reading today from God's Word is from the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews chapter 11. We will start at verse 1 to verse 6. So let's listen to the words of our invisible God. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen are not made of things which are visible. By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And through it, he being dead, still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please God. for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You may be seated, amen. Let's pray together. Holy Father, We cast ourself upon you now as your word has been opened and read, and now to be preached. And so, as we have read, faith, it's faith in you, the one who has created the heavens, the earth, and the sea. You are the one who has created and you are the one who has given us your word. The very scriptures that were read is the words of you, O God. And so we pray that we would look at it with those eyes, eyes of faith, knowing that your word is perfect in every way because it is you that have written it. And so might you grant the blessings upon the one who is preaching to speak of your word and your ways in a way that glorifies you, and that you would give hearts and minds of your people to receive that word in faith. So we ask in Jesus' name, amen. the title of the sermon this morning, Faith in God's Grace and Justice. You know, as we look at the text open before us today, we will just be dealing, for the most part, with verse 4. In the chapter 11 of Hebrews, you find the opening has what faith is. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, that is to say, based on the promises of God. And the conviction of things not seen. Not based on what we see, but what on God has promised. What is revealed. And we saw last week, or the week before, how God is the one who's creator. That God brought all things into existence by the word of his power. He made them not out of existing material, but he brought something out of nothing, merely by his word and his will. And so as we look today at faith, we see in chapter 11, faith illustrated in various ways in the lives of the saints who have gone before. And so just some examples are recorded for us in Hebrews 11. But you see, you couldn't have everyone there. But various aspects are included in each one. And today, we would look at grace and justice as it is exhibited in the life of Abel. And so as we come to this, first of all, I'd like for us to see something that we ought to be reminded of before we go further. And that is the Holy Sovereign Trinity is the one true God. You see, as we look at this text, we're going to be dealing with worship. And so when you think of worship, it must be worship of the true God, the one true God. And as was confessed before us this morning already, God, there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. But that's not the first time you've heard that by far. As we started the book of Hebrews, turn back to chapter 1 and look at the opening verses. In the very first verse, it talks about all the prophets and the apostles who have spoken before. It says, God, who at various times and various ways, spoken times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, now listen, through whom also he made the worlds. who being the brightness of his glory and express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So two persons of the Godhead, the father and the son, brought to the fore here. And as you say, God spoke through the prophets throughout the times past. The third person of the Godhead comes to the fore, the Holy Spirit. And so when we think then of a holy trinity, that's necessary to understand before we go further, as we think of worship. And if you look at chapter 9, this too will ring a bell. In verses 9, verses 14 and 15 in chapter 9, Speaking of our redemption, it talks about the sacrifices of lambs, bulls, and goats, and ashes of a heifer were not sufficient to forgive or cleanse anyone except the flesh, but could not cleanse the conscience. But listen to the wording in verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death, listen, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. In other words, as you see Christ's redemption wrought in the new covenant era, it was for all the saints of the Old Testament as well. And so as we look at chapter 11, it is talking about here God by his holy trinity and his special providence, and by his grace, he's the one who saved all of the redeemed going back to the time of creation, all the way to the time of Christ's return in Christ redeemed. But did you get it? We got the point that it was Jesus Christ's blood, there's the sacrifice, who through the eternal spirit, third person of the Godhead, offered himself. There he is as priest. He's both sacrifice and high priest offering himself. Unto God, that would be the father assumed. So, son, spirit, father, all brought to the fore here as this Trinitarian God. This is how redemption is done. This is how salvation occurs. And you remember all that was in the temple was a pattern, was a type showing us how God is approached. What is worship? Worship is drawing nigh. in adoration and praise and confession and many other things to the one true God. And so as we see the pattern given here, it's that way because it is all three persons of the Godhead, this one God, the Holy Trinity. That's how He is worshipped and that's who is worshipped. The Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, the mediator, both sacrificed and priest-king after the order of Melchizedek. That's review, but that's directly relevant. Furthermore, remember in chapter 10, as we covered chapter 10, verses 19 and following, going through verse 23. It says here in 1019, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter, the holiest, that is, the holy of holies, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, with