Faithbook Series # 1 (July 3-9, 2026) - Episode 2

This week, we begin a study of Hebrews 11, known as God’s Hall of Faith. We do a deep dive into the first person listed there, Abel, and see his extraordinary faith.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, my name is Randy Helms, and I welcome you to episode two of the Old Pastor New Fire Podcast. Well, as you know, tomorrow is a very special day in the life of our country. It is the two hundred and fiftieth birthday of our nation. The podcast from last Friday was entitled America with some of my thoughts about where we are as a country. If you have time this weekend, you may want to go back and listen to that podcast. And speaking of those that listened, wow, I was so blown away by the response from our first podcast. There in week number one we had people listen from many, many in South Carolina, over thirteen cities in South Carolina. Up in North Carolina there were five cities that tuned in and listened. In Virginia, two cities listened. But also reaching out from our local geographical area, we had a group listen down in Miami, Florida, and I want to thank you folks for listening last week. Boardman, Oregon tuned in. El Paso, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, and all the way to the west coast, Los Angeles, California tuned in and listened to the broadcast. However, today I want to begin a study from the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. Now, as you may know, that is the faith chapter. And so for several Fridays, we're going to take that chapter verse by verse. Everybody knows what Facebook is today, but I call Hebrews eleven God's faith book. It tells us of those that walked by faith. It's God's hall of faith. And here we're given the definition of faith. So I would like to ask you to, if you're able, turn in your copy of the Word of God to Hebrews chapter eleven. You may want to pause the broadcast right now and find that, and then come back and join us again. My prayer is as we study this great chapter that our faith will grow. Spurgeon once said this. He said a little faith can take your soul to heaven, but a great faith will bring heaven to your soul. Wow. In verse one we find a definition of faith. It says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now look at that word faith. Underline that in your Bible. It comes from the Greek word hoopostasis. Well you say, preacher, that don't do me any good at all. Well, let me tell you what hoopostasis means. Hoopo means to stand, and stasis means under. So faith literally in the Greek means to stand under, to support. You see, our faith in God and our faith in the Bible is that which stands under us and supports us to believe, as the verse says, in things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. You see, it does not require that we understand it, only that we stand on it. I'm afraid today the church is filled with too many wimps and whiners. What the church needs are some warriors and some winners. We need men and women who believe everything this book says, who will not budge but will hold on to the promises of God by faith as if they have already happened. Verse two for by it the elders obtained a good report, a good reputation. Verse three, through faith we understand, through hoopostasis we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. So we have the definition of faith, and then he gives us demonstrations of faith. He tells us what real faith is. And then he goes back to the very beginning of time and gives us example after example of mighty men and women of faith. And so, as I said, over the next few Friday podcasts, we're going to work our way through this chapter and look at these people of faith, God's faith book. And the first man that we're introduced to here is a man by the name of Abel. Look in verse four. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaks. So let's look at the story of Abel today and his brother Cain. Now let's go over to Genesis chapter four. Again, you may want to pause the podcast till you can find that scripture, and then join us again. Genesis chapter four. Now Genesis means beginnings or first things. I like this. Listen, in Genesis one we see the first man. In Genesis two the first marriage. In Genesis three, the first mistake. In Genesis four, the first mother, Eve, and the first murderer, Cain, and the first martyr, Abel. So from Genesis four, look in verse one. And Adam knew Eve his wife. Doesn't mean to know the way we know people today. It means he had relations with her. He knew his wife Eve in an intimate way, and she conceived and bare Cain. She gave birth to Cain. And she said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. You see, Cain means I have asked him of the Lord. Adam and Eve asked the Lord for a son and they got him. So they named him Cain. And in verse two she again bare or gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel means breath. Maybe God gave Eve an indication that her second son was not going to live very long. Read on in verse two. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground, a farmer. So Abel became a shepherd, Cain became a farmer. Don't you know their parents were proud of them? Cain's fruit supplied food, and Abel's sheep provided wool and clothing for the family. And in the process of time it came to pass Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Boy I'm sure it was a beautiful offering. In one hand he may have brought a big basket of fruit. I'm sure in that basket there were the juiciest apples, the sweetest strawberries, the ripest oranges. In the other hand he may have had a beautiful bouquet of flowers, roses, lilies, tulips, that literally radiated with beauty. I'm sure those baskets would have won first place at the county fair. That's what Cain brought as his tithe, his offering to the Lord. What did Abel his brother bring? Verse four, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock the first fruit, his tithe of his flock and of the fat thereof. Abel brought an offering of flesh, a little lamb, perfect and spotless that he killed, and he offered to God. So here both boys went to church. They both brought an offering. One brought part of his fruit, the other brought part of his flock. And it says The Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. He respected what Abel brought, the first lamb, the beginning of his flock. Verse five, but unto Cain and his offering, his fruits