Hebrews 11:5-6

Good evening. It looks like I got up here early tonight, and I promise not to try to use all the time I've been given, but to use the time that I was asked to use of about 10 to 15 minutes. We are continuing our study through Hebrews in the Hall of Faith that we have described here. Those of us who are parents know that there's nothing quite like the faith of a child. Parents know that for most of their lives, their children are rebellious little sinners. But we have also experienced those all too short periods when our children trust us completely. They live their lives just assuming that they can trust us to take care of their every need, that we know everything, that we are strong enough to do anything, that they would take our hand and follow us wherever we led them. They know not only that we are their parents, but we're the best parents. No other parents can compare. Being with us is their highest desire. And that's how our faith with God should be. Covering our entire lives as we trust him to give us everything we need and care for us perfectly with all wisdom and desiring always to be with him. And that is my main point tonight. The all-encompassing faith of God's people pleases him, and he promises them his presence. The all-encompassing faith of God's people pleases him, and he promises them his presence. The three points we're gonna look at tonight are why Enoch? Secondly, how do you please God? And thirdly, what does God promise? First up is why Enoch? Unlike a lot of the other folks on this list of the heroes of the faith, We don't know a lot about Enoch. You may not even be able to place Enoch in the Bible other than here in Hebrews. He's one of the enigmas of the Bible, and his story in Genesis is one of those weird stories that make you go, what, why is that in the Bible? And I think that's intentional. If you'll go ahead and turn over to Genesis 5 quickly, you will see that we know about Enoch because of a genealogy. Those bits of the Bible that it's all too easy to skip over. And we know about him from Genesis 5 and from 1 Corinthians where he's mentioned again in a genealogy. But this genealogy here is a list of 10 men who are between Adam and Noah to show the lineage of what's going, of how mankind grew in those years. And all nine of these men are inscribed in exactly the same way. When man A had lived for so many years, he fathered man B. Man A lived after he fathered man B for so many years and had other sons and daughters, and thus were all the days of man A were this many years, and he died. Except Enoch. You're reading along and you're getting bored because you're hearing the same thing over and over again. It's names you can't pronounce, it's numbers, you're trying to figure out whether they actually add up, and suddenly, With Enoch, it says in Genesis 5.21, when Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah for 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Unlike the others who just lived after they had fathered somebody, Enoch walked with God. And unlike the others who 100% of them died, Enoch was not and God took him. And it's very ambiguous here about exactly what happens. I took a quick look at a Jewish study Bible to see what Jews thought about this. And they said there were a lot of different interpretations. Some people think it's a case of the good dying young, whereas all the other men around him are living to be 800 or 900 years old, like Methuselah. He only lives for 365 years and apparently is such a good man, maybe God took him before he could be exposed to more sin. Or maybe like Elijah, he was snatched by God for some unknown reason and taken directly into his presence. What's also not clear is what Enoch actually did. It says he walked with God. What does that mean? Here in the Hebrews Hall of Faith, it says, for example, Abel, by faith, offered a sacrifice. And Noah, by faith, constructed an ark. And Abraham, by faith, obeyed and set out. But what did Enoch do? All it tells us in Hebrews is that he pleased God. You can turn back to Hebrews chapter 11 and look at verses five and six. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. The first part of verse five tells us what happened to Enoch. It's not clear in the New Testament, but it is clear in the Old, excuse me, it's not clear in the Old Testament, but it is clear in the New Testament that Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. God took him up in a special way, just as he had Elijah, where he did not die, but went directly into the presence of God. And then it quotes the Old Testament, he was not found because God had taken him. And then instead of this language of a walk with God, we have this language of having pleased God. And it really is the same thing. Because walking with God doesn't mean physically, you know, taking a hike, you know, and thinking about God. It means that your whole life, your whole way of being is about God. It's not about any specific actions, but it's about everything that you believe, every attitude that you have, every action that you do. And we see that in the New Testament as well. The idea of walking is used in the New Testament as a way of how your life is. In Ephesians 4.1 in the ESV, which takes a literal approach, It says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. And again, he's not asking us to take a hike. He's asking us to have the whole course of our life to be tied up into the calling that we have from God. And we can see that more clearly in Ephesians 4.1 in the NIV, which is more thought for thought, where the same phrase is, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you've been called. And we actually see that in the Greek New Testament as well, because if you look at the Greek Old Testament, if you look at the Greek Old Testament that was used by the apostles and the early believers, the Septuagint, this part of Genesis where it says Enoch walked with God in the Greek version of the Old Testament It says, he was well-pleasing to God. This very same language that's here in Hebrews. It's taking that metaphor of a walk and translating it into the idea of being pleasing to God. And indeed, this was very important. In the book of Genesis, there are four men who are described as having walked with God. