Genesis 26 - Righteous Abel

God's word is from Genesis chapter 4, verses 8 through 15. Please listen carefully to God's word.

 

“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’”  

“I don’t know,” he replied.  

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”  

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him."   

Amen.  

 

Cain and Abel's Conversation and Fallen Communication

Today, following the story of Cain, we will examine Abel. The text read today is Cain's story, but it also includes Abel's story. The first thing Cain said to Abel is described in verse 8 of today's text like this: ‘Now Cain said to his brother Abel… While they were in the field’. In the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Bible, rather than the Masoretic Text, this expression is translated as ‘Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field,’’, and this sentence seems much easier to understand. However, although there is an omission in the Masoretic Text, because the Masoretic Text is considered more authoritative than the Septuagint (which translated from Hebrew), our Bibles translate it as in today's text. So it is briefly recorded as ‘Cain spoke to his brother Abel’. However, I think this Septuagint translation might be a very important part in understanding today's message. This is because this tone is very similar to what happened between Adam and Eve, which we have already looked at together. Originally, the Bible states that Eve gave the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to Adam, and he ate it, but later it is recorded that Eve spoke to Adam. So we could understand that there was a conversation between them and some story was exchanged within it. Similarly, the Bible expresses the meaning that Cain in today's text did not just unconditionally take Abel out to the field and kill him, but that the two conversed in some way. Just as the first conversation between Adam and Eve ultimately ended in sin, the second conversation shown in the Bible, between Cain and Abel, their communication, appears to us in an even more fallen state than before. Through this, we now see that our conversation and mutual communication are no longer the language of perfect love shown in the words ‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’, but rather lead each other to wrong places, not God's will, and, as shown in today's text, even lead to death.  

 

The Danger of the Tongue: James Chapter 3

Everyone, this is the terror of the end times. That's why James, asking ‘How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire?’, speaks thus in James chapter 3: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.”. Everyone, the apostle James is calling the tongue itself a world of unrighteousness. He is not saying the tongue is good but we are using it wrongly; he says the tongue itself is a world of unrighteousness. Why is that? It is because our language has been twisted due to the fall. It means that since there is nothing good in us, even the tongue is not good. The tongue, among our members, most easily defiles the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell, he says. Everyone, do you agree with this statement? It may not seem true, but if you think about it, it's a story we all experience. Think about when we experience hellish pain and suffering. In many cases, it will be problems arising from words. Sometimes due to misunderstandings, sometimes from actually hearing words that hurt our hearts, and sometimes we hurt others in that way. That's why we needed to know first. It is crucial that we realize how terrifying the tongue, what we say, is, and acknowledge it. The statement 'I still make few mistakes with my words' doesn't fit. We are people who can make others feel like they are in hell even while speaking the truth. We think that if we speak the truth, everyone will naturally hear it and rejoice and be glad, but that's often not the case. As we well know, the truth is often painful. Even while speaking the truth, we sometimes have an attitude that truly hurts the other person's heart. Why should we acknowledge it? Because it's not my word, but the word spoken in the Bible. “but no human being can tame the tongue.”. This is the Bible's expression regarding our tongue. It's not a problem that you and I can resolve by deciding from now on, 'I should be careful and live without hurting others with my words.'. We cannot completely tame our tongues. The Bible says there is no one who can tame it in our lives and bring it under complete control. Not only can none of us control our tongues, but we also easily flare up hearing others' words. So, the tongue is what allows anyone to start a fire, and anyone to be consumed by fire.  

