If the weatherman says that it’s going to rain tomorrow, we act in faith of what he said and pack an umbrella. But if we can always trust a weatherman who is often wrong, how can we doubt a God who is never wrong? Join Tony Evans as he defines the concept of faith and raises the question, “Are you living by faith?”
[Music]
hello everyone
this is dr tony evans with the urban
alternative and i’m excited to welcome
you
to join us on a journey a journey
through hebrews
11 it’s known as the hall of faith
where men and women discovered
what god can do when god’s people
learn to live walk and
act by faith the beautiful thing is
it’s not just about them it’s about
us as the author of hebrews writes to
new testament believers
that’s who we are about how the lives of
old testament saints who learn to live
by faith
should challenge and affect our lives
as we live by faith so we’re excited to
welcome you on this journey it’s going
to be an exciting trip
we’re going to learn a lot most
importantly we’re going to be
transformed
by the truth what it means to be a
kingdom hero
who lives by faith
[Music]
we start with hebrews 11 verse 4.
the first personality given to us
because he’s the first man who had to
live fully by faith
because he’s the first man born in sin
you see hebrews 11 verse 4
says these words by faith abel
offered to god a better sacrifice than
cain
through which he obtained the testimony
that he was righteous
god testifying about his gifts and
through faith
though he is dead he still speaks
we now want to talk about the faith of
abel
and abel is going to teach us today what
it means to worship by faith
what it means to worship by faith
now each of these stories comes from the
old testament
so to fully understand what the author
of hebrews is saying in the new
testament
you need to go back to the old testament
story
the old testament story of cain and abel
is found in
genesis chapter 4. the first book of the
bible
abel is the first man of faith because
unlike his mother and father
adam and eve he didn’t get to live
in a perfect environment and see god
face to face
because initially sin had not entered
the world
but when adam and eve sinned they were
removed from the presence of god
when they were removed from the presence
of god god
slew an animal to cover them
emblematic and symbolic
of the removal of sin
by blood god slew an animal and covered
adam and eve
remember they tried to cover themselves
with fig leaves
they went out and used god’s creation
to cover themselves gods flew an animal
to provide a covering stay with me
god rejected their ability to cover
themselves
and god created a way for him to
cover them
the bible says in chapter 4 verse 1
that adam knew eve and she gave birth
to the first son and his name was cain
she gave birth again verse 2
to his brother abel
abel was a keeper of flocks cain was
attila of the ground
here it is verse 3. so it came about in
the course of time
that cain brought an offering to the
lord of the fruit of the ground
abel on his part brought the first
length of the flock
and their fat portions and the lord had
regard for abel and his offering
but for cain and his offering he had no
regard
these two boys were raised in a
god-fearing home
they were not raised by parents who were
not sure that god was
real because adam and eve grew up
or or were married by god they were
created by god
they walk with god in the cooler today
so they were not raised in an
atheistic environment they were raised
in a
theistic or god oriented
environment and guess what adam and eve
taught their boys she taught them
you got to go to church she taught them
about worshiping god
it says in the course of time verse 3
abel and cain brought an offering to god
that meant there was a prescribed time
for worship
in the course of time there was a
prescribed
place of worship because they brought
their offerings to a location
so god had given them the time god had
given them the place
and then there was a prescribed way of
worshiping
we know that was a prescribed way
because he rejected cain’s offering
and accepted abel’s offering so one
person did something right
the other person did something wrong one
person did it the way god wanted it
the other person did not cain worshipers
and able worshipers because both of them
went to church
both of them went to the place both of
them
did the activity but only one of them
was accepted i want you to know whether
you’re a cane worshiper
or an able worshipper so that if you’re
an able worshiper you’ll keep worshiping
like abel
and if you’re a cain worshiper you’ll
switch over quick
and you’ll see why so we’ve learned thus
far it is possible
to go to worship and have your worship
rejected
to have god said you wasted your time
this morning
when it came to their worship
this show both boys believed in god
because they came to worship neither was
an
atheist both desired
for their presence to be accepted by god
and you’ll see in a moment kane gets
ticked off when his isn’t
because cain ran into the problem that
many of us
run into watch this and that
is wanting to worship god our own way
no in other words wanting to worship god
like i want to worship him
not like he expects me to
so here they are the two boys go to
church so to speak to use
new testament language to worship
when they go to church the worship we
see their offerings
what they brought to god it says
cain brought an offering to the lord
from the fruit of the ground verse three
verse four abel on his part brought the
first things of the flock and their fat
portions
and the lord regarded abel’s offering
he didn’t regard cain’s offering
something was wrong with what they
brought
what was wrong with it cain went and he
got some tomatoes some cabbage whatever