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Isaac, and all four of them are here in this list of the heroes of the faith. So what does it look like to please God to walk with Him? Well, I think as we have this emphasis here with no description of any actions, we're reminded that the main thing that we are to do is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all of our soul and all of our mind, because as we're told, this is the great and first commandment. Our entire life, everything that we do should be caught up in our love for God, because we know that out of a faithful, regenerate heart, everything else flows. Likewise, we know that it is a life that is guided by the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is been poured, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, as Paul says in Romans 5-6. A life that is pleasing to God is embedded in his word, as we're told in Psalm 119 over and over and over again. But for example, in verses nine and following. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. And you can see the same metaphorical language of your way, how you go through life, not wandering away from the way like it's a path, but talking about how this is the way your heart works out. And then finally, we can do this by praying. As Paul tells us, we are to pray without ceasing. It's part of the way that we are constantly thinking about God, communicating with him. asking Him to be with us and listening for His responses to us to know that we are being pleasing to Him. So what does God promise somebody who He finds pleasing because of their wholehearted faithfulness? In verse 6, We see something that at first can sound odd. It says, without faith it is impossible to please him. That's great Protestant theology. Through faith alone are we able to please God. But then it goes on to say that whoever we draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. That this all-encompassing faith is rooted in the idea that God exists and he rewards those who seek him. It'd be really easy to see this as a description of God as Santa Claus. If you believe Santa exists, there'll be presents under the tree. Or an idea that the prosperity gospel teaches, which is if you are faithful to God and you do what God tells you to do, he is going to give you goods and services in this life. But that's not what God promises here. What has he promised here in the example of Enoch? He's promised him communion. He's promised to walk alongside him so that he is present and with him in this life. And he promises that he will destroy death. and be with him for all eternity. He was taken up so he should not see death. And God does that for us. He's destroyed death so that we might be able to spend forever with him. We don't think about this often, but as creator king, God could command our allegiance and obedience without giving us anything. He doesn't owe us anything. but he promises us himself, which is the greatest thing that he could give us. He promises to be with us and walk with us and guide us, and he promises to defeat death and be with us forever, in eternity. He is a loving and gracious God who desires intimate relationships with his people. So what does it mean for us to walk now in the presence of God? Well, it means that we ought to rejoice. We should be rejoicing always in all circumstances because we know that God is with us and alongside us and where we are is perfect because he is with us. We should evangelize because if we are in communion with God, then our lives ought to be showing it. If we have the presence of God with us, if the Holy Spirit is with us, if we have the faith given to us by Jesus, others ought to be able to see that. And they ought to be able to hear that from us in our words as we share the good news of how we have been transformed and have this great gift of God's presence. And as we look forward to eternity, we can be reminded that we are not to fear. We have nothing to fear from this world because it is just a foretaste of the great gift of eternal presence with God to come. And that is that great hope that should be the foundation of our lives, to look forward, not with a hope that is fleeting, but with a hope that is sure, with a hope that is certain, that we know what God has planned for us. In conclusion, if you're a Christian here tonight, you've been given the gift of faith. You've been bought for a price by Christ's perfect walk, living the perfect life and perfect communion with the Father. And we need to live in the abundance of that, the abundance of the communion that we can have because Christ earned it for us. And if you're not a believer, Why would you reject the great reward of communion with God, the perfect Father who you can trust for all things, who has your good as his goal, who glorifies himself by saving you, who glorifies himself by wanting you to be with him in worship forever? Let's pray. Father, we know that you are here among us as two or three are gathered in your name. We thank you that you have made yourself known, that we are able to come near to you because of what you have done for us in Christ, that we do not have to be alone and afraid, but that we have the clear hope that you give us in this life and in the next. And Father, we just praise you that you are a God who glories in love and grace poured out in abundance on those who don't deserve it. And we praise you as a God who is deserving of everything we have, every bit of faith. You have shown yourself to be a God who is worthy. We pray all this in the name of your Son, our Savior. Amen.