 

The Root of Misunderstanding: Self-Centeredness

Because this aligns well with the most central content of the fall. Why is that? Because we speak from our center and listen from our center. Even in the closest relationships where people understand each other well without speaking, misunderstandings can arise during conversation. And such misunderstandings inevitably occur in human conversation and relationships. You think you understand others' words, but the Bible says no one perfectly understands human words 100% as they are. Even though we use the same Korean language, there are many times we don't fully understand the words. As a result, we misunderstand each other, and because of that misunderstanding, we sometimes get hurt or face difficult moments. The reason is precisely because I have become the center. That's why we don't really want to listen to others' words. Everyone, the most excellent person in the world is probably the one who listens best to others. People dislike listening to others. Because they themselves are king. This is the most terrifying part of the fall. Because we are the center, we only try to speak our words and don't listen well to others. Everyone, why is it that even after hearing the same sermon, we sometimes do or say strange things? One reason is that the most important thing when listening to a sermon is that we can only hear the word properly when we rely on God the Holy Spirit. It is a huge misjudgment to think that you can hear God's word correctly just because you are intellectually outstanding, have an excellent conscience, and have various experiences and careers. We are not even people who can hear God's word properly. We are people who hear what we want to hear. Because we are the center. The only thing that can break our center is the power of God the Holy Spirit alone.  

 

Communication in the Spirit: Listening to Sermons and Conversation

So, what should you do if you really want to understand a sermon properly? Should you stay awake during the sermon time and listen diligently? No. It's okay to doze off during sermon time. The way we understand the sermon properly is to decide to listen relying on God the Holy Spirit. It's not about understanding the Bible and hearing God's word with the abilities and skills I possess, with my Bible knowledge, with the doctrinal knowledge I know. Even if I know the Bible well, I must consider it all as refuse without God the Holy Spirit and Christ. And we must rely only on the Lord, as only God the Holy Spirit can make us properly understand this word of God in our hearts. This applies equally when you read the Bible or listen to a sermon. Because, without the power of that Holy Spirit, the power of the gospel, we originally never had the ability to accurately and correctly hear the words we need.  

 

This is also true in the realm of common grace. Whether between spouses or between children and parents, if you have the opportunity to counsel or listen to stories like this, you will be very surprised. They converse in Korean. And they both nod as if they understood the other's words perfectly. But from a third party's perspective, they are often speaking different languages. They are each just saying their own piece. But they naturally assume the other person will understand their words, and they themselves think they understood the other person's words fully. So sometimes, this method is used in counseling. That is, making the person summarize and restate what the other person said. Because we think we understand even when we haven't understood the words accurately, it's incredibly surprising when you try it. We really don't understand the other person's words from their perspective. We all try to understand only from our own perspective. That's why there are so many cases where we don't understand each other correctly.  

 

Christ-Centered Conversation: Truth and Character

The power of the gospel enables us to know the truth and follow the truth. While that includes knowing the facts, at the same time, what it actually means is that Christ must be at the center when we converse. That is the practical meaning of following the truth. It's not just about telling the facts, but Christ must be the center of our conversation. This doesn't mean, ‘When I talk with you, Jesus is always with us, so let's think about Jesus while having this conversation.’ Rather, it means we must always consider where the purpose and content of our conversation are focused. Because Christ is the center, the purpose of our conversation is not to convince each other by getting our point across, nor is it to boast that I know the facts much more accurately than the other person, and therefore, it is not to win against the other person through that conversation. Christ being the center means that the purpose of our conversation should be to manifest Christ's character and bear the fruit of the Spirit through that conversation. So, that conversation aims to speak the truth and, through that truth, bear the fruits of love, self-control, and patience. What can I gain by only speaking what is right and forcing it through? Only proving how outstanding I am.  

 

Everyone, when we evangelize unbelievers, we often fall into the temptation of trying to persuade them with the contents of Jesus Christ and the Bible. What I am talking about now is persuasion in a bad sense. That is, trying to explain completely logically to that person, and thus attempting to win logically. And speaking to them as if believing in Jesus isn't just too obvious. But the end of most such cases is like this: ‘Okay, you win! You're so smart!’ Usually, it ends like this. There is almost no one who says, ‘Your words are right, I surrender and will believe in Jesus’. Why is that? Because that persuasion, though logically correct, failed to reveal the character of Jesus Christ. Church work is the same, and so is all our life.  

 

The Power of the Gospel and Repentance

Are we truly moving by the power of the gospel? The power of the gospel, therefore, enables us to repent and lets us know that we can turn back. We can make mistakes, we can hurt others' feelings, but at that time, the power of the gospel lets us know that we can repent, forgive, and enjoy peace. Therefore, realizing the power of the gospel and knowing the fact that Christ is the center of our lives is important.  