whatever fruit he brought whatever it
was and he put it on the altar and he
says here it is god
i’ve come to church
abel brought the first wings of the
flock and that
that portion here it is god i’ve come to
church
god has regard for abel’s offering which
means he consumed it
because whenever god accepted your
offering in scripture he would consume
it
abel’s offering was sitting on the altar
and nothing
god didn’t snatch it up he had no regard
for it
or to put it in everyday language he
said i ain’t doing nothing with that
i can’t accept that what you mean god
i’ve been working all week i’ve been
tilling the ground
i brought you my stuff god said i can’t
use that
you see god had already
told adam and eve and therefore through
them cain and abel
that to come in my presence you must
deal with sin
to come in my presence you must deal
with sin
and the only way to deal with sin is
through sacrifice
i slew an animal to deal with the sin of
your mama and your daddy
abel brought a sacrifice
to deal with his sin and you’re bringing
me fruit
you want to worship me without dealing
with sin
you want to come into my presence
without dealing
with your rebellion or whatever it is in
your life
that keeps you extreme from me you just
want to show up at church
skip sin and want me to be happy
i cannot regard your offering
if accompanied with your church
attendance
is your refusal to recognize and want to
address
my way sin
brothers and sisters the whole reason
jesus died on the cross
was because of our sin and our need for
atonement
you worship without atonement and your
worship is not regarded
that is why we center our worship on
jesus christ
because he is the sin bearer
so the first thing that cain did
or did not do that abel did
was he worshiped god in a way
that recognized the reality of sin
his need for forgiveness in order to be
accepted by a holy god
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so the first way to be a cane worshiper
is to not believe god enough to give him
what he asked for
and you insist on giving him what you
want what you just said was you’re a
liar
i can’t trust you but i’m in church
god’s integrity has been challenged in
worship
there’s a second thing they did it says
abel brought the firstlings of the flock
and they’re fat
all it says about cain is he brought an
offering so i said he brought an
offering
but it says about abel he brought the
firstlings of his flock and their fat
he didn’t give god junk and leftovers
first things met the head one chief one
of the flock
the fat man he found something juicy
found something with a lot of blubber on
it to offer up to god
cain showed up and his worship was
rejected
because it was not a worship that was
based on faith
by faith abel offered his sacrifice
cain had all the looks
of reality but he was actually a facade
of religion the offering of cain
lies there
and god says unacceptable
something happened watch this now
watch this this is deep this is deep
verse 5 but for cain
and for his offering why because
your offering is never detached from you
the cane and his offering because god is
seeing your seriousness
by what you display with your time
talents and treasures
so cain here it is here it is you know
what misses folks
verse 5 says of genesis 4 but cain
became
very angry and his countenance fell
okay okay stay with me here cain became
extremely angry very angry ticked off
and his countenance fell he became
angry and depressed okay
he is depressed all because
his worship was off god didn’t regard
his worship
so his emotions were crazy verse 6
of genesis 4 then the lord said to cain
god’s talking to cain because cain is
emotionally down
why are you so angry
why are you mad boy and why
has your countenance fallen why are you
so depressed
okay verse seven if you do
well will not your countenance be
lifted up
the reason why you’re so depressed you
ain’t doing right
you not doing right well what did the
boy do wrong not worship right
he didn’t do right because he didn’t
worship right he didn’t address sin
he wanted to give god just what he
wanted to offer god
his emotions took over and began to
dominate him
and god wasn’t going to fix it until he
changed his worship
verse seven if you do well will not your
countenance be lifted again you’re gonna
smile again
and if you do not do well if you don’t
change
what you’re doing sin is crouching at
the door
and its desire is for you but you must
master
it oh no he didn’t go there
he says
sin is crouching at the door that means
that that’s that’s a picture of an
animal
that’s getting real long ready to
okay walk with me now your worship not
right king
your not right worship has affected your
emotional stability
so now you’re mad all the time and now
you’re depressed because your
countenance is falling
and we got an animal at the door ready
to pounce on you
the animal at the door is called sin
he calls sin like an animal crouching he
gives it a personality
he says this thing called sin is
crouching at the door but wait a minute
wait a minute
i thought you already sinned when you
worshiped
well yeah you did you sinned against me
when you worshiped because you gave me
junk worship
but i’m talking about a person called
sin
because it can crouch it can leap okay a
personality called sin
in other words something’s getting ready
to eat you
up sin is crouching at the door this
lion
tiger is getting ready pounce on you and
he gonna
eat you up okay
let’s go back let’s start again you
messed up worship
may god say i can’t do nothing with that
which causes you to be angry
and depressed when you get angry and
depressed
sin has got an open door that it didn’t
have before
to now dominate you jump on you
and eat you up it all showed up because
your worship was wrong
your emotions got wrong so your spirit
