January 2021 – jeffersonvann

THE MEN WHO COULD SEE THE FUTURE

Hebrews 11:20-22 (CSB)

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.”

We have examined the lives of five heroes of faith so far in our study: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah.

• Abel had a short life, but God enabled him to not allow that limit to keep him from using his one shot at a life of faith.

• Enoch lived in a corrupt generation, but God enabled Enoch to walk in fellowship with him in spite of the failures of his world.

• Noah also lived in a corrupt generation, so corrupt that God had to destroy it. But God preserved Noah and his family from that judgment.

• Abraham came from a pagan people, but God called Abraham to himself and taught him how to put trust him implicitly.

• Sarah learned to look beyond her own limits and focus on God’s ability and his faithfulness.

Today we add three more men to the list. The author of Hebrews lumps these three men together because he is highlighting a particular aspect of their lives. They each expressed their faith by something they did at the end of their lives. These three men are a son, grandson, and great-grandson of Abraham. They are Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

To help us see what these three men had in common, let’s go back to the first two verses of Hebrews 11.

• “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For by it our ancestors won God’s approval.”

Something that is hoped for has not yet happened. Something that is not seen is only ours potentially. It is a future possibility. Faith is trusting in the reality of what you hope for. It is confidence in something you do not yet see.

These three descendants of Abraham manifested the faith of Abraham. The author of Hebrews highlights how each of these men demonstrated faith inspired confidence in their future.. Each story tells us what faith inspired confidence can do in our own lives.

Faith inspired confidence enables us to influence the next generation (20).

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”

Let me remind you of the story behind those words, in case you were sleeping during Sunday School. Isaac was an old man by this time, and he planned on blessing Esau, because he was the oldest. Isaac “was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see” (Genesis 27:1). He was blind to the present but he believed that he could see the future. He had faith inspired confidence that he could influence the next generation.

So, he called Esau and told him to go hunting for some game, and make him a nice meal. He planned to bestow a blessing on Esau that would change his future.

Meanwhile, his wife Rebekah had overheard this conversation. She tells Jacob to go get a couple of goats. She proceeded to cook up a nice stew, and dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothing. She even put some of the goat skin on Jacob’s hands and neck so Isaac would be fooled into thinking he was hairy Esau instead of smooth Jacob.

Consequently, Isaac wound up blessing Jacob instead of Esau with this blessing:

• “May God give to you – from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land – an abundance of grain and new wine. May peoples serve you and nations bow in worship to you. Be master over your relatives; may your mother’s sons bow in worship to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed” (Genesis 27:28-29).

By the time the smoke cleared and he realized that he had been deceived, Isaac had only these words as a blessing for Esau:

• “Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck” (Genesis 27:39-40).

Now, when we tell this story in Sunday School, we usually focus on how bad it was for Rebekah and Jacob to deceive their poor blind father. But the author of Hebrews finds a different moral in the story. He focuses on the fact that in spite of the circumstances behind the blessing, what Isaac said to Jacob and Esau influenced their lives and determined their destiny.

Faith inspired confidence ensures the impact of our testimony (21).

“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”

When Jacob was old, he had poor eyesight like his father did. So, when it came time for him to bless his grandsons – the sons of Joseph, he reached out his hands and placed them on the heads of the two boys. It was a blessing but it was also a testimony.

• He said “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all harm – may he bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow to be numerous within the land” (Genesis 48:15-16).

But Jacob had crossed his hands so that the greater blessing went to Ephraim instead of Manasseh. Joseph tried to correct him, but he said to Joseph …

• “I know, my son, I know! He too will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation” (Genesis 48:19).

The author of Hebrews adds that Jacob “worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.” That staff was necessary because Jacob had acquired a limp because of a bad hip from wrestling with a certain someone and was blessed because of it. His defect was a sign of his blessing, and it became part of his testimony. His faith inspired confidence ensured the impact of his testimony on his family.

Faith inspired confidence gives us glimpses of a life after death (22).

