This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 3, 1993.

Now, if you are reading from Hebrews chapter 11, we will begin there, reading the first sixteen verses of this chapter. Listen to the word of God. the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen is not made out of things which are visible.

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 true faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. My faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God took him up. For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is. and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith, even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore also there was born of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of the heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises. but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own, and indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Now, the man knew his wife Eve when she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the world. And again she gave birth to his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the flocks, and Cain was the tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground, and Abel on his part also brought her the first wings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and for his offering he had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

We are mindful, Father, of your Church throughout the world, and we are asking, Lord, that in your word you would strengthen your Church with truth so that your Church would stand against the evil of our day. We are asking also, Father, that there would be that sense of unity for your people, so that they would not then think of themselves as isolated or alone, or even boast of their exclusivity. We pray, Father, that we would have a sense of the expansiveness of your kingdom and of your church. and that we would bless you, Father, for those that you are bringing into that church from all the tribes and tongues and races of the world. We ask, Father, that we would be conscious of this enterprise, truly an enterprise of your Spirit, and most mindful of that bond that exists between us and those who have confessed to reformed faith. May we be zealous to pursue those ties and do what we can by prayer and other means to see those ties strengthened. But Father, we ask that we would not forsake your word or your truth in the interests of unity. May your truth triumph over all. May we be subdued by it, and may all your people submit to your glory. We pray this through the One who is the Living Word, who Himself submitted, Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.

I want to address some misapprehensions about the story of Cain and Abel this evening and also focus a bit on our understanding of the figure of Abel before we end our message. With respect to some of the confusing things that have been said about the Cain and Abel There was that suggestion that Abel had in fact chosen for himself, or had assigned to him, the more noble occupation.

That his occupation of the herdsman, or caring for animals, was more noble than the occupation of Cain, which was the tilling of the ground. Now, some have felt compelled to pursue that idea because they have found it more satisfying in relationship to the matter of the offerings that are presented by and by through Abel and King. Attention is called to the fact that Abel’s offering was, after all, an offering that had to be made with blood. being an offering of the firstlings of his flock, of the fat portions thereof.” This, then, is judged to be more honorable in light of what is later said in the book of Leviticus, that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins. So Abel is congratulated for having chosen the better occupation. in order to offer the better sacrifices, his sacrifice then being one accompanied by blood. This also on the background of what God himself has done. You read about that in the twenty-first verse of the third chapter.

You remember Adam and Eve had tried to clothe themselves after their fall into sin. Their clothing was inadequate. God then clothed them with skins that he provides. Where did the skins come from? some animals have had to be slain in order to procure those skins for the clothing of Adam and Eve.

Again, the slaughtering of animals, a sacrifice, if you will, blood involved, and again, one more time, Abel is judged to be on the better ground because of these connections. Cain’s occupation of killing the ground, it has been said, was less honorable. It has been said by some. This isn’t very good news to farmers. His occupation, so it has been said by some, was less honorable. His occupation, in fact, is mentioned second in the text. Verse 2, Abel is identified as the keeper of the flocks. Then we are told about Cain, who was the tiller of the ground.

And on top of this, there is reflection upon the curse. So it is said, reflection upon the curse which God has pronounced upon the earth. That curse read out for us in verses 17 through 19 of the third chapter. Cain’s occupation then is brought more closely into contact with the cursed earth, per se, and is seen to have something of a curse overshadowing it that didn’t overshadow, seemingly, Abel’s occupation.

Cain, therefore, is thrown into a subordinate role. Just how subordinate becomes evident to us when we recognize that if these approaches There wasn’t any way for Cain to come to God truly except through Abel, his brother. Talk about humiliation, insult to injury. The best he could do was offer some grave sacrifice or offering. Abel had the blood, he had to come to Abel in order to get the blood, and it was only through the blood, then, that he, Cain, could be accepted.

Well, so goes. some of the interpretations that have been offered up with respect to this passage. There are others. There is that approach of liberal theologians. You know how they delight in finding mythological precursors to the Bible stories. They’re not at a loss here. They turn to Sumerian mythology.

They dredge up the story of the shepherd god Dumuzi and the farmer god Enkindu, who engage in a great conflict and battle, a mortal conflict, representative of the two ways of life in the ancient world, shepherding and farming, a sociological battle. The liberal scholars have concluded that Cain and Abel The story that appears in scripture is merely a latter development of the myth that was told in Sumeria. This story was an attempt to come to terms with the rivalries that existed between those two ways of life, namely the shepherding way of life and the farming way of life. love of Abel is predictable. After all, Israel’s past history was bound to that existence which she had had in nomadic life previously, previous to their entering into the land of promise. And predictably, Israel gravitates towards the shepherd and the edge is given to Abel.