 

Cain's Murder and the Deepening of Sin

Everyone, because communication became corrupted, sin came to rule and swallow Cain. To borrow the exact expression from the Bible, Cain rose up and killed Abel. Before that, sin was crouching at the door waiting for Cain, but since sin ruled him, Cain rose up with sin and killed Abel. The Korean Bible translates it as ‘struck and killed’ (쳐죽였다). Just reading that makes it sound like a very harsh word. The meaning of the original text is closer to ‘rose up and killed’ rather than struck and killed. But this pattern is very similar to the pattern that emerged from the story of Adam and Eve. However, it became more serious and terrifying than then. Take a look. In the story of Adam and Eve too, they first converse. But through that conversation, they proceeded onto the path of sin. Because Christ was not the center. Even though Cain and Abel conversed, the result manifested as killing Abel. And the result became much more severe. God told Adam and Eve, "You will surely die," and indeed that death came upon them. But what happened with Cain and Abel? He struck Abel and actually killed him. It became much more serious.  

 

You have learned in detail from the story of Cain and Abel, the first generation of Adam and Eve, just how terrifying sin is. God asked Adam, ‘Where are you?’. In exactly the same pattern, God asks Cain too. ‘Where is your brother Abel?’. At that time, Adam and Eve covered their shame and hid. But what does Cain say? He lies to God, saying, ‘I do not know’. It is the first blatant lie. And that lie, unchanging whether awake or asleep, can still be seen on TV today. ‘I don't remember, I don't know well’. It is still circulating in the same way now. Everyone, Cain is not far away, the terror of sin is not far away; we can clearly see through today's text that it is right within us, right beside us. Cain's story ultimately shows how terrifying and miserable sin is, both through comparison with the sin of Adam and Eve and through this entire structure.  

 

Abel's Characteristics: Faith and Righteousness

Then what is Abel showing? Last week, we examined together that we can see Abel's characteristic as faith. Abel speaks by faith. Everyone, the Bible says the reason he suffered and was killed was because he was righteous and his actions were righteous. The word 'righteous' does not mean that this Abel was a sinner who never committed a single sin. It doesn't mean he was called righteous for that reason. Then what was it that made him righteous? It was precisely because of his faith, because of his faith that relied on God. He was a man who went forth by faith. That's why his blood is called the blood of the righteous, and he was called 'righteous'. Because the ground received the blood of that righteous man, the ground became defiled. And it means innocent blood. And Cain receives that curse. In terms of linguistic expression alone, this is the first time in the Bible that a person received a curse. The curse on Adam and Eve was not a curse directly addressed to Adam and Eve. But now Cain, for the first time, directly received a curse directed at himself from the ground. It brought about judgment, or punishment, for Abel's death. This is not just one story that happened between Cain and Abel in the past; it is, in fact, a story that clearly shows what happens when humans sin, and what that sin brings upon us. It impresses upon us that the result of sin is nothing but judgment and death. And that is the story of Cain and Abel given equally to us today.  

 

Abel's Blood and the Prophets' Blood - Matthew 23

Let me examine Matthew chapter 23, verse 35. This verse records content where Jesus directly spoke about Abel. “And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.”[cite: 166]. Looking at this verse, it first says 'from the blood of righteous Abel'. And where does it say that blood continued to? To the blood of Zechariah. Although I cannot explain all the content, Jesus is saying that the righteous blood, starting from the blood of righteous Abel, will ultimately return as judgment upon sinners. He is speaking about judgment. However, besides the judgment due to Abel's blood, this verse also explains something related that the shed blood possesses. Let's look at Matthew 23, verse 34, which I just read. “Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.”[cite: 173]. In other words, God is rebuking the Israelites for actually killing the various prophets, wise men, and scribes whom He sent to deliver the word. He is saying that those who delivered the word were persecuted and suffered death. And following that, as examined in verse 35, He says 'from the blood of righteous Abel'. In other words, He is saying that the blood of righteous Abel was also shed through persecution and death, just like the prophets, wise men, or scribes whom God sent to deliver the word. That is, Jesus is revealing to us that Abel was not just Cain's younger brother unjustly killed by his brother, but a prophet. Therefore, when this Abel spoke to Cain, it wasn't simply that the brother's anger flared up leading to impulsively killing his younger brother; it lets us know that Abel, as a prophet, played the role of pointing out Cain's sin to him. Abel must have told Cain what sin was, that humans must live by faith, and the fact that they must clearly return to the Lord. Because that is the prophet's duty. That was the righteous act of Abel.  