“By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.”

Joseph was in Egypt at the time. The Bible records that he “said to his brothers…

• “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”” (Genesis 50:24).

Joseph knew this because God had told Abraham that his…

• “offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions” (Genesis 15:13-14).

Now, Joseph realizes that this exodus was going to happen after his death, so he “gave instructions concerning his bones.” What were the instructions?

• “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here” (Genesis 50:25).

What Joseph did is he took the promises of God concerning the future, and he shared those promises with faith inspired confidence. He knew what life was going to be like for his people after his death.

You and I have much more information from Scripture about our future than Joseph did. We know that Jesus will return, raise the dead in Christ, transform the living into immortal bodies, celebrate with us at the marriage feast, reign with us, reward us, and give us permanent life.

Given all the things that we know, shouldn’t we be sharing faith inspired confidence about the future with the world?

Today we learned about three men who had something in common. They had the opportunity to express their faith inspired confidence about the future, even as they faced their own deaths. These men died. Their confidence was not the ridiculous notion that death is an illusion. No, their confidence was that death is not the end. It is a comma, not a period. They could see the future, and they could remain confident, because God would be there.

THE WOMAN WHO WAS PAST THE AGE

Hebrews 11:11-12 (CSB)

“By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.”

We have been looking at the heroes of faith mentioned in this chapter. So far, we looked at what God did for four men – Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham.

• Abel had a short life, but God enabled him to not allow that limit to keep him from using his one shot at a life of faith.

• Enoch lived in a corrupt generation, but God enabled Enoch to walk in fellowship with him in spite of the failures of his world.

• Noah also lived in a corrupt generation, so corrupt that God had to destroy it. But God preserved Noah and his family from that judgment.

• Abraham came from a pagan people, but God called Abraham to himself and taught him how to put trust him implicitly,.

Today we take a break from looking at men of faith, because today’s text draws our attention to a woman of faith. We are going to learn about what God did for Sarah.

God enabled Sarah to look beyond her own limits (11a).

The first thing we need to know about Sarah was that her conceiving and giving birth to Isaac was a miracle. The text says that “she was unable” to conceive. Some women are fertile later in life, but Sarah was not one of them. In fact, Sarah had never conceived.

But even if she had been able to conceive when she was young, our text says that she was unable to do so at that point because “she was past the age”. Her time had passed her by. She missed the window of opportunity.

I think if I were Isaac, I would have had security issues. Nobody seemed to think it was possible for him to be born. When God told his father – Abraham – that Sarah would give birth, the Bible records this response:

• “Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (Genesis 17:17 NET).

When Sarah herself heard the promise, the Bible records her response:

• “So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?”” (Genesis 18:12).

The fact that both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the idea shows how absurd it was – from the standpoint of the flesh. When the child was born, they named him Isaac, which is Hebrew for laughter.

Friends, the more we know about ourselves, the more absurd the gospel is. That God could establish his eternal kingdom in the hearts of people like us is so unreasonable it is laughable. But the author of Hebrews is showing us that God works in our lives in ways that do not make sense.

God challenges all of us to look beyond our personal limits, because that is exactly where he wants to work. Paul told the Ephesians:

• “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NET).

God starts at the limits of our workmanship, and then he adds his workmanship. When we get to the point where we realize that we can’t, then we are ready to start living by faith and receiving God’s power.

Sarah “received power to conceive offspring.” She may have thought it ridiculous that she herself could have a baby, but God challenged her to go beyond what she could not do, and focus on trusting him.

Maybe our prayers seem so ineffective sometimes because we are too busy limiting what God can do. Sarah wanted a child desperately. What she did not realize is that God wanted her to have a child. His will was not an obstacle. If what we want is not what God wants, then we need to repent of wanting it. But if what we want is what God wants, then we need to stop praying “if it be thy will” as a concession. We need to know God’s will, and pray it confidently.

God enabled Sarah to focus on his faithfulness (11b).

