s weaker.
- #15 It grew spontaneously, Cain’s by human ingenuity.
- #16 It involved blood, Cain’s did not. Problem with Bruce’s explanations: The text tells us that Abel offered a better sacrifice, it does not, however state that it was inherently better. Although there are foreshadowings of the sacrificial system in the blood shed to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, there is no explicit establishment of blood sacrifices at this point. Each gave gifts in accordance with his occupation, one as a farmer and the other as a raiser of livestock.
- #17 Second Point Faith is rewarded in receiving God’s commendation.
- #18 In what way was Abel’s sacrifice superior? If Abel’s sacrifice was not inherently superior, then the answer must lay not in the sacrifice, but in the sacrifice. The biblical text supports this. It does not commend Abel’s sacrifice, but rather Abel’s righteousness. (Mt. 23:35; Heb. 11:4)
- #19 Matthew 23 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
- #21 Hebrews 11:4 4 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.
- #22 What are the essential ingredients to an acceptable offering? Spiritual preparation ✍ Acknowledging God’s holiness. ✍ Confessing my sins. ✍ Receiving God’s forgiveness.
- #23 A right attitude ✍ Giving cheerfully. ✍ Giving your very best. Attitude is everything A chaplain was speaking to a soldier on a cot in a hospital. “You have lost an arm in the great cause,” he said. “No,” said the soldier with a smile. “I didn’t lose it--I gave it.” Source unknown. That soldier could have blamed God. He chose to view his loss as a sacrifice.
- #24 Application Our grandest sacrifices can be spoiled by a bad attitude. Our biblical example is the Pharisees. They lived a lifestyle of self-denial, following a rigid code of 614 laws, many of which went beyond the demands of scripture. Their prideful attitude ruined all their devotion. The same thing can happen to us in our service to Christ.
- #25 Third Point Faith enables us to make a lasting contribution to the Kingdom of God.
- #26 Hebrews 11:4 4b ... And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
- #27 What is it that still speaks to us? Abel’s sacrifice? Abel’s act of faith? Clearly, it is the act of faith wherin Abel received an eternal hope.
- #28 God’s commendation of Abel reminds us that God rewards righteousness with hope. There was a man named James Louis Petigru. His life was so exemplary that after his death the community erected a tombstone inscribed with these words:
- #29 James Louis Petigru’s Epitaph UNAWED BY OPINION, UNSEDUCED BY FLATTERY, UNDISMAYED BY DISASTER, HE CONFRONTED LIFE WITH COURAGE, AND DEATH WITH CHRISTIAN HOPE. Our Daily Bread, May 29, 1995