He comes out on top. Well, I think it’s obvious to you that these are improper approaches to the story of Cain and Abel. The proper approach to this story does not assign impropriety or inferiority or even sin to Cain because of his profession. because of his occupation. The biblical text sees his task more in terms of the division of labor, which comes naturally, inevitably, automatically. Adam, his father, before him was both herdsman and farmer, and now his father, Adam divides the labor, most likely for efficiency, in a situation demanding some specialization and also a recognition of inherent or native ability. Cain may well have a propensity for farming. Abel, a propensity for herding flocks.

But even here, as the Bible story goes on, the curse that has come upon the earth intrudes. It intrudes not just as man will battle the earth, be it as he farms or as he herds, but as man now begins to battle man. with respect to the labor he finds for himself within the earth.

Man, in his occupations, will give evidence of the depravity that is settled upon him. The whole matter of occupation, labor, pursuit, calling, profession, the whole matter of one’s wife’s work can be dangerously and even wickedly competitive, filled with jealousy and envy, filled with a mean spiritedness and an underhandedness. Sin totally pervades mankind. But it also thoroughly and completely pervades all of mankind’s enterprises, his occupations, his tasks, even the way in which he pursues them.

So then, these enterprises engaged in legitimately by Cain and Abel find them face-to-face with the potential of their own sinful natures. Find them also face-to-face with the potential that rises out of the curse that has fallen upon the natural world order. Thinking specifically now about evil in this regard. Abel is faced with the effects of sin and the curse that has come upon the natural order in his occupation.

He is faced with that every time he is compelled to look for water for his thirsty flock. He is faced with it every time he is compelled to move his flock because the cursed earth will not yield its increase appropriately. He is faced with it every time he sees within his flock a deformed lamb born. He is faced with it every time he sees one of his sheep die from disease.

Is Abel’s life a better life? Is it somehow preserved wonderfully from the effects of the fall? Is it somehow more noble in that it is removed from the effects of the curse that has come upon the earth? Or do we think of the shepherd’s life as being the more idyllic? I don’t think that there were the Samoan tones of Beethoven’s sixth symphony playing behind Abel as he was out shepherding his flocks.

But even more than this, the fact that as Abel goes to work each day, he is confronted with the fact that the curse has affected the occupation in which he is engaged. Even more than that, Abel is faced with questions about himself. It is he, after all, who is going to work. He is faced with questions not about the cursed earth situation, but about his own depravity, his own sinfulness, that sin that afflicts him. potentially damaging his dealings with God and with man. As brief as the testimony is in scripture with respect to Abel’s life, it is marvelous. in that it seems that in Abel we have one set before us who fought well the fight against sin and its effects in himself.

As far as his relationship to his parents were concerned, Abel must have been a good son. I don’t mean that he was simply an obedient son, a son that honored his parents. By that I mean he believed them. He believed them when they told him the story about their creation, about their original blessedness in the Garden of Eden, about the temptation to which they were subjected, about the sin to which they succumbed, about their fall and about their expulsion from that garden. He believed them, and he believed them from the heart.

And as far as his brother was concerned, we may be charged with reading too much into the 8th verse of chapter 4 in Genesis, where we have this face-to-face confrontation between Cain and Abel. But we certainly aren’t reading too much into the character of Abel when we reflect on what is said about him in 1 John 3, 10-12. Cain, in that passage in 1 John, is spoken of as the one who hated his brother and out of his hatred slew him. By contrast, Abel is the one who loved his brother, who genuinely loved his brother. And I would suggest that the opening part of that 8th verse in chapter 4 in Genesis is suggestive of that love, that Abel was one who was approachable.

He was open and he was trusting to a fault. Such was his love for his brother. Which makes his brother’s sin against him and crime all the more heinous. So with regard to his parents, Abel is a righteous man. He believes the truth which his parents have told him. With regard to his brother, he is a loving brother to a fault, and righteous in that love, open and trusting and even going to the extent of making himself vulnerable.

But what about Abel’s relationship to God? We have the testimony from 1 John 3, verse 12, that Abel was in fact a righteous man, that with respect to his behavior towards his brother whom he loved, but also with respect to his attitude towards God. That description of Abel as a righteous man is repeated in the passage that we read this evening from Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4. This text that speaks about the righteousness of Abel in Hebrews speaks further about the character of man.

For not only is he a righteous man with regard to God, he is a man who is filled with faith. It is important for us to understand exactly what is being suggested here when the author of the letter to the Hebrews speaks about Abel as a man motivated by, driven by, possessed by faith.

What is the precise nature of this faith which Abel has? Let me suggest to you that it is more than his belief in the story told him by his parents. concerning their creation, their life in the garden, their fall, and their expulsion from the garden. The faith that is triumphing in Abel is more than his belief in the factuality of that story told him by his parents. Now let me suggest something else to you. This faith which Abel has is more than a belief in the fact that God exists. It is more than a belief in the fact that God exists. But I’ll say something further to you about this faith.

Abel’s faith is even more than that faith by which Abel was justified from God’s sight. Now, I don’t want to play down I certainly don’t want to play down the faith as we have come to understand it and to glory in it, that faith that throws oneself upon the mercies of God without any claim upon God whatsoever, as if we had some sort of inherent goodness within ourselves. Now, by all means, Abel was possessive of that kind of faith. He was possessive of justifying faith, that faith which, in fact, does throw oneself upon the mercies of God with abandonment, without any claim upon God through some sort of imagined, inherent goodness within ourselves.