The text says “she considered that the one who had promised was faithful.” Like her husband, she learned to trust in God’s ability. When Abraham thought about what would happen if he slaughtered his son in response to God’s command, it says he “considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking” (verse 19). That old couple had learned to trust in the faithfulness of God.

We listen to promises all the time, in our families, at our jobs, from the politicians. But we learn that some people cannot be trusted because they are not faithful to fulfil their promises. We even learn to filter out some people’s promises because we know they won’t keep them – they won’t even remember them! But when we come across people of integrity who always keep their promises, we look forward to dealing with them, because we know their word stands for something. That is what Sarah knew about God.

God enabled Sarah to participate in his amazing plan (12).

Her husband was “one as good as dead.” The miracle was not going to come from him. But Sarah did not let that stop her. She was going to put her faith in the living God.

God had a plan. God wanted Abraham to produce “offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.” Sarah knew that she could not do what God wanted to do, but she learned that God can do anything he wants, and he could use her to get it done.

Three questions are implied from today’s text:

• First, what does God want to do today?
• Second, do we trust him to do it?
• Third, are we willing to be a part of what he is doing?

We need to baptize our imaginations. For too long we have looked ourselves in the mirror and concluded that God cannot use us. Abraham and Sarah learned that the mirror lies. When God sets his mind on doing a miracle, he looks for people like us. It does not matter if some of us are past our “use by” date. Age doesn’t matter. Gender doesn’t matter. Education doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is our willingness to let God do what he wants to do through us.

THE MAN WHO LEARNED TO TRUST GOD

THE MAN WHO LEARNED TO TRUST GOD

Hebrews 11:8-10, 17-19

It is no surprise that Abraham makes the list of heroes of faith in this chapter. The author of Hebrews had already mentioned Abraham’s name six times before he even got to this chapter. In fact, his name appears 230 times in the Bible. We cannot afford to forget Abraham.

We learn from Abraham how to be God’s friend, his faithful steward, and to reflect God’s generosity. He is the father of the faithful who hear God’s gospel, respond by faith and are justified by faith.

But there is another aspect of faith that is highlighted by the author of Hebrews in today’s text. To have faith in God is to trust him: trust him with your present possessions, and your hopes and dreams for the future. Let’s walk through these six verses today, and ask God to show us through the life of Abraham what trusting him means.

Trusting God means leaving the past even though you don’t know the details about the future (8).

“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance.”

God showed up in Abraham’s life and told him to go away. He had to leave his family, the place where he grew up, and the culture that he was accustomed to. Not a lot of people are willing to do that even if they have hopes of a better life.

Abraham obeyed and set out for parts unknown. Not everyone is required to do that, but for Abraham it was necessary. It was his act of repentance. If Abraham had chose to stay, he would not qualify. The act of leaving his former life was an act of trust. It indicated a willingness to turn from what he was so that God could make him into what he was going to be.

So Abraham “went out, even though he did not know where he was going.” God had not provided Abraham with a map, with an X marking the spot of his destination. No, God just pointed him in a certain direction, and said Go.

Jesus did something very similar to his twelve disciples. He invited each of them to follow him, and they did, but he went here and there, and they never knew how long they would be where they were. By the time it came for Jesus to go to Jerusalem and to the cross, it dawned on them that following Jesus was not always going to be safe.

Jesus taught them many times about the cost of following him. Pledging loyalty and obedience to Christ and his kingdom meant uncertainty about the future. It was a lifetime lesson in trusting God.

Trusting God means enduring the temporary for the sake of the permanent (9-10).

Our text points out that Abraham “stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents.” When Abraham got to the land of promise, he found that it was already occupied, and the current residents had no idea that he owned the place. But God did not direct him to start building his castle and organizing an army to take over. Instead, God was giving him a preview of the land that would eventually go to his descendants. So, he lived as a temporary resident – in tents.

