I am not righteous, but do you know something? Because I believe in Jesus Christ because that's what God told me to do. He therefore imputes to me Christ's righteousness. The Bible says it this way, He became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God. Where? In Him. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. It's history's most infamous sibling rivalry. Of course, I'm talking about Cain and Abel, the bitter feud that ended in murder. Now, you may think it's a story about the dangers of jealousy or an example of why you shouldn't reject God's instruction, but today John MacArthur is going to show you an aspect of this story you may have missed. He's continuing his series, The Power of Faith, with a look at the primitive faith of Abel and how it's a model for how you and I should worship God.
And with that lesson now, here is John MacArthur. Now the central theme of Hebrews 11-4 is faith, and that's the whole key to the chapter, and that's what we want to find out here. Now we read here that they both brought a sacrifice. When Abel did what God said, he revealed his obedience and he acknowledged his sinfulness.
Cain was disobedient and didn't acknowledge sin. Abel believed God and he approached God, said, God, this is what You said You wanted and You said if I brought it, You'd forgive my sin. I brought it. I believe You, God. I acknowledge my sin. I acknowledge the prescribed remedy.
Here I am. Cain had the same information, brought what he wanted to anyway, and so Abel brought the right sacrifice. He acknowledged that he must bow to the truth of God. He must acknowledge that he's a sinner under the sentence of death. He has no excuses, no merits to plead. His best is, as Isaiah called it, filthy rags. He can only believe God.
That's all he can do. And he has to bet his life that God is right and that God means what He says. But Cain was not so. Cain believed in himself.
And that's the dumbest thing anybody could ever do. Not only that, he was a hypocrite. If he had really believed in himself, he wouldn't have even showed up at the altar, right? He was not only a believer in himself, he was a hypocrite. He cloaked his rebellion in religious activity.
Here I come, God, my little sacrifice, see. He was patronizing God. Jude 11, interesting little verse, talks about the way of Cain. You know what the way of Cain is? It's self-will, unbelief, disobedience, all couched in religious pretense, religiosity, abomination to God. So Abel offered a better sacrifice.
Why? It was better because it was obedience. God said, do it that way. He didn't. It was better because it was faith, he believed God. It was better because it was willing.
He did it because he wanted to do it. And you know what? He brought his best.
Don't you like that? It says he brought the firstling. That's the best one he had, first place sheep. And it just says Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, just got some of it together. So Abel by faith was brought to offer a more excellent sacrifice. Now because of that, he was able to obtain righteousness. That's the second point. He was able to obtain righteousness.
This is interesting. Watch verse 4, and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof, watch, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering, he had not respect. God didn't respect Abel for what was in Abel. God didn't say, Abel, I like you better.
I've checked you two boys over and you're the best. He didn't say that. He didn't say, Abel, I just like the way you walk, the way you handle yourself, Abel. You just really come on strong, Abel.
I really like you. Cain, you have a funny limp. You know, there are people who think God is so superficial that He really cares about what they look like. He didn't say, Abel, I think you have a nicer disposition.
Not at all. You know, there's nothing at all in the text to indicate that Abel was any better than Cain. They were both sinners. The only thing that obtained righteousness for Abel was he did what God told him.
Cain didn't. That's the only difference. That's the only thing that changes any man's relationship to God. It's not how good you are.
It's not that you're better or worse than anybody else. It's that you came to God on the terms that God set down. That's all He asks. Abel was as much a sinner as Cain, but he believed God and he obeyed. And because of that, faith was counted to him for righteousness and God accepted him. You see, it's that kind of faith that enables God to move into our behalf and make us righteous. You know, true faith is always obedient. Do you know that?
Always. John 8, many believed on His name. He says, But if you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples for real. Lots of people have superficial faith but the ones who hang in there and obey, they are the ones that really are true believers.
The devils believe and tremble, you know, James says. So God honored Abel because his faith was alive. It was alive in the way he obeyed. Don't say you believe God and disobey. If you believe, God obey.
Look at James. What he says, oh, it's a powerful passage. James chapter 2, don't turn to it, I'll read it to you. Verse 14, What does it profit my brother though a man say he hath faith and have not works? In other words, what is the idea of going around saying, I believe, I believe, I believe, and then someone looks at your life and says, if that's faith, it sure doesn't show. If a brother or sister be naked, destitute of food and so forth and so on, you say, well, I hope you find something to eat, fella. You don't send him on his way.
You haven't even given him the kindness that you'd come out of Christian love. What do you mean you have faith? Faith should produce something in your life. He says in verse 19, Thou believeth that there is one God.
Big deal. That's the current translation. The devils also believe. So do the devils.