But while Abel had this justifying faith, and while he had faith in all of the senses which we have mentioned thus far, a faith in the story told by his parents, a faith that in fact God existed, as strange as it may sound, such faith as we have so far described, dependent upon visible confirmations within Abel and to Abel.

You see, God at this point in salvation history, early as it is, continues to visit this first family, he continues to come to them visibly, to show himself occasionally to them through a theophany, an appearance of himself. God at this point in salvation is still very much visibly involved with his world.

And he would still make visits to Adam and his family. And he would, in those visits, confirm all that Adam and Eve told their children about what had happened previously. He would also, by those visits, confirm his own existence. How could it be denied? There he is, right in front of you. He has appeared, and he speaks. And even by his visits, he provides visible evidence of Abel’s justification. Now, I’m not reaching here. I’m not stretching matters. I want you to look at Hebrews 11 verse 4 one more time. You see what it says there?

That text indicates to you that there was some means by which God testified to Abel that his gifts were acceptable. And the acceptance of those gifts was, in fact, a confirmation by God of Abel’s justification. Do you see it in that text? Do you understand? Abel makes his offering, God comes, and by some means, we don’t know how, there is some visible confirmation of the acceptability of that sacrifice from Abel.

But as wonderful as all this is now, as glorious as it is, and I will not minimize that one bit, as soul and as God, glorifying of faith, all of these things that we have spoken of thus far, Adam and Eve are not up to. Abel’s faith is even more glorious still, and more sublime. It’s more wonderful than all of these things that we have spoken about thus far. Things that are indispensable, of course, to true faith.

But even when they are totaled up, they land us short of that faith which was in Abel and expressed by him. Let me tell you about Abel’s faith. Abel’s faith gives all. Here we go. Abel’s faith gives all in the certainty that having given all, he has lost nothing. Oral faith gives the best, symbolic of the all, in the certainty that having given the best, he hasn’t lost it.

Now do you see what characterizes this faith? Abel is able to see things invisible. The kind of faith that Abel has enables him to see things that are invisible. This faith will carry him beyond those things confirmed to him by sight. This faith grasps hold of those things that are unseen, not apparent. in its particular character is found also in that fourth verse of Hebrews 11. Justifying faith is there, but this other faith is also there.

It is found in that verse’s reference to Abel’s better sacrifice. And the author of this letter to the Hebrews infers In his rendering of Abel’s sacrifice, he infers his conclusions with regard to that better sacrifice from his reading of Genesis 4-4, which tells us that Abel brought to God the firstlings of his flock and the fat portions of that flock.

Abel gives the best. He does not do so in order to put God in his debt, but in order to demonstrate the fact that he gives all to God, he gives himself to God, totally and completely. And just as that sacrifice was consumed, the one offered by Abel, lost from sight, it was not lost from God. So also Abel, though consumed in his service to God, even to the point of death, even though he’s lost from sight, he is not lost to God. That’s what Abel believes. Even if he is lost from sight in this world, he is not lost to God, nor from God. but shall in fact be with God, in a world that is as yet invisible to the eye, and perceived only by, grasped, held up only by faith.

Abel, no less than Abraham, no less than Sarah, no less than Isaac and Jacob, mentioned later in Hebrews 11. Abel, no less than these, believes in an unseen, better country, a city which God has prepared. country and city, into which God will receive even him, Abel, through the resurrection from the dead. And though he is dead and unseen Abel lives in an unseen world and continues to speak and what about Cain? we will have more to say about Cain and his character but for tonight Kane is an unbeliever. Kane is an unbeliever. In what sense is Kane an unbeliever?

Does he not believe his parents and the story they tell? Of course he believes it. Is he an unbeliever in that he rejects the existence of God? What foolishness? God comes and talks with him later on in the passage. He believes in God. He most certainly is lacking in that faith by which he would be justified But even more, he willfully disbelieves in the reality of the unseen world. And I say willfully, because even granting the possibility of it, he doesn’t want it. And why? because he wants this world. He wants this world.

We should all be Those who stand in the line of evil and his faith, not pain and his line, which is marked by unbelief. Let us pray. draw us on our Lord. Even as you have given us faith, may we move from faith to faith, that there would be this perfecting of faith in us, even the perfecting that is spoken of by the writer to the Hebrews. Faith that glories in the truth of the gospel A faith that glories in the fact that you are true and real. A faith that glories in justification, which is appropriated by faith alone. But a faith that is even more in that it has the ability to grab hold of invisible things and to live in light of them. O God, your Son, Jesus Christ, was the one to whom Abel pointed, and how beautifully he lived out such faith as was perfected in him, so that even through the experience of the cross, he did not break faith with you, but maintained faith, knowing for certain the realities of that unseen world. We are saved through this one to whom Eagle pointed.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.