Abraham set the pattern for those who would follow him. The text mentions his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. Abraham learned to trust God with the temporary while waiting for the permanent. His entire life was lived that way, and his children and grandchildren picked up his trust habit by observing him. They were “coheirs of the same promise” So they learned to endure lives focused on the future rather that obsessed with the present. The descendants of Jacob set out from Egypt in tents.

Now, when our Lord Jesus came to set up his dominion on this earth, he taught people to enter that kingdom with the same attitude. He told them to adopt an attitude of temporary humility, meekness and submission even though they would inherit his eternal kingdom. Faith in Christ for the future often means enduring an unpleasant present.

We are learning to trust God for our daily bread because he has promised us a future where we will never again hunger and thirst.

We are learning to trust God as we weep with Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb because he has promised us a future where He will wipe away every tear from our eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things – these temporary things will have passed away.”

We are learning to trust God and live in tents because “here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Abraham could endure his nomadic existence because “he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” He didn’t need as much safety and security during his lifetime because he was learning to trust his God for an eternity with both security and satisfaction.

Sometimes God allows us to endure an unpleasant present so that we can learn to yearn for his safe and satisfying future.

Trusting God means doing what he says, even though you don’t understand why (17-18).

When we were in school we discovered that the learning process involves times of testing. For Abraham, his lifetime of learning to trust God was put to the test many times. But the particular test that the author of Hebrews mentions happened when God commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac.

There was a conflict between what God had promised Abraham and what God was requiring of him. The text says “He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son.” God had specifically promised Abraham that his offspring would be traced through Isaac. Isaac had to be alive in order for that promise to be fulfilled.

Abraham knew that God’s command did not make sense. But he also had committed himself to obeying God’s commands. He had to decide that he would obey, even in situations like this, when he did not understand.

You and I have times of conflict as well. He calls us to live in integrity even when the hypocrites and scoundrels get the best jobs, live in better houses, eat tastier food and have greener grass.

Abraham learned something about trusting God that enabled him to overcome the internal conflict he was feeling.

Trusting God means focusing on his ability, not our own (19).

Abraham could have focused on what he was not able to do. He could have said “I can’t.” But it would have been ineffective in dealing with his problem. Instead, he “considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead.” The only way out of Abraham’s personal conflict was right thinking about God.

In the same way, you and I have an internal conflict going on. We want to believe in a future after the grave. But all we see is tombstones.

Jesus told Martha that her brother would live again, but Martha was having conflict. Her theology was spot-on. She told Jesus “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” She was right. Her problem was not in what she knew. Her problem was that her brother was dead. She was having conflict trusting in God’s ability. Even when Jesus asked them to remove the stone covering Lazarus’ tomb, Martha reminded Jesus that he had been dead four days, and would stink.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead as a sign for all of us Marthas who have good theology but we need to learn to trust in God’s ability. We say that God can but he probably won’t. We need to be praying according to what we know about God.

What Abraham had learned about God enabled him to look beyond even the potential death of Isaac.

The Lord took Ezekiel up and set him down in a valley full of human bones. The Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” He answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” God told Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones, and he did. He listened and he heard rattling. It was the bones coming together. He watched as the skeletons grew flesh. God told Ezekiel to prophecy again, and the breath of God came into the bones and they became alive again.

Remember what God’s question to Ezekiel was? “Can these bones live?” Yes. Abraham learned that even death is not an obstacle because God can undo death. He learned to focus on God’s ability, not his own. They called the place Moriah because that was where God provided a substitute.

We are learning to put our faith in God. A person with faith in God can even face his own death with confidence because God is able to raise the dead. Even as he takes his last breath, his next conscious moment will be inhaling into newly resurrected lungs.

Lord, our Father Abraham learned to trust you. We choose to trust you today.

Sermon: The Man who Learned to Trust God

THE MAN WHO BUILT A BOAT

“By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7 CSB).

Our investigation into the heroes of faith as outlined in Hebrews 11 has only just begun. So far, we have looked at the man Abel, who had only one shot at demonstrating his faith, and did not throw away his one shot.

