PLEASING GOD (HEBREWS 11:5-6)

BIG IDEA: PLEASING GOD BEGINS WITH BELIEVING IN GOD (BY FAITH)!

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 11

5 By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

IT’S IMPORTANT TO BEGIN TODAY’S MESSAGE WITH A DIRECT REFERENCE TO VS. 1: NOW FAITH IS THE REALITY OF WHAT IS HOPED FOR, THE PROOF OF WHAT IS NOT SEEN. 2: FOR BY THIS OUR ANCESTORS WERE APPROVED...

THEN TODAY’S VERSE (5) OPENS “BY FAITH...”

OUR JOURNEY IS ONE WHICH MUST BE FULFILLED OR LIVED OR REALIZED IN FAITH.

THIS FAITH JOURNEY IS NOT ABOUT CLEVERNESS OR WIT OR AGED PHILOSOPHIES…BELIEVERS ARE CALLED TO LIVE BY THE SAME FAITH THAT CONVERTED THEM…TRUSTING IN SOMEONE WHOSE LOVE DEMONSTRATES BOTH HIS CREDIBILITY AND HIS COMPASSION...

FOR FAR TOO LONG, I ATTEMPTED TO NAVIGATE THROUGH LIFE IN MY OWN SUBSTANCE - MY OWN INTELLECT OR INSTINCT!

AND TIME AFTER TIME I FAILED FORWARD INTO FAITH!

BELIEVERS QUICKLY LEARN THAT WE MUST HOOK UP AND HANG ONTO THE ONE WHOSE WORDS CAN BE TRUSTED AND WHOSE WILL IS DEPENDABLE!!!

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Faith Is: Hearing with the Heart

Faith Is: Hearing with the Heart

An American missionary in Africa wanted to translate the English word faith into the local dialect. He could not find its equivalent. So he went to an old sage, who was himself a fine Christian, for help in rendering the needed word into understandable language. The guru studied it, and finally said, “Does it not mean to hear with the heart?”

THAT’S FAITH…HEARING WITH THE HEART!! BEING ASSURED IN THE PROMISES WE HOPE FOR BASED UPON THE ONE WHO SPOKE IT....

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 11

5 By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God.

OUR OLD TESTAMENT HERO FOR TODAY IS ENOCH, FIRST REFERENCED IN GENESIS 5

21 Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah. 22 And after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 23 So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

ENOCH, SAYS THE TEXT: WALKED WITH GOD…THE PHRASE (WALKED WITH GOD) SUGGESTS THAT ENOCH AND GOD (((GOT ALONG))). EVEN GREATER, THE INTIMATION OF THE TEXT SUGGESTS A DEVOTION TO GOD THAT NO ONE ELSE EXHIBITED DURING THIS SEASON...

AS THESE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM ARE CATALOGUED AND CHRONICLED IN GENESIS 5, ENOCH STANDS OUT!

NOT BECAUSE OF HIS LONGEVITY (CLEARLY SHORTER THAN MOST DOCUMENTED), BUT BECAUSE OF HIS PRESENCE, HIS POSTURE, AND HIS DEPARTURE...

HIS PRESENCE: (WALKED) HE WAS IN THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD. SEEMINGLY DAILY…THIS TIME IN GOD’S PRESENCE MADE THE DIFFERENCE IN ENOCH’S WALK...

BUT ALSO NOTICE HIS POSTURE: (WITH GOD)! NOW, ENOCH WASN’T GOD’S SIDE-KICK, HE WAS GOD’S STUDENT. ENOCH’S DEVOTION TO GOD ALLOWED HIM ACCESS TO SIT AT GOD’S FEET - GLEAN FROM GOD’S WISDOM - AND SHARE IN GOD’S PRESENCE...

FINALLY, WE SEE HIS DEPARTURE: THEN HE WAS NOT THERE BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM…THERE IS A TRANSFERENCE OF PRESENCE THAT IS RARE IN SCRIPTURE...

ENOCH IS RAPTURED TO BE IN THE VERY PRESENCE (ETERNALLY) WITH GOD!

THE TEXT SAYS: HE WAS NOT THERE...

