Hebrews 11:4 (ESV)
⁴ 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.

What kind of faith did Abel have? He had the kind that leads to righteousness. Righteousness in scripture refers to two conditions. First, the state of justification that is imputed by God’s grace when one obeys the gospel. Second, it refers to right conduct, that is, righteous living. Vine’s Dictionary tells us that this righteousness refers to “the sum total of the requirements of God.” The righteous person, then, is the one who does God’s will. The importance of this can be seen in the words of Jesus when He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). That was Abel. He was a doer of God’s will and was thereby righteous. Do you have this kind of faith, the kind of faith that leads to righteousness and is commended by God? What was the difference between Cain and Abel? The difference was Abel did what was demanded by God, and Cain did not. Cain, instead, took his own way and was, therefore, unrighteous. We know what kind of man Cain was because after his rejection by God, he murdered his brother. However, even if we did not have that information, we would know that he was not righteous because he did not do what God commanded. You see, it does not matter if you are a seasoned saint or a babe in Christ. It does not matter what kind of husband or wife you might be, or if you are a wonderful father or mother. It does not matter if you are a great citizen in society, always keeping the law and making your community better. In the end, if you are not a doer of righteousness, that is, if you are not doing all that God commands of you, you are not righteous. John put it like this:

1 John 3:7 (ESV)
⁷ Little children let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

Why did God commend Abel’s faith? It was because it led him to live a righteous life, and if we have the right kind of faith, we will live righteously too.

Now, I want you to see one more thing here. Being righteous does not involve a single act of obedience. Instead, it involves a manner of life. God did not just accept a single sacrifice from Abel, He accepted a plurality of them. The record says that God commended Abel “by accepting his gifts.” Now, this denotes two things. First, Abel’s service to God was an ongoing service. True faith does not cause people to serve God just occasionally; it moves them to live for God, serving and sacrificing for Him consistently. Second, the fact that God accepted Abel’s offerings on an ongoing basis suggests that Abel lived a morally upright life. One thing the Bible is clear about is that God will not have fellowship with unrighteousness (1 John 1:5-7). So, Abel must have lived morally right continually, or else God would have stopped accepting his gifts. So, again, I ask, do you a faith like Abel? Are you walking in his steps? Our faith should move us to first, serve God constantly, and second, to live according to the moral precepts of the gospel while we do so. The person who has saving faith is not going to be a gossiper or backbiter. He is not going to be one who regularly forsakes the assembling of the saints. He is not going to be one who is indifferent towards the cause of Christ or uncommitted to the work of the Lord. The person with saving faith is going to be like Abel; that is, a person who is commended as righteous and therefore accepted by God.

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.