They tremble. Was not our father Abraham justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? In other words, was not the evidence of his true faith seen in his willingness to sacrifice his son? God said, sacrifice your son. Abraham said, all right, God, I'll do it.
Obedience. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was his faith made evidently mature and perfect? You could see his faith by what he was willing to do. And the Scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. Now watch, you see then that by works a man is justified and not by faith alone. You say, does that contradict Paul?
No. What it means is that visibly in the eyes of people and in the eyes of God, your faith is only real when it issues in works. You can't work to get to God, but having come to Him, works will become evidence. Because Ephesians 2 says, He's called you unto good works.
So what happened here then? Abel was obedient. He evidenced the validity of his faith by obedience. And I'm sure if somebody said, Cain, do you believe in God? He said, oh yeah, I believe in God.
Oh, I'm a believer in God. But he didn't obey God. I like what it says in 1 Samuel 2 verse 30. God said this, remember this, for them...listen to this...that honor Me, I will honor. It's obedience. It's obedience. And there's only one way to honor God, John 5.23, He that honoreth the Son, honoreth the Father. You can't honor God apart from honoring Jesus Christ.
No way. That's His prescribed way. So Hebrews 11, 4 says that Abel received witness or approval from God. You say, well how did God do that? Did God just come down and just put a little gold star on Abel's forehead or did He...what did He do to him? How did He know he got approval? That's another interesting question.
I think...this is MacArthur. I speak this not of commandment but by permission. I think that God moved down and consumed His offering. Later on, if you study, and I'm not going to look these all up because our time is getting away, but Leviticus 9, 24, don't try to write them down either, you might get lost, if you can write them down. Judges 6, 21, 1 Kings 18, 38, 1 Chronicles 21, 26, 2 Chronicles 7, 1, all of those passages, at least five of them there, indicate on other occasions when God showed His approval by sending fire to consume the sacrifice. So it became a pattern for God that fire would fall and consume the offering.
And I think that that's very likely what happened here though it does not say specifically. And if that's what happened, then fire fell on Abel's and fire didn't fall on Cain's. And God thus was approving of Abel's sacrifice. And when God approved of what Abel did, God imputed to him righteousness.
Isn't that a miracle? Because he wasn't righteous. You know something? I'm not either. I am not righteous. You say, we know. Well, I know you know, but I'm only emphasizing the point. I am not righteous.
But you know something? Because I believe in Jesus Christ because that's what God told me to do, He therefore imputes to me Christ's righteousness. And the Bible says it this way, He became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God...where?...in Him. So I'm not righteous. I have no more right now to stand in God's presence than I did when I was...before I was saved. Did you know that?
I have no more right. But because I believe in Jesus Christ, God imputes righteousness to me. That's what happened to Abel. Abel was the same old sinner before he got there and he didn't even get the Holy Spirit. He didn't get anything.
He walked away from there with the same problems he had before he came. But God said, it's all right, you obey Me, I impute My righteousness to you. And Cain didn't get it.
Do you know something, friends? No Cain-style approach ever makes it. Self-styled works, a failure to acknowledge sin doesn't cut it.
Doesn't cut it. And I told you about that Jude passage. I just want to read maybe as I'm thinking about it here. Jude, that little book. Don't turn, I'll read. Verse 3, "'Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needed for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.' Listen, "'For there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before of old, ordained of this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.'" There's all kinds of people running around under the guise of religion denying Christ.
Listen to what he says about it. "'Woe,' verse 11, "'Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain.'" See? They've put on the mask of religion.
And I think at this point that the note that Scofield has is really good. He says, "'Cain is an example of the religious natural man who believes in God and in religion but after his own will and who rejects redemption by blood.'" Rejecting the atonement, God's plan of salvation.
It's a sad, sad thing. There's a verse in Romans 10 that opens up a thought to us along this line, verse 3, "'For they being ignorant of God's righteousness...' watch...'and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.'" The next verse, "'For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that...' what?...believes. And they're running around trying to establish their own righteousness, cut it out, believe, and you have it.
Computed righteousness. All right, back to Genesis 4 and verse 5. Well, when Cain didn't get any approval from God, he got a little bit upset. Verse 5, "'And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.'" His face...poom...fell. He was furious...furious. I mean, nothing worse than a religious egotist getting put down, you see. That's a hard thing for him to have.
He just really couldn't handle that. Verse 6, "'The Lord said unto Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your face fallen?'" It's a vivid term, isn't it?
He just sunk...whoo...his whole face. Isn't it beautiful, though, the grace of God? He could have just kind of slid up there to Abel and said, Abel, unless you and I stick together, Cain blew it, see. But God goes to Cain.