 

The Prophet's Role and the World's Reaction

Consequently, firstly, Abel's faith revealed to Cain and to the world that they were sinners. It exposes the sin of the world. That is what hinders us from hearing the prophet's words. As you well know, numerous prophets appear in the Bible. But among those many prophets, judging by our standards, there is exactly one successful figure. Do you know who it is? It's the prophet Jonah. When Jonah preached, not the Israelites, but the people of Nineveh repented. But whom would you recall as a prophet who was more active than Jonah? There would be Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. These are, of course, very famous prophets in the Bible. But there wasn't a single person converted by their preaching the gospel. By our standards, they were failed prophets who were rejected and killed while preaching the word. Abel was the same. He was a prophet who was martyred. He revealed the world's sin through his death like that. He let it be known that the world faced judgment, and so Cain received a curse from the ground and became a fugitive.  

 

Everyone, because it reveals our sins like this, we have come to feel burdened by God's word. God tells us that our tongue can kill others. And He tells us we cannot properly control our tongues. So He says we are only doing the work of killing each other. When we hear such words, can we really acknowledge the fact and meekly repent of our sins? Suppose I said this to a deacon. ‘Deacon, your tongue is a tongue of unrighteousness. Therefore, please control that tongue well.’ If I went around saying that, could I really continue my ministry? If I told them, ‘Your words are killing others right now,’ how would that person react? Wouldn't that deacon reply, ‘Pastor, your words are the ones killing me’? Everyone, it is really difficult for us to admit how great sinners we are and that our words can kill others. If God's word, that truth, were truly applied to us, we couldn't help but feel, 'Ah, I cannot say anything'. However, God's word clearly speaks to us. And the light of that word reveals our sins in detail. When light shines in the darkness, the darkness brightens and comes to hate the light. That's why Cain also adopted such an attitude towards the faith of Abel, who came as God's prophet.  

 

Characteristics of Abel's Faith

Through today's text, we can clearly understand what Abel's faith as a prophet truly is. We will now examine the three major things Abel's faith shows us.  

 

Characteristic 1 of Faith: Reliance on God (Acknowledging Sovereignty and Self-Denial)

The first aspect of Abel's faith was faith that relied on God. Relying on God means knowing that God rules, and that I am receiving that rule. It means acknowledging the fact that my center is not me, but God. It is knowing that I am not the king, but a child of the King. God is the one who becomes the master in all my life and accomplishes His will through me. We call this sovereignty. God's sovereignty means acknowledging that God is my Lord, and therefore, He is the one who is always the Lord over my right and wrong. And while rejoicing in that, we simultaneously become able to deny ourselves. Please consider how many of our own thoughts exist within us. And how many things can we do arbitrarily? We easily think that we are not inferior or oppressed compared to others in a worldly sense. Simply put, we always live thinking we are decent people. Besides, we are people who immigrated to this good-to-live-in America... When I first came to America to study, America was much better to live in than Korea compared to now. So, when I occasionally visited Korea, although I looked like a poor international student, everyone I met envied me without exception. Because even though I was poor, I could eat American-made cheese in America. Doesn't that sound ridiculous now? But back then, those words comforted poor me. I thought, 'Even though I study so hard in America, at least I'm living eating American cheese.' Isn't it the same for you? You are people who crossed over to America and survived here. You can't be ordinary people. But this very thing is the picture of our sin. However, killing this aspect of ourselves does not simply mean emptying ourselves and reaching a higher state, but means becoming a person who fully acknowledges that everything belongs to God. This is different from the simple meaning of emptying ourselves to become elevated. So, it means knowing that everything I have and every reason I live is God, receiving God's rule, and using my entire life as God desires.  