full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." Did you get all of those verses, and what are they talking about? Come boldly to him, enter in, and worship. And notice how the worship is entirely Trinitarian. This is so often overlooked. So often we don't hear people describing worship as the one true God, first of all, being a Holy Trinity. And secondly, that the way is set up for worship is also Trinitarian, that we come unto our Father in and through the Son, the Holy Mediator and Sacrifice, and by the Holy Spirit, who is the one who indwells us, who is the one who cries out, Abba, Father, and the one who connects us to Son and Father. And so the mediator, Jesus Christ, the key that goes descending from heaven to us here by the Spirit and back Spirit through Christ to the Father, our worship. In chapter 6, 19, and 20, you'll remember we read those verses with glee, with great joy, because it says that Jesus Christ is our anchor within the veil. And so that veil that only the high priest could go in once a year, with fear and trepidation, no longer the fear, it says, come boldly, and Christ is our anchor within the veil. Notice it says, draw near. Could there be any clearer invitation or command, really? to worship than that. Now think of it, put things in perspective. Same God, Old Testament. Remember Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 through 5, where Isaiah is confronted by the living true God. And he saw the Lord high and lifted up his train, filled the temple. And the crying of the seraphim, you know, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And Isaiah, it says, woe is me, I'm undone, for mine eyes have seen the King. Immediately he recognized the majesty, the fear of the Lord came upon him. Not because he was lost, but because of that incredible gap between creator and creature. between the one absolutely intrinsically holy in his being, in his character, in all that he does and thinks. And we, tainted and enslaved to sin, and only by God's grace are we freed. You see, he was one who knew and saw the king in this vision. Now, how do we have these two things come together as both being true? Well, it's both true because Jesus Christ is the one who took the condemnation, who took the wrath of God in our place. And he is the one, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5, he's reconciled us unto God. And so, beloved, this God who's described in 1 John as a consuming, or excuse me, as unapproachable light, is also, as it says here in Hebrews, in chapter 12, it says He is a consuming fire. Because He's holy. Holy justice. You see, because He's holy, justice must be done. And so, as he's called this one who must judge sin, either one bears that on their own or they have a substitute for them. And it is the glory of His being and His power and His holiness that means the only way any of us can come to Him is by grace. Remember, grace is not just unmerited favor, it's demerited. We deserve the opposite. We deserve destruction, but by his grace, we who are far off are brought near. But how? Brought near, there we are again. That's Ephesians 2, verse 13. We far off brought near, how? By the blood of Jesus Christ. So once again, beloved, you see, we come and worship to him. We have boldness and we're brought near, but only because of Jesus Christ, who bore the wrath of God in our place, who is our substitutionary atonement. That's why, that's how. And so both grace and justice are satisfied. I'm not going to read it because of the brevity of time, but this afternoon, start with verse, oh, I don't know, verse 20 in Romans 3. Romans 3.20, it says that no one can be justified by keeping the law. By the keeping of the law shall no flesh be justified. It says, by the law was given that all might be rendered culpable, guilty before Him. None of us are righteous for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And it goes on to say that we have been justified. Do you know what justified means? Justified means we who are dark and guilty of sin and death and warranting the wrath of God, sinners corrupt in our nature and our thoughts, words and deeds, more corrupt than we can possibly imagine if God should show us, we would be frightened beyond measure. But despite that, by his spirit, he drew us to himself. By his spirit, he quickened us from death to life. By his spirit, enabled us to believe. By his spirit, joined us to Jesus Christ in union with Christ. By his spirit, caused us to be those who are indwelt by his Holy Spirit. And now, because of that, the righteousness of Christ. You see, in union with Christ, our sin was imputed to Jesus Christ. accredited to him, he's satisfied for that guilt and sin at the cross, and his righteousness is imputed to us, get this, so that when God looks at us, he sees us fully clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Justified, he declares, righteous forever. And beloved, the only way you and I can offer any worship unto God is because of that. If you do not have that, any pretense at worship is an exercise in futility. And therefore, we come to our text of these two men. Oh, by the way, in that Romans 3 text, read through verse 27. I didn't give you where to quit reading. Justification, redemption, we who are bound and slaved, we're the ones set free in Christ and led into a new ownership of Him. It says also propitiation, He's satisfied in full, the justice of God in our place, the wrath of God. And it says why there in that text, He did it that way. God is a just judge, He is holy. He cannot just turn His head at sin and say, I'll let you off the hook. He must punish sin. And it said God did it this way because the only way He could satisfy His own justice was by Him, God incarnate, the Holy Righteous One satisfying in our place. Listen to this. So He can be both just and justifier. And this is where then is boasting. It is excluded. Well, that's what we