See, that's grace. God moves toward Cain. And he says, Cain, what are you so upset about?
And here we see...what's this? Here we see the beginning again of the evidence of God's redemptive character. We saw it with Adam and Eve when he promised the seed and here Cain blows it and God immediately moves to Cain and says, Cain, you've got to ask a question.
And he asks him a question. And we begin to see God in his redemptive character. Verse 7, "'If you do well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him.'" Now that is a very, very difficult verse to translate. In the Hebrew there are at least twenty-five different translations.
Very hard to put the word order together. I think the best translation is the one in the New American Standard and I'm going to just quote that to you. Listen, "'If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?'" You know what he's saying to him in effect? He's saying, look, Cain, this isn't the end. This isn't the end. If you come back again and do it right, you see?
I mean, the offer is still there. And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you. And he says, you must master it. God is saying, Cain, come on, my altar is still here, offer the right sacrifice in obedient faith and you will be accepted just like your brother. That's grace. But if you don't, Cain, sin waits at your door like a crouching beast and it's ready to spring up and destroy you. But you must overcome that. You see, in grace God is extending to Cain an offer to come back, gracious invitation.
You know what? Cain didn't want to. He was not interested.
And again, this verifies the fact that ignorance wasn't the issue at all. And the very fact that God says if you do well implies that He knew what to do. He knew what was required.
He didn't want a thing to do with it, a thing to do with it. Verse 8, and Cain talked with Abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. Here you have the first death in human history.
Nobody has ever died before this. And it's interesting that how did Cain know how to kill? How did he know how to kill? There must have been some kind of a precedent to establish the fact that people could die.
And not only that, how they died. And I think it's likely from the fact of the sacrifice and prior to the sacrifice, the killing of the animal to make the clothes. And having Adam and Eve having experienced the death of an animal in relationship to the clothes and Cain and Abel the death of an animal in relationship to the sacrifice, he would know well that with a few right moves in the right area, life could be extinguished and thus he carried out the murder of his brother.
And from the apparent conversation, Abel was totally unsuspecting. And so Cain yielded to Satan. You know, John 8 44, the Bible says that Jesus said, the devil was a murderer from the beginning, a murderer from the beginning. And here it is, the beginning of all the killings that Satan has perpetrated.
Sad. But then if you continue to read, listen to what happened. And the Lord begins to speak.
And this is an exciting thing and yet in a sense it's a tragic thing. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I don't know, am I my brother's keeper? A little bit sarcastic with God. And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. You see, what had happened was there wasn't anything possible that Cain could do to hide the deed that he had perpetrated. And now he had to face God. It's a sad thing. And you know something? He didn't have any answers.
We'll see that in a moment. Look at verse 11, And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand? God says, I accept Abel, I curse you. And it's a double curse. He was already cursed because Adam was cursed and here he's double cursed.
You see, all men are cursed, but some men are double cursed because they reject salvation, you see. All right, verse 12, When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength. You're not going to get one thing out of the ground. You've prided yourself on being a farmer. You'll never grow one more thing as long as you live. You will be nothing but a fugitive and a wanderer all over the earth.
That is sad. But that's the sentence that God laid upon him. Cain was to flee, wander all his life. And you know he never got away from what was chasing him because what was chasing Cain was the corruption of his own heart. Every rock all through his life hid the same enemy, every shadow the same avenger.
He never, ever escaped. And you see, for the unsaved man, it's the same thing. There's no place to hide. You reject God's salvation and run as fast as you want to run, there's nowhere to hide because you're carrying your enemy with you all the time.
All of life for an unsaved man is a barren search, a mad scramble for something that never happens. Verse 13, Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. I can't stand this, God.
You're a little over...you're overdoing it a little. There's no penitence. There's no sorrow for sin. There's no pleading for grace. There's no, all right, God, I'll give the right sacrifice. It's just, God, this is too tough.
I mean, this isn't right. He pitied himself. My punishment is more than I can bear. You see, it's always interesting how sinners tend to pity themselves and blame God for it. Verse 14, Behold thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hidden.
And I shall be a fugitive in a wander in the earth, and it shall come to pass that anyone that findeth me shall slay me. And he was sad, but he wasn't repentant. You know, there's remorse and then there's repentance, right? Remorse is being sorry you got caught. Repentance is turning around and changing it.
He was sad. He wasn't repentant. Verse 15, The Lord said unto him, Therefore, whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. The Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding should kill him. God didn't institute capital punishment yet, so He said, Cain will not die, Cain will live. And I think there's a greater punishment in Cain having to live all his life like he had to live it rather than die. He wouldn't even have the peace of death.