By contrast, Enoch had a very very long life to demonstrate his faith by walking with God. What set them apart as people of faith was not the length of their lives. What set them apart was the choices that they made. It was how they chose to live their lives.

Today’s hero is another example. His story is told in four chapters in Genesis, but it is summarized here with only one verse. But that one verse is jam packed with information. Let’s read it again, and this time notice the words that I underline.

One verse, but the words BY FAITH are included in it three times.

Outside of the book of Hebrews, the New Testament tells us that …

• by faith our hearts are cleansed (Acts 15:9)
• by faith we have been sanctified (Acts 26:18)
• by faith we live (Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 [Habakkuk 2:4]; Galatians 2:20)
• by faith we are justified (Romans 3:28,30; 5:1; Galatians 2:16; 3:8, 24)
• by faith we are descendants of Abraham (Romans 4:16)
• by faith we have been introduced into grace (Romans 5:2)
• by faith we have attained righteousness (Romans 9:30)
• by faith (and not by sight) we walk (2 Corinthians 5:7)
• by faith we receive God’s promise (Galatians 3:22)
• by faith we are waiting for the hope of righteousness (Galatians 5:5)
• by faith we work out God’s plan (1 Timothy 1:4)

So, you see how essential faith is for the Christian. But the apostle James warns us that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Noah is a good example of that. Noah put his faith to work by building a boat. It was a big boat. It had to be. God’s plan for Noah was a big plan. He planned to rescue Noah and his family and families of all the animals from the coming flood.

What the author of Hebrews wanted us to know about Noah is the role his faith had in his life. By looking at how faith worked for Noah, we can get instruction on how God intends for faith to work for us.

Noah’s faith helped him to respond appropriately to his fear.

This text tells us that God warned Noah of the coming flood. Genesis 6 tells us that Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries. But his contemporaries were not righteous. They had corrupted the earth. So, God told Noah…

“I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth” (Genesis 6:13).

I don’t know how long Noah had to wait for God to say the rest of what he had to say. I can imagine Noah standing there, looking up into the sky, holding his breath. He’s thinking “every creature? That includes me and mine! The earth – that’s where I live!”

God motivated Noah by godly fear. Friends, fear was not the opposite of faith for Noah. If Noah had not had faith in God, he would not have been afraid of the coming flood. His generation had taught themselves not to fear, and that lack of fear led to their destruction.

We do not have to fear God himself, but we would be fools not to fear his wrath. His coming wrath is real, and that is a wake-up call for us. The axe is already laid at the tree trunks, folks.

Thankfully, God continues…

“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood” (Genesis 6:14).

Noah’s response was that he “built an ark to deliver his family.” He built it by faith. Nobody had built such a thing before. There was no precedent. There hadn’t been any need before. God himself had to give Noah the blueprint for the thing. Building the ark was something that was going to be very hard to do, and it was going to take a lot of effort and resources to do it.

But … and this is very important… it could be done. God sometimes calls you and me to do the impossible, but most of the time he just calls us to do the impractical, to test our resolve and commitment to him. God didn’t call Noah to build a spaceship. A boat was what was needed, and Noah could do that. Noah’s faith helped him to respond appropriately to his fear and build that boat.

Noah’s faith demonstrated the difference between him and his environment.
Our text says that Noah “condemned the world.” He stood out like a sore thumb. He was an island of integrity in a sea of corruption.

In Job’s day, Satan came to the Lord gloating. God asked Satan where he’s been, and he said that he had been roaming through the earth and walking around on it. He said that as if to imply that the whole planet and all its inhabitants were under his power. Then God asked Satan “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). Satan thought “He had to go mention Job, didn’t he?

Noah was like Job in his day. He was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries, and he walked with God like his Great-Grandfather Enoch did. The man was different, and his faith demonstrated the difference.

When his generation had it as their goal the enjoyment of life, Noah had it as his goal to protect life. As such, he condemned the world of selfishness.