and flowers, God did not have respect. Somebody says, Well, preacher, that that just doesn't sound nice. That's not right. Why? Well see, God looked at this offering and he could not find one drop of blood in what Cain brought. Well, Randy, what's what's so important about blood? Hebrews 9 22 says, Without the shedding of blood there is no remission, no forgiveness of sins, and you know the only highway that leads to heaven is paved with blood. And it says Cain was very angry, very wroth. His countenance fell. His face just absolutely went blank. He is angry. You see, he thought he could work the ground and through his works produce something that God would accept. But now remember, the Lord had already said that the ground was cursed because of Adam and Eve's sin. So there was nothing he could grow or do that would be good enough to offer as a sacrifice for sin. And I want to tell you we've got a world today full of Cains who want to bring God their good works. They want to try to get to heaven their way. Listen to Jude eleven. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain. In other words, they've gone the way of good works and self righteousness. They go the way of religion and ritual. Sadly our churches today are full of folks just like that. But one day they're going to stand before God. He's going to say, Why should I let you into my heaven? And they're going to fall all over themselves bringing out their baptismal certificates, their tithing receipts, their church letters, their Sunday school attendance pens, their deacon ordination papers, their seminary degrees, and God's going to look at them and say, Woe unto you, you have gone the way of Cain. However, Isaiah sixty four six says all of our righteousness, all of the things that we do to try to work our way to heaven in the sight of God are as filthy rags. Let me tell you, if you're going to come to God, you got to come on his terms, and his terms are real simple. You must come through the blood. There is no other way. Charles Haddon Spurgeon wisely said this morality can keep a man out of jail, but only the blood of Jesus can keep a man out of hell. Amen. You see, God accepted Abel because he didn't try to come on his own merit. He came through God's mercy. He didn't try to come through the works of his hand, he came through the blood of the lamb. And that's a great lesson for us believers to learn. We not only have to be saved by faith, we have to serve by faith in our worship, in our walk. We've got to come to God on His terms and not ours. Romans fourteen twenty three says, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. That means any time I have ever stood or will stand to preach, and I'm more confident in my ability than I am his authority, that is sin. Singers, special musicians and singers, if you stand to sing being more confident in you being able to hit that high note than you are of God being able to touch the heart out there, that's sin. If some of the deacons try to minister or care for their church body based on your personality instead of the person of the Holy Spirit, that's sin. Sunday school teachers, if you stand before your class to teach and you're more impressed with your ability to speak than you are of the Word's ability to teach, that's sin. If you try to raise your children by the baby book instead of the blessed book, instead of God's book, it's sin. If you try to work without faith, witness apart from faith, walk apart from faith, give apart from faith, serve apart from faith, or whatever the Bible says, that is sin. Well, Abel brought his sacrifice, the lamb, and he worshiped the Lord. Well let's let's think about that for a moment. What is worship? Most people think worship is singing or praying. Many people think that worship's coming to church on Sunday morning and punching in, clocking in for God. Let me tell you, real worship is a life that is lived for the Lord. It's a life that is given to God. Why do you think that God commands we give him the first day of every week and the first dime out of every dollar? Do you think God needs our time or our money that much? I mean the one who created time and the one who created the world and everything that's in it. Do you think he is also desperate for those things? No, that's not what God's desperate for. He's desperate for you. He wants you, he loves you, and he wants to fellowship with you. In Genesis four, the Bible tells us what happened as a result of God rejecting Cain's worship and receiving Abel's worship. Remember we read Cain is filled with anger and rage. He's seething with anger. I heard about a man one day walked into a drugstore and said to the druggist, I came to get some more pills for my wife's colitis. His little boy looked up at him and said, Daddy, who's mom been colliding with now? Well Caine was colliding with himself and with Abel. He is angry. You see, it was not what he was eating, but what was eating him. It ate at him and ate at him until finally Caine literally exploded with rage. Dr. SI McMillan writes this The man that I hate hounds me wherever I go. He said I cannot escape his tyrannical grasp on my mind. When the waiter serves me porter house steak with French fries, asparagus, crisp salad, and strawberry shortcake smothered with ice cream, it might as well be stale bread and water. He said my teeth chew the food and I swallow it, but the man I hate will not permit me to enjoy it. Wow. Let me ask you today, is there something someone has done or said that hounds you every day you live and everywhere you go? Well that's an awful way to live. Furthermore, it's a dangerous way to live. Sooner or later those feelings will surface, and when they do, like Cain, they can burst forth in rage. Booker T. Washington once said, I will not let any man reduce my soul to a level of hatred. Oh, sadly, too many times we let what happens reduce our soul to a level of hatred, and what happens when we reach that point is often explosive and devastating. That's what happened here in Genesis four, verse six. The Lord said unto Cain, Why are you wroth? Why are you angry? Why are you filled with rage? Why has your countenance, your face fallen? Verse seven. He said, If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt have rule over him. See the word lies there means to crouch. It's a picture of a lion crouching ready to spring and attack. God was saying to Cain, If you don't turn your temper into tears and your anger into