got wrong
and now you’re under the control of sin
it’s dominating you
controlling you all because your worship
was off
it all started because you got
detached from a god who couldn’t use the
junk you were throwing his way
and god says i’m not going to change it
until you change
change what i don’t have the power to
change no change your worship
in hebrews chapter 11 verse 4
that though dead he speaks
abel speaks though dead
cain is ticked off in genesis chapter 4
and he finds his brother and kills him
in verse 8. wait man watch that now
even though dead abel speaks
so if abel’s dead and he talking
he’s still alive okay so he died but
he’s still living because he talking
so abel is now talking what does abel
have to say
abel said god says the king where’s your
brother verse 9
his brother said i don’t know where my
brother is i’m not my brother’s keeper
god says to cain in verse 10 the voice
of your brother’s blood is crying to me
from the ground
me and your brother haven’t talked
you’re not gonna tell me where he is but
we’ve already have a conversation about
his location
he is having a conversation with god now
watch this
cain’s life from that point on would
become a lifetime of misery
he says you’re going to wander the earth
and i’m not going to let nobody kill you
i’ma let you live the rest of your life
miserable
folk who gonna want to kill you i’ma
block them from killing you
because i want to let you live in a
living hell
anybody in here living in a living hell
all because your worship was off you
you’re not gonna die you’re gonna live
and you’re gonna wonder
and he says this is too much for me
but in the book of hebrews
it says though did hebrews 11 verse 4.
watch this abel still speaks
but that’s in the new testament that’s
you and me
so what is he trying to tell you and me
because he’s still talking
the next to the last book of the new
testament is the book of jude
jude only has one chapter and the one
chapter in jude
around verse 11 talks about the way of
cain he talks about the way of cain
abel still speaks hebrews 11 4 jude the
way of cain
king created a chain reaction
his chain reaction is false
religion false religion
is coming to god like you please
not like he requires false religion
people who don’t go to heaven
are going to heaven many of them while
coming to church
now i hope that’s nobody in here but you
could be coming to church but not going
to heaven
that’s because you’re using your own way
to get there
god has prescribed that there is no
other way to salvation other than
through jesus christ
you trying to work your way to heaven
and trying to make heaven your home
well you’re going to be duly surprised
when your worship was rejected
because no man is saved by their works
they’re only saved by the finished work
of jesus christ on the cross you come to
god
through christ not through being a
better nicer person
so if you go the way of cain you’re
going to wind up wandering forever
that is the biblical definition of hell
but abel still speaks
and what is he saying to you and me
today very simple
abel is saying to me and to you
and to us today you come to god by
revelation not by human reason
let me say it again his message is the
only way
god will accept you coming to him is by
what he reveals not what you think
not how you were raised not what your
mama said not what your daddy said not
what your friend said
not what the media says unless what they
said is what he says
you ought to make your decisions by
revelation not by what you can conjure
up
or i can conjure up in my puny finite
mind
because the only thing i conjure up in
my mind
is what my mind can partake of human
reason
but what god what faith is are things
that are not seen
are things that are beyond me but
because god has integrity
i move on what he says not on what i
feel not on what i think not on what i
heard
not on what my reason tells me unless it
is
consistent with what he’s revealed
that’s the message of abel
and it starts with your worship are you
giving god
the time the talent and yes the treasure
that he’s asked for and are you giving
it to him first
are you throwing in some fruit loops
you’re throwing him what’s left over by
the way
let me tell you something about fruit
loops
froot loops are a bunch of different
colors
but they all taste the same
no matter what the color is the froot
loops
all taste the same because they’re made
up of the same stuff
i don’t care what you throw in god’s way
and what color it is
if it’s not what it requires it all
tastes the same
it is unacceptable to god
but let’s close by reversing it you give
him the worship he requires
your emotions stay intact sin has to
stay behind the door
because it doesn’t have emotions to
piggyback on and you won’t wind up worse
than you started
because god will have regarded you
and by the way abel needed one lamb for
one person
when god established the passover it was
one lamb for one family
then he had the day of atonement and
there was one lamb for one nation
and on the cross there was one lamb for
one world
behold the lamb of god which taketh away
the sin of the world
[Music]
one of the tough things in life
sometimes is to worship god
especially when you don’t see him
sometimes you have to worship
by faith sometimes you have to praise
him when you don’t want to praise him
glorify him when
you’re not emotionally motivated to do
it and so
you do it anyway by faith believing
that god sees and god knows how is your
worship
is your worship tied to your feeling or
is your worship tied to your faith
god is waiting for your worship because
god is real
even when your circumstances are
confusing
keep looking up so that the god of
heaven
can operate in your life on earth
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you