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Three Angels Fellowship SDA Church

The Five Solas

Garhett Morgan

Why Protestant?

The Protestant in Me

Sola Scriptura

Sola Gratia

Sola Fide

And today we're gonna be taking a look specifically at by faith alone are we saved.

What does this mean that by faith alone we are saved?

And the next couple weeks we'll finish up with these last 2, in Christ alone, and all to the glory of God alone as well.

So let's go ahead and take a look here as we continue.

Now of course if you're studying faith, there's lots of different places in the Bible that you could go, but if you talk about faith, you're probably going to end up in Hebrews chapter 11, right?

So if you'd like to turn there, if you have your Bibles with you, you can.

Hebrews chapter 11 is nicknamed a couple different things.

Other people call it the hall of faith, kind of like the Hall of Fame, except faith.

A lot of different Bible heroes are listed here for having faith in God.

Some of them you would recognize and it makes sense that they're there.

There's also some people that you would wonder, Why in the world are they there?

For instance, people like Rahab, who was actually a prostitute that had faith in God.

We don't have time to get into that story today, but she is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11.

Samson is also mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11.

So some people you think should be there are there, other people that you don't think would be there are there as well, and there's other some people that you might think surely would be there that are not there.

So Hebrews chapter 11 is kind of a survey of faith throughout the biblical characters in the Bible.

But the first 1 that Hebrews 11 mentions here is verse 4, Hebrews 11, verse 4, and it reminds us of 1 of the earliest stories in the Bible in the book of Genesis.

Genesis, well, let's read this first in Hebrews 11, verse 4.

It says, by faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts, and through his faith, though he died, he still speaks." So of course, many of you probably know the story of Cain and Abel.

Cain and Abel were the first people that were born onto the earth.

Adam and Eve don't really count because I don't think they were really born as much as they were created, right?

So Cain and Abel were the first born, they were the first children of the earth, and this is a really tragic story.

We find that they're both taught about the sacrificial system.

They're both taught that an animal needs to die for their sins, and as they grow up, they learn to do that for themselves.

And this is when things start to go a little bit haywire.

So let's go ahead and review this story in Genesis chapter 4.

If you have your Bibles, you can turn there.

You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with faith?

Genesis chapter 4, 1 of the earliest stories in the Bible, We read the story of Cain and Abel.

Genesis chapter 4, starting in verse 1, remember what happened in chapter 3, Adam and Eve fell.

They were banished from the Garden of Eden.

They're trying to figure out what a life of sin is all about.

God has promised them a Messiah that would come eventually, and in Genesis chapter 4 verse 1 it begins, and Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

Now in English this doesn't come across really well, but in Hebrew it comes across a little bit better.

It reads something like this, "'And Eve said to Adam, I have received the man from the Lord.'" In other words, Eve believes that this firstborn son is the Messiah that God has promised.

Surely this must be Him." And much to her disappointment, this is not the case.

Millennia go by before the Messiah comes, and this firstborn son of earth is anything but the Messiah, but he in fact becomes the earth's first murderer.

Verse 2, and she again bore his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought forth the fruit of the ground in offering unto the Lord.

And Abel, he also brought the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

And the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had no respect.

And Cain was angry and his countenance fell.

I'm sure many of you have read this story before and it's an interesting story for a few different reasons.

Abel, on the other hand, his occupation isn't a farmer, he's a shepherd, right?

So while Cain is out and he's planting and harvesting and doing all of that good stuff, Abel is with the sheep and he's raising them and he's delivering the baby sheep and he's caring for their needs.

All of those things, husbandry type of occupations.

Now obviously, Adam and Eve had taught Cain and Abel what a sin sacrifice was.

We see evidence of that in Genesis chapter 2 and 3, but we also see it in Cain.

Because when Cain, I'm sorry, Abel, because when Abel brings his sin offering, the Bible's specific that he not only brings the lamb to God, but he brings the fat of the lamb to God.

Now that's very interesting and specific because fat in the sacrificial system is a representation of sin, right?

So Abel knows what he's doing when he's bringing this lamb to God, he's presenting it as a sin offering so that his sins can be forgiven.

And this is what God had passed down to Adam and Eve and to Cain and Abel.

Now Cain, on the other hand, does things a little bit differently.

Instead of bringing a lamb that has the lifeblood in it, he brings fruit and vegetables, the work of his labor.

And he brings them to God and puts it on his own altar.

God accepts Abel's lamb, but does not accept Cain's vegetables and fruits of his own labors.

And there's a reason for that, because the Bible is very clear that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin, right?

And there's not any blood in a turnip or a carrot or a potato.

You might be able to argue there isn't a beet, right?

And of course, the Bible also says that sacrificial animals is not what cleansed the sinner from sin, right?

It wasn't the blood of lambs or cows or whatever it was that they sacrificed, but sacrificing the lamb was that sinner saying, I know this lamb doesn't save me, but I'm having faith that someday a Messiah will come and he is going to shed his blood for my sin, right?

Abel brings what God tells him to do, but what does Cain do?

It's not that just because he brought fruit and vegetables that that was the problem with the sacrifice.

It wasn't what God told him to do, but what he offered up anyway.

Cain, for the forgiveness of his sin, was giving God something that he had worked for.

Cain had planted these vegetables and fruit.

So when he comes to God, he's saying, here you go, God, this is the best that I have and the best that I can do.

The vegetables of Cain represents his works.

And if the Bible teaches us anything, our works are not good enough for salvation.

What we can do, and even our best, I bet they were great fruits and vegetables.

But even the best that you can give to God is not enough for you to be forgiven.

Now Abel, on the other hand, you might be able to argue, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

This was a lamb that he probably birthed.

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Series

The Five Solas

Sola Fide

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

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Talking Points 4th Quarter 2022: On Death, Dying, and the Future Hope

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Experiencing the Revival

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Blessed Assurance

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Witnessing to the Wealthy, Worldly, and Well-Educated

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Amazing Discoveries Reveal the Future

Echoes of Eternity

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The Day of Atonement

01 God’s Love Forgives

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Sound Doctrine