He'd have to abide his whole life with his horrible, conscious sinfulness and the murder of his brother and his brother's blood crying from the ground all his life. Verse 16, And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod and the east of Eden. There he goes, the first apostate. He went out from the presence of the Lord.
That's apostasy. He turned his back on God and walked away. He left the God of grace.
Oh, sad tragedy, sad tragedy. So by faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice and he obtained righteousness. Cain tried works and he was doomed. Lastly, by faith Abel was allowed to speak openly, even though dead. Look at verse 9, And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I don't know, am I my brother's keeper? And Hebrews 11, 4 says, He being dead yet speaks, and listen to this, and he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood cries unto me from the ground. Do you know that he's dead but he's still talking?
You know who he's talking to? First of all, the voice of Abel cried to God in order to cry for vengeance...cried for vengeance. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
Remember in Revelation 6, 9 and 10, the souls of those martyred under the altar crying for vengeance. But his voice not only spoke in death to God, it spoke in death to Cain. Do you know that every piece of soil that Cain put his foot on bore the consciousness of his brother's blood?
It's so powerful a thought. Listen to verse 11, And now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. Everywhere he went it was as if his brother's blood destroyed the crop.
He lived his whole life walking on the soil that represented the blood of his brother, always unyielding. And so he being dead spoke the whole lifetime of Cain to Cain. Lastly, he speaks to all of us.
What is he saying? What is Abel saying to us? Three-point sermon. Number one, man comes to God by faith, not works.
Did you hear him say that? Point number two, man cannot follow reason and ignore revelation. He must abide by God's standard and obey it.
Point number three, sin is severely punished for the one who doesn't obey. So Abel is the preacher and he preaches a timeless sermon and it says in effect just what the Holy Spirit wanted the readers of Hebrews to hear, the just shall live what? By faith. Our father, we pray that we have well heard his sermon. God, we know that only faith in Christ pleases you. Thank you for what we've seen again through Abel. We pray in Christ's name.
Amen. You may recognize, as Cain did, that there is a God and that he is in control, but do you recognize your own sin and your need for salvation by faith? A sobering challenge from today's message on grace to you with John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. This is part of his series titled The Power of Faith. Well, John, a question for you now about a particular aspect of faith. This comes from a caller on our Q&A line. So let's hear from Carol about the concern she raises, and then John, you can respond.
Hi, this is Carol. What is presumptuous faith when you want to buy a house and you don't have any money? Is that presumptuous faith?
Thank you very much. That is a good question, Carol. Thank you for asking that question. Sounds to me like there's a debate going on in that family. I would say there's no such thing as presumptuous faith. There's faith, and then there's presumption. Faith is an act that is dependent upon the wisdom of God and the promises of God and the revelation of God and the Word of God. In other words, you are believing God to be true to His Word. Presumption is doing something without the promise of God, without the Word of God, or doing something against the Word of God. To attempt to buy a house without any money is not an act of faith. That is an act of presumption, and if you're presuming that somehow God is going to bail you out, that's dishonoring to God. Everything in the Bible tells us that we are to conduct our lives with wisdom. We are to purchase things within our resources, not beyond our resources, as if to throw ourselves into midair and hope that God puts a financial safety net under us before we hit the ground. No, there's no such thing as presumptuous faith. There is faith, and that is wisdom in trusting God to do what He has promised to do, but trusting Him within the bounds of the resources He provides. Presumption is foolishness.
It is foolishness, and it is sinful to hold God hostage to such foolishness. You want always to behave in a way that considers the resources God has provided for you, and then trust Him for the best outcome. Thanks, Jon. And friend, if you, like Carol, have a question for Jon, just give our Q&A line a call. You can leave your question.
You may hear Jon answer it on a future broadcast. And be sure to get in touch and let us know how God is using Grace To You in your life. Contact us today. You can send an email to letters at gty.org, or you can mail your letter to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California 91412. You'll also find all of our contact information as well as thousands of free Bible study resources at gty.org. And if you'd like to ask Jon a question, call us on our Q&A line, 661-295-6288. Just follow the prompt, record your question, and Jon may answer it on a future broadcast. The Q&A line number one more time, 661-295-6288. You can also find the Q&A line number at our website gty.org. And when you get in touch, let me suggest you pick up a copy of our flagship resource, the MacArthur Study Bible. With detailed introductions to each book, dozens of maps and charts, and around 25,000 study notes covering virtually every passage of Scripture, it's the ideal gift for any student of God's word. To order the MacArthur Study Bible, call 855-GRACE or visit gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for joining us today. Be back tomorrow as John looks at the faith of a man whom God allowed to walk right into eternal glory. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.