When his generation had it as their goal to ignore God, Noah had it as his goal to obey God. As such, he condemned the world of godlessness.

When his generation was insensitive to God’s purposes, Noah was sensitive to them. As such, he condemned the world of carelessness.

Jesus is calling you and me to be the light of the world. But we cannot be the world’s light if we choose to blend in with the world’s darkness. We need to follow Noah’s example and stand out from the crowd.

Noah’s faith gave him an eternal inheritance.
Now, the story of Noah’s faith does not end when the waters settle and he comes out of the boat. God establishes a covenant with Noah. And the author of Hebrews lists Noah as one who “became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” His faith did more that just rescue him and his family from the flood. The Old Testament says that “Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died” (Genesis 9:29). But the author of Hebrews lists him among the heroes of faith that “had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

Our permanent inheritance is the city that God has prepared for us. We are all waiting for that city. God is not ashamed to be called our God because he has prepared a city for us (Hebrews 11:16).

That holy city is our inheritance. We share that inheritance with the great heroes of faith like Noah. It will descend from the sky. John saw a vision of that city descending (Revelation 21:2, 10). It is our destiny.

But it is not our present possession. We are in a waiting period, just like everybody else. The thing that distinguishes people of faith from the world is that we know what we are waiting for.

Jesus said “in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. This is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be” (Matthew 24:38-39).

Because we know what we are waiting for, we can respond appropriately to our fear. Because we know what we are waiting for, we can live differently than the world around us.

THE MAN WHO WAS TAKEN AWAY

Hebrews 11:5-6 (Disciple’s Literal New Testament)

“By faith Enoch was removed, so as not to see death: “And he was not found because God removed him”. For before the removal, he has been attested to have pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For the one coming-to God must believe that He is, and He becomes the rewarder to the ones seeking Him out.”

I am returning to the series on the heroes of faith that I started on November 15th of last year. In that sermon, I looked at Abel, whose story is told in Hebrews 11:1-4. He was a man who had a very short life, but he did not throw away his one shot. When he had the opportunity to demonstrate faith, he did it.

Today I am going to talk about Enoch. Now, there are three myths about Enoch, and the first time I wrote this sermon, I spent the whole time dispelling them. I dumped that sermon, and rewrote it yesterday. Every thing I said in it was true, but it is just not what I need to say about living a life of faith. Here is a summary of that message:

• Enoch did not go to heaven. The Bible says that no one has gone to heaven except Jesus. Neither Genesis nor Hebrews claims that Enoch was an exception.

• Enoch did not become immortal. The Bible says “in Adam all die” and that includes Enoch, who was the seventh generation from Adam. In fact, not one of these heroes of faith mentioned in this chapter became immortal. Hebrews 11:13 said “All these died in faith” – including Enoch. Enoch was removed so as not to see death – not his own death, but the death of his descendants in the flood.

• Enoch was not sinless. His personal righteousness was not what made him different from everybody else in his day. Genesis 5:24. says he “walked with God.” To walk with God is to have a relationship with him. How did Enoch get that relationship? Genesis does not say.

But Hebrews does. Hebrews 11 says that Enoch pleased God because of his faith. The gospel tells us that we too can please God by putting our faith in him. All you have to do is believe that God exists, and believe that he rewards the ones who seek him out.

The question I want to address in today’s sermon is this: What choices did Enoch make that set him apart from his generation as a person of faith?

Enoch chose to believe in God.

Our text says that “the one coming-to God must believe that He is” and Enoch did that. He lived in a generation that was turning its back on its creator, and he chose to acknowledge God instead.

All of these Heroes of faith that the author of Hebrews lists are remembered for different reasons. But one thing that is true of each one of them is that he or she chose to believe in God when others chose to ignore or reject him.

The disciples saw Jesus curse a fig tree. They saw the tree wither and die before their eyes. Peter thought “wow, look at that.” Jesus said “Have faith in God.” It’s not about a dead tree. It’s about a living God. That’s why Jesus used that opportunity to teach them about praying to God and expecting forgiveness from God. The same power that can destroy a tree and remove a mountain can also forgive sins. He is God, and our first choice must be to believe in him.