have underlying here. Furthermore, in this verse four, the sacrifice of Abel. Notice again the wording in 11.4, by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained a witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still speaks. Abel's more excellent sacrifice, why was it more excellent? Why was the sacrifice more excellent? Notice if you were to compare Genesis 4, and I'll let you compare that on your own. Beginning in verse 4, it says there that he brought of the firstborn of his flock of their fat, of their fatness. In other words, he picked of the firstborn of his flock, of all of his flock, he picked the best of the fatness, not the skinny, scrawny, if there was one at that time. But he picked, of the firstlings, the best. And that's what he presented to God, because he knew the value of redemption he could never repay. But Cain, on the other hand, brought, it says, of the fruit of the earth, or of the ground. Not a bloody sacrifice. He should have known that blood was required for redemption. Remember when his father and mother sinned, they were naked, and the only way they could be clothed, they tried to cover with leaves, but that wasn't good enough before God. There had to be the skins of an animal. In other words, animals, innocent animals, sinless animals, had to die and cover them, take their place. You know what atonement means in Hebrew? Kippur is the word. Yom Kippur means Day of Atonement. You know what Kippur means, literally speaking? Cover. The blood covers the broken law. And so he brought of his best. In other words, it was his first priority, it was his first desire, God's worship, not on the same level as the rest of his daily routine, nor was it an afterthought. But as he came to worship God in this altar, there he brought the sacrifice. Abel revealed that he knew about sin and guilt. What was the problem? Remember, after the fall, there was a wall, there was alienation, there was a distance, there was a wall between a holy God and sinful people. Between himself and a holy creator, there was sin. But listen, not just sin generically, his own sin. There's where worship must begin for you and me. It's that we must look at sin as not just it's bad stuff out there. Back up. We must say, that's mine. I'm guilty. I'm corrupt. I'm the one who's done this. That's where worship begins. God have mercy on me, the sinner. In confession and repentance and recognition, that sacrifice was necessary for us. And so he recognized that, and he put forth a substitutionary atonement, a propitiation, satisfaction, in other words, in blood, of an innocent, sinless substitute. That's what grace is about. And so, in other words, by faith he identified with the lamb that was slain and consumed by fire. as his substitute. You and I are also those who by faith, he did that by faith, we identify by faith alone with Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. We call it union with Christ. That by faith we so identify that the death he suffered and everything that he bore at that time of his crucifixion, the miseries of the fall and his fatigue and in pain and everything else he endured before the crucifixion, yet sinlessly, that all of that he did in our place. That he might take our place as criminal under punishment. that we might be declared holy, righteous, and good in Him." So there we have it. Straightforward, isn't it? Cain, on the other hand, evidently he brought his sacrifice. He could see God as a provider, a creator who provides. But notice he did it his own way. He didn't want to go to his brother, probably, and get a lamb for a sacrifice. He brought of his own. His own stuff was good enough. This was his way, not what God had ordained. And so Cain's so-called worship was done in a way unacceptable. God is the one who determines how he is to be worshipped. We do not. In Acts chapter 17 verse 25 it says, God is not worshipped with hands as though he has need of anything. He's worshipped and honoured and glorified and exalted and praised as holy and bowed before in submission and everything else because he's absolutely worthy of that and more. He doesn't need our worship. He is worthy of our worship, and it should be our delight to do so. If we do not do it in the way God has prescribed, you know, in Matthew 15, Jesus addressed that in verse 9. He says, in vain these people worship me, teaching doctrines of men and traditions of men. Humanistic approach is the idea. And so anyway, as we, in every time of worship, Christ should be the focus. Here is our righteousness. Here is my right. I have no right apart from Christ. Here is my right, though. Because of Christ, it says, come boldly into the presence of God. You think of that. How many would dare to even approach the temple and enter in that was not a priest? How many would dare to go into the holy place, much less to go through it and go into the holiest of all, the holy of holies? And yet, he says, our anchor within the veil is spread wide open for us, those who are in Jesus Christ. Come, come boldly, come frequently, bow in humility and worship. And so, furthermore, God testified, it says, Did you get that? That God testified that it was accepted. You ever wonder how he showed that he accepted the sacrifice? Do you know what was believed in much of the Hebrew Old Covenant believers up to the point it was taught by rabbis? Do you know what most of their, much of anyway, the early New Covenant Church believed? You can read it in the early Church Fathers. Chrysostom talks about it and others. They believed, do you remember Elijah on Mount Carmel in contest against the Well, it wasn't much of a contest, but anyway, against the prophets of Baal, and God caused the fire to come down and consume the sacrifice, that's what they believed. I don't know if that's true or not, if that's the way God showed He accepted it, but I do know He did, because His Word says so. He accepted