repentance, sin is going to eat you up. But Cain didn't listen to God. No, his temper turned into a tragedy. Verse eight, it says and Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him, slew him. Who was Cain angry with? Abel? Yes. But even more so he was mad at God. I want you to turn very quickly over to first John chapter one. Not the Gospel of John, but the first epistle of the apostle John, right towards the very back of your Bible. So if you need to pause the broadcast for a moment and turn, that will be fine and pick back up with us. First John one. It's a three-step process that man uses to cover up his sin. First, how do you do it? This is age old how people try to deal with sin in their life. First of all, they lie to others about it. First John 1 6 says, if we say we have fellowship with him, with God, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not do the truth, we lie to others. And then we move from that to lying to ourselves, verse eight. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And then finally, we lie to God. Verse ten, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar. His word is not in us. Well we see Cain did all three of those. First he lied to others. He lied to Abel in order to lure him out into the field, didn't he? Then he lied to himself. He thought, I can kill Abel, nobody will ever know about it. He looked to the right and to the left, but he didn't look up. And finally he lied to God back in Genesis again, verse nine. The Lord said unto Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I don't know, I know not. Am I my brother's guardian? Am I my brother's keeper? Verse ten. God said, What have you done? He said The voice of your brother's blood cries unto me from the ground. God places a curse on Cain. Verse eleven, he said, And now you're cursed from the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. Verse twelve, When thou tillest the ground, whenever you farm, whenever you plough, it will not henceforth yield her strength. Up until now, Boy Cain had been very successful in the farming and the tilling of the soil, but no longer. He said, A fugitive and a vagabond you're going to be in the earth. In other words, his life would be a wilderness, meaningless, wasted. He would spend his life wandering away from God. Well, how did Cain respond to that? Verse thirteen, Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. You see, I there's no repentance in what Cain said, no repentance in his heart, no remorse, just resentment. He's not sorry at all for what he did. He's sorry he got caught. He's not concerned about his crime, his guilt, his conscience, or his brother. He's only concerned about his punishment. So what happened to him? Skip down to verse sixteen. Cain went out fro boy, this is something. Listen, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and And dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. That word Nod literally means wandering. Cain wandered far away from God, and he never sang, Lord, I'm coming home. So today, as you listen to this message, you've got a decision to make. You have the same decision that Cain faced thousands of years ago. Are you going to go the way of Cain or are you going to go the way of the cross? One way leads to hell, the other way leads to heaven. One is the way of religion, the other is the way of redemption. One is the way of culture, the other's the way of the cross. One is the way of faith, the other is the way of folly and foolishness. Denise Matthews, years and years she went by the name Vanity. She was vile, she was vulgar. She was the girlfriend of rock singer Prince. Well, she got saved. She came to a low point in her life that she didn't know what to do. She almost died. She looked up and repented of her sin and God saved her. Some years back she was being interviewed by Joan Rivers. She looked at Joan Rivers and she said this, quote, Joan, you need to be born again. And I want you to listen to what Joan Rivers said. It's the attitude of so many people today. Joan Rivers looked at her and said, I don't feel any need to be born again. I think when I stand before God, he's going to say to me, Joan, you didn't hurt anybody. You did the best you could. Come on in. And when she said that the studio audience erupted into effusive applause. Well, folks, there you have it. The way of the cross and the way of Cain. You better choose your way carefully, because only one way leads to heaven. I must needs go home by the way of the cross. There is no other way but this I shall ne'er get sight of the gates of light if the way of the cross I miss. Father, I pray right now that you would take these words that I have spoken and preached, and Lord use them. I pray that many people would begin to find out about this podcast and tune in for just old fashioned preaching from an old pastor. But I thank you for the new fire. I'm like Jeremiah the prophet. He said I've got a fire shut up in my bones. I've got to get the message out. Lord, that's how I've lived for nearly seventy years of my life, with that fire in my bones, and even though I have retired from the pastorate, God, I still got that fire to preach the word, and so I pray today you would take these spoken words, that you would blast them out all over the world, and I pray that people would respond. I pray that people would hear this message and decide not to go the way of Cain, but to go the way of the cross. And from this they would call their pastor, call someone, go see someone right into this podcast. Let us know so that we can pray for them, and I pray for people to be saved as a result of this message today. I thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I'm glad you tuned in, and next Friday, about this time, about twelve o'clock, we'll be bringing out another message from Faith Book. Hey, but before you go, uh why don't you do something that would be a great benefit to getting the gospel out? There's a support button there on the podcast page. This podcast, it is not free. I pay for it, and I could sure use your help and support. It gives you an option on there to support this ministry. $3, $5, I believe it's $8 and $10 a month. Just click on one of those and be a monthly sponsor and supporter. And if you do so, I'll mention you on the podcast next time, if you don't mind. And uh it would sure help a lot with getting the gospel out to the people. I love you. Thank you for tuning in today. God bless you.