Enoch chose to seek God.

Our text refers to “the one coming-to God” and “the ones seeking Him out.” When his generation was seeking everything but God, Enoch was seeking the God who created everything. Ours is a generation very much like that in which Enoch lived. We have scientists who dedicate their lives to knowledge so that they can solve the world’s problems. But these very same people have often turned their back on the one who holds everything together by his wisdom and power.

The Wise Men came to Herod seeking Jesus, but soon discovered that he was not there, so they set out for Bethlehem. If they had turned back and returned home after Jerusalem, we would not know about them. They were truly wise men because they kept seeking for Jesus until they found him.

Enoch was like that. He heard about God from his parents. He heard stories about God passed on by oral tradition. But he was not satisfied with that. He wanted to have a personal experience with God.

Brothers and sisters, please don’t let family or tradition be your only reason for identifying as Christians. Seek a genuine relationship with God through Jesus Christ!

Enoch chose to please God.

Our text says that “he has been attested to have pleased God.” When the generation all around him were choosing to disappoint God, he was choosing to please God.

The apostle Paul told the Roman Christians that those who are in the flesh cannot please God because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God (Romans 8:7-8). He commended the Thessalonians because they were living by the instructions that he gave them, and that obedience was pleasing God (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

So, we learn from both testaments that pleasing God is possible. But in Paul’s generation and in Enoch’s generation, the natural inclination of people’s hearts was against it. Pleasing God will not come naturally. It has to be a conscious choice to go against the grain.

Enoch chose to be faithful to God.

Genesis tells us that Enoch “walked with God.” His generation had chosen to walk away from God. They had the opportunity to have a relationship with their creator and to leave a legacy of blessing and hope. But it was not to be. Their refusal to walk with God would bring death and destruction.

But Enoch’s choice to walk with God meant that he would be removed. By God’s grace, he would not live to see the devastation and destruction cause by his generation’s rebellion.

But what did it mean for Enoch to walk with God. He did not have the Bible. He did not have a church or temple. He did not have the Law or the gospel.

What did he know about walking with God? He only knew that his ancestors had heard the sound of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they had hidden themselves from his presence among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8). Sin had kept Adam and Even from seeking God and from walking with him.

Enoch chose to come out of hiding and walk with his God. He faced his own fears and guilt and decided that his own imperfections were not going to keep him from fellowship with the Perfect One.

That is walking by faith. It is being faithful to the God who wants us to walk with him. God’s presence in the garden was an invitation. Sin kept Adam and Eve from answering the invitation. Faith enabled Enoch to answer God’s invitation for a walk.

Enoch chose to trust God for his eternal destiny.

Enoch believed that God “becomes the rewarder to the ones seeking Him out.”

Besides Genesis 5, the genealogies, and Hebrews 11, the only other biblical reference to Enoch is a prophesy he gave about the Lord coming in judgment. That prophecy is recorded in the book of Jude. So, Enoch had the spiritual insight to understand that some day God was going to judge the world.

We don’t know what Enoch believed about his personal destiny. But if he believed that the ungodly were going to be judged, he must have also believed that the faithful would be rewarded. In today’s text, the author of Hebrews gives Enoch as a witness to God as a rewarder.

One day, Enoch is going to walk with God again – and forever. God offers you and me the same invitation. He knows we have sinned and fall short of his glory. We don’t deserve to have fellowship with him. But he has sent his Son as a sacrifice to atone for our sin, so that we can once again not only enter his presence, but walk with him.

Jesus instructed John to write a letter to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6. He said that the city had a few people who had not stained their clothing by hypocrisy. He promised them that he would not erase their names from the book of life, but confess their names before his Father. He also promised them that they would some day walk with him in white clothing.

We were created to go for a walk, and for that walk to never end. Have you started your walk with God yet?