the sacrifice. And so when we look at Ephesians 1, 6, just remember this. It says, you and I are predestined unto the adoption of sons. And it says that Christ and his redemption has caused us to be accepted in. In the beloved, God has accepted us. In Jesus Christ, the beloved one, we are accepted before a holy God. Can you imagine? Yes. That's our only hope. That's our faith. That's what his scripture tells us. We who are far off brought near by the blood of Christ. So reconciled to him. It says in verse 19 of Ephesians 2, it says that God has made us part of the very household of God. And we've been made in verse 21, I think it is, after that it says that we are the dwelling place, the temple of God, corporately and individually. Putting that all together, beloved, you see, all of this is how worship is the basis of our worship. Cain, on the other hand, was rejected. Give me two minutes to tell you about Cain. If you look in Genesis, and there are just a few verses, first of all, his way, it was his way, wasn't it, that he chose, because he wanted to be accepted on his terms. Think of the arrogance. By the way, after he murdered Abel, You remember the way he reacted? The Lord said, where's your brother Abel? And he said, what am I? My brother's shepherd? My brother's keeper? Arrogance like that. You see, that's the kind of arrogance it is to seek to worship God man's way. You know, so many think worship is horizontal. You know what I mean by that? me performing to you, you performing to me, us back and forth, you know, a lot of people applauding and doing all kinds of stuff. It's entertainment. Yeah, it could be entertaining, but it's not worship. You see, worship is vertical. We're worshiping Him, adoring Him, glorifying Him. You know, Jesus, I'll give you an illustration, Jesus really Put the hammer down on the Pharisees. In Matthew chapter 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, these people like to give alms, give to the poor, do things. You know what they do? They sound a trumpet before them. Isn't that what you do? You know, sound a trumpet. In other words, they want everybody to know that they're giving something. You know, look at me. Same thing with prayer. Long prayers in the street corner. Everybody look at me, how godly I am. Or it's said that also fasting, you know, I put ashes on my forehead and I do all, I don't wash and I bathe and that way everybody knows that I'm fasting. And so, what did Jesus say in each of these cases? What did he say? They're doing it for the wrong reason. They're doing it to be seen. He said, you have your reward. That's all the reward you're getting. If you do it for the praises of people, it's a waste, empty, useless. He says, don't do it to be seen of men, but we are to worship. We're to do these things as unto the Lord. Well, we've introduced Abel, or more than introduced, we've done a good part of what Abel showed us in his sacrifice. But can you do me this favor? Remember everything I just said for next week. So when we pick up, we can build on this foundation. Beloved, let's get this much driven home before we quit. If we do not worship God for the right reasons, His glory, His honor alone, in the right frame of mind, that is, in Christ alone, by the power of God the Holy Spirit to God the Father, our Father, crying Abba Father, if we do not worship with the purpose in mind, not what's in it for us, but how we are those who are privileged to enter into his blessed presence in worship for his glory and magnification. Then it is a waste of time. In fact, it's a farce. In fact, it's worse than that. It's idolatrous. You look in Colossians chapter two, it's the King James. I love the way they translated it there. They call it will worship. worshipping man according to the will, excuse me, worshipping God supposedly according to the will of man. One last thing and we'll go to the supper. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, it talks about the end of the age and it says that they will heap to themselves teachers. Not that they don't want to have teachers, not that they don't want to go through the motions of worship, not that they don't want to have these outward accoutrements that are associated with a church or with worship and that sort of thing, but they heap to themselves teachers according to their own desires. Humanistic, self-centered, everything rising only to the level of the carpet. And you see that's not worship. That's Cain, not Abel. And so as it describes it here, notice we worship in faith. Faith that has the assurance of the promises of God in that blood of Christ, in him. And faith that has a conviction of the things not seen. When we worship down here, we are not merely limited to the stuff we can see and feel and touch and hear, but we enter into the holiest of all by a new and living way, by the body and blood of Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. May God make us worshipers in spirit and in truth. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, you, oh Lord, are God and there is no other. The one who is from beginning to end, you have no beginning nor no end. You are the one we worship. And we know that today, The blood of Abel still speaks. But we look to the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant. His blood, the sprinkled blood, speaks so much better than the blood of Abel. And so we praise you and thank you that we can look to the Lamb, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Oh, Heavenly Father, we worship you and thank you, not man's way, but your way, oh God. That's our desire to worship you. in spirit and in truth, the one true and living God. So we praise you and thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. I receive the benediction of the Lord. And may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and make your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He also will do it.