 

However, we too often make the mistake of thinking of God as merely our bank. It means we deposit our money and try to withdraw and use it freely. That's not right; God is the owner, and you are the bank. If God wills, we must offer up all that is ours. If God tells us to live this way, embracing it with joy and living accordingly is what a saint does. That is the true meaning of God being the owner. And knowing that we are under God's sovereignty is precisely faith.  

 

Characteristic 2 of Faith: Living by Grace (Self-Denial)

Therefore, faith is not relying on what I have, my abilities. Faith is relying on God's power, not myself. A person of faith clearly knows the fact that they cannot live in this world by their own strength and ability, is a person who lives relying only on God, and the Bible clearly calls this living by grace. Many people think that those who live by grace are people who receive many things God gives. So, when they hear someone say they received grace from a worship sermon, they sometimes think that person received great emotional inspiration or gained tremendous insight. Do you also think receiving grace is like this? That's not right. The true meaning of living by grace is ‘realizing that we cannot live by our own means, and realizing that without God, we are nothing.’ Simply put, receiving grace means acknowledging, 'I am a somewhat lacking person.' It is confessing, 'I am a person who can do nothing by my own strength, and without God, I am nothing.' Therefore, you and I, who have the faith of Abel, are people who live not by our own abilities but by grace.  

 

Characteristic 3 of Faith: Longing for the Homeland (Heavenly Hope)

The third meaning shown by Abel's faith is well revealed in Hebrews chapter 11. Verses 14 to 16. “People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”. When Hebrews explains Abel's faith, it explains it identically through the subsequent stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying that they did not desire earthly things but desired the heavenly city, the foundation of that heavenly city. They were people who lived looking forward to the kingdom of God. In other words, they knew that what is visible to our eyes is not everything, that there are invisible things, and that what is visible cannot determine our lives. It means the world can never settle accounts and define our lives. No matter how powerful the world seems, judges you, labels you as successful, well-lived, decent, cool, excellent, and judges our lives, that is not your final settlement. Our settlement is only in God's hands, in God's kingdom. You may be treated as insignificant in this world, but you are living this world as God's children, and you are people whom God leads to eternal life. Therefore, at the moment of the final settlement, you are the ones who overcome the people of the world. Because we possess eternal life. The success and failure spoken of by the world cannot move you.  

 

But unfortunately, we often live as if this world will decide everything. Nowadays, a drama based on the military is said to be very popular on TV. I'd like to watch it once too. Any man who spent his youth in the Republic of Korea experiences that communal life in the barracks at least once. Since men have to live in that confined space for nearly three years, many things happen there. But there's a phrase these young men doing military service hate hearing the most. Do you know what it is? It's 'malttuk bakgi' (말뚝 박기), literally 'driving a stake'. The meaning of this slang term is having to serve in the military for life. In other words, it's an order telling that person they cannot go out into society, but must continue living in the military forever. From the moment young men, excluding career soldiers, enter the military, their thought is to be discharged as soon as possible, return to society, go back to school, get a job, and live pursuing their dreams. No one thinks, even for a second, about driving a stake and living in the military. That's why this phrase 'malttuk bakgi' is used as the biggest insult in the military.  

 

But aren't we living like this? Aren't you and I living as if we'll drive a stake into this world? Instead of looking towards the kingdom of God, we are all living like people who have driven stakes into the world. The phrase 'must live well in this world,' which should perhaps be the biggest insult like 'malttuk bakgi,' we embrace without even knowing it's an insult. The saying 'Receive great blessings in the world and live long as a rich person,' even though it means 'drive a stake in this land and live forever,' we regard as the greatest blessing we want to enjoy. The world's blessing becomes the biggest curse for us. The greatest blessing we people of faith can receive is to graduate most beautifully from the world and inherit the most wonderful kingdom of God. This truly cannot be anything but the most wonderful blessing in the world.  

In the military, because a person's value isn't well known, all young men are treated the same, and when those young men put on military uniforms, everyone looks the same. No matter how smart a person is, they become clumsy when they enter the military. But that's not the end of those young people's lives, is it? Their entire life is not settled in the military. Similarly, our lives too are settled not by the moments of our lives but by what comes after our lives. Yet, when we forget that fact and regard our lives as failures at this moment, devaluing ourselves, it is no different from being tempted and shaken by the meaningless values and judgments of the world ourselves.  

 

Applying Abel's Faith to Church Life

These problems manifest exactly the same way in our church life. It seems that the characteristics of Abel's faith we have examined so far do not manifest well in us and the churches we serve. We easily tend to ignore God's rule. If it doesn't suit our interests or greed, we try to tailor even God's word to our taste. And then we think like this: ‘Did God really mean it that way?’. This is the beginning of the temptation we receive. We begin to doubt in our hearts, 'Did God really do it that way?'. Then what happens? Once such doubt enters my heart, from then on, my wounds and pride start becoming much more important than God.  

 

This phenomenon occurs identically when doing church work. Within the church, numerous difficult, upsetting, and frustrating things arise. Frustrating things happen too. While serving the church community, one often experiences unfair situations. Despite not having done something, one might receive unfair misunderstandings. Even if it's not one's own mistake, when difficult problems arise in the church, one might unfairly take responsibility. If one works hard, one might be misunderstood as putting in effort to show off, or perhaps to become an elder. We can hear such talk very often even within the church. So it hurts. No comfort can make the pain go away. It's hard.  

 

But is it really impossible not to fall into despair due to such misunderstandings and hardships and give up serving the church? Or should we take the path of making God's command to serve and love the saints the top priority in my life, saying, 'Even if we become covered in wounds, we cannot give up the work of loving God's people'? There's no need for further words. We are people who walk the path Jesus walked, even if we become covered in wounds. That is the path of the saint. So, what should we do? It's very simple. We were called to love each other as our own lives. And although it's hard because things don't go as planned, and although it feels like others aren't doing it and only I am suffering loss while doing it, nevertheless, it is the work I must do, the work the Lord commanded me, namely loving the Lord's people, to silently walk this path to the end for that work. Although others don't acknowledge it, and even shake oneself, enduring the pain and walking that path is the life of a saint, and we are those who have decided to live such a life.  

 

However, we too often ignore God's rule on the path of our lives. My personal feelings are often more important than God's word. We do not live by God's grace alone. So, as I already mentioned, only fulfilling what I need is grace, and often, all the things that make me deny myself are not grace at all. Only when something I cherish is fulfilled do I become thankful before God, and if not, it's not grace at all. So, most of the time, we are not truly unprofitable servants before God. We often do not want to be God's servants. That's why we easily oppose God. We say, ‘Yes God, I am unprofitable, so God, please do not seek me’. Such expressions of humility are truly familiar to us. ‘I am an unprofitable person who can do nothing, so don't bother me’. But this statement lacks the word ‘servant’. The life God desires for us is not an unprofitable life, but the life of an unprofitable servant. Everyone, what kind of being is a ‘servant’? Yes, a servant is a bound body. Not someone who runs away. But is there a true servant of the Lord in our community? Are you, including myself, true servants of the Lord? Given the chance, we want to remain unprofitable people who no longer have to work, even if it means injuring our own hands or feet. We are people who dislike being servants. Because being a servant is lonely, hard, and no one acknowledges it. But we must know. This servant is not the church's servant but our Lord's servant. What we must clearly know is that we come to look at the world, and the kingdom of God gradually becomes dimmer. And we are bound to be shaken by the many things we see. Because invisible things are not clearly revealed.  

 

The Ultimate Meaning of Abel's Faith: The Blood of Christ - Hebrews 12

Everyone, now I will tell you the last thing Abel's faith wants to say to us. Abel's faith clearly shows us that the blood Abel shed is not the end. Hebrews 12, verse 24. “to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”. It's a difficult passage to understand. Let me rephrase this verse today in detail to make it easier to understand. “We have now come forward to Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant. We have come near to the blood of Christ, which is better than the blood of Abel.”. How about that? Has it become clearer now? We have come before Christ, the mediator of the new covenant. And He told us that blood is better than Abel's blood. In other words, Abel's blood actually points to the blood of Christ Jesus who was to come.  

 

The blood Abel shed ultimately ended in judgment. Because that righteous blood, that innocent blood, was shed there, Cain had no choice but to receive judgment. But Christ came. And at that time, Christ's blood was not blood that judges, but blood that restores the land. It was blood that purifies. Blood that cleanses. So, the opposite of what happened with Abel's blood occurred. That place became not a place of condemnation, but a place of forgiveness. The place of the cross became not a place that drives us to death, but a place that leads to life. It became a place of repentance. And it became a place that delivers you from everything. No matter how difficult a situation we are in, even if our faith becomes too weak, even if the love and fellowship for our community are truly feeble, we no longer stand before condemnation and despair. No matter how weak the faith and love we possess, even if no recognizable form of love appears within our community, even if there are too many people in the community with proper Bible knowledge, even if the situation becomes such that there are too few praying people in the church, even so, you and I are not in a place of condemnation and disappointment and despair, but in the place where He who loved us moved us from that place to the glorious place of the Lord, thus enabling us to be with God and His Son Jesus Christ. That is the difference from Abel's blood. If you forget that you are in that place, and thus miss being in that place, our lives can end either perpetually belittling only ourselves, or perpetually elevating only ourselves.  

 

Hope for Change and God's Faithfulness

Just in case this sermon might cause the misunderstanding, 'Ah, it's okay not to know the Bible well, be lazy in prayer, and not be zealous in loving the community,' I feel apprehensive. Everyone, that's not the case. If God holds you with His hand and the Lord takes care of your weak faith, God will absolutely not leave you in that weakness. God is the One who will surely lead you to the place He delights in, so we believe in that God. Is there anyone among you who is still dissatisfied with their own appearance and filled with disappointment? Is there anyone who feels like expressing their situation to God? Let me answer you. Many people confess to me like this, ‘It’s been 10 years since I believed in Jesus, but there is no change in me. How can I change?’ I think that is a very good attitude. Wanting to change before God, trying to get closer to the Lord is good. But have you not changed? And will you not change in the future? No. That is wrong. You will definitely change! Do you know why? Because you have eternal time. Time is on your side. Don't worry about not changing even during an 80-year life. You change even after going to heaven. Do you think that once you enter heaven, you will change into a perfect being from that moment on? That's not right. We are not God. Even there, we will eternally learn about God. We will eternally share love with Him, and you will feel your body tremble because of the joy of knowing God. We will be so happy due to the life lived with that God, and that happiness will grow forever. Just imagining it, how joyful is that? Can't imagine it well? Then think like this. The balance in your bank account increases more and more every day. You just left the money in the bank, but the amount keeps getting bigger. Now, are you getting the picture? We will eternally enter into that life with God. And since time is on our side, we will definitely change through the life walking with that Lord. So don't worry. You absolutely cannot break God's stubbornness. We absolutely cannot break God's grace towards you.  

 

Concluding Exhortation: Live as People of Faith

Therefore, beloved ones, to all who are drained, weary, and upset because of the unchanging self, I say this. Go to Jesus. Rely on Him. Everyone, it's really so obvious that it feels awkward for me to say, but this word is the only answer. Everyone, preach to your own hearts like this. ‘I do not belong to this world’, ‘I am not a person of anxiety, cannot be disappointed, cannot be condemned’, ‘I am a person of faith’. You don't become a person of faith; you are a person of faith. If you know Christ, if you believe in the cross of Christ, you are a person of faith. So please let go of everything else and live by faith. Live by grace. Live under the sovereignty that believes God is my owner. If you are anxious, weary, and tired, rely on that Lord. Find your true rest and peace there with Him.  

 

Closing Prayer

Let us pray! Because we rely on Jesus Christ, today we are the very people who can smile. Oh, Lord, thank you. Lord, thank you. Lord, thank you. Even if the world shakes, and everything collapses, and even if it seems my own faith cannot protect me, even when it seems I will lose everything I have, I am the Lord's person who relies on the Lord. Lord, help us to live by faith. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!