THIS AGAIN SUGGESTS THAT HE WAS SOUGHT, BUT NOT FOUND...

AND THE REVELATION OF THE INVESTIGATION IS THAT GOD TOOK HIM!

ENOCH WALKING WITH GOD

Unity Baptist’s pastor shares from His sermon "Faith: Enoch-walking with God in faith" on sermoncentral.com shares:

"Picture in your mind, if you will, Enoch, walking with God in the coolness of the evening, just as night and day are meeting and lengthened shadows begin to fall across the earth...Together they walk, speaking, communicating...One the created, the other the Creator...and as they walk, Enoch pleases God...Daily this walk takes place...it takes place in the chill of winter and the heat of summer...Enoch daily walks with God in the freshness of Spring and the drab foreboding of fall...And then, one day, as Enoch and God walk together and as the sun slowly sets, Enoch notices that he has traveled far from his home and from his family and he possibly says, 'God , I did not realize we had walked together such a distance from my home, should we not turn now before the deep darkness of night falls?' and God, hearing these words of a man who pleased Him said, 'No, Enoch, Let’s continue our walk. Tonight, I would like you to go home with me.' And together, God and Enoch walked and continue to walk to this very day." ((SO ON THAT DAY, ENOCH DIDN’T GO HOME. HE WENT HOME))!!!

Some glad morning, when this life is o’er— I’ll fly away To a Home of God’s celestial shore— I’ll fly away.

I’ll fly away, O Glory, I’ll fly away— When I die, Hallelujah, by-and-by, I’ll fly away.

SO THIS GENESIS ACCOUNT TEACHES US HOW ENOCH LIVED, AND HOW HE LEFT...

AND AS WE MAKE OUR WAY BACK TO OUR MOTTO TEXT IN HEBREWS 11:5, WE HAVE A WIDER CONTEXT WITH WHICH TO INTERPRET ENOCH’S FAITHFUL WALKING WITH HIS GOD...

5. BY FAITH ENOCH WAS TAKEN AWAY, AND SO HE DID NOT EXPERIENCE DEATH. HE WAS NOT TO BE FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM AWAY. FOR BEFORE HE AS TAKEN AWAY, HE WAS APPROVED AS ONE WHO PLEASED GOD. 6. NOW WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD, SINCE THE ONE WHO DRAWS NEAR TO HIM MUST BELIEVE THAT HE EXISTS AND THAT HE REWARDS THOSE WHO SEEK HIM.

DO YOU WANT TO PLEASE GOD?

PLEASING GOD IS INTENTIONAL, AND IT IS RESERVED FOR THE FAITHFUL.

PLEASING GOD BEGINS WITH BELIEF IN GOD! HIS EXISTENCE & HIS ACTIVITY!

The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” - PSALM 14:1A

THE ONE WHO DRAWS NEAR TO HIM MUST BELIEVE THAT HE EXISTS....

HIS EXISTENCE & HIS ACTIVITY - BELIEVE THAT GOD IS MOVING!

BELIEF

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it? 

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed.

(((MORE)))

PLEASING GOD INVOLVES BELIEVING GOD! TRUSTING AND FOLLOWING HIM DAILY. RELYING UPON HIS WORD. BELIEVING AND FOLLOWING HIS PROMISES. SUBMITTED TO HIS WILL....

BELIEVING GOD IS A MOMENT BY MOMENT MOVEMENT...

NOT JUST WHEN THINGS ARE GOING (AS WE PERCEIVE THEM TO BE) WELL...

NOT JUST WHEN THERE IS HEALTH AND WEALTH...

BUT BELIEVING GOD THROUGH THE STORMS OF LIFE.

BELIEVING GOD WHILE AWAITING HIS DELIVERANCE AND PROVISIONS...

PLEASING GOD INVOLVES BELIEVING GOD

FINALLY BELOVED:

PLEASING GOD IS FOUND FOR THOSE WHO SEEK GOD! WE MUST HAVE A DESIRE TO PLEASE HIM, AND DILIGENCE TO SEEK HIM...

DRAW NEAR & SEEK

PLEASING GOD IS NOT JUST GETTING MORE FROM GOD, BUT GETTING MORE OF GOD....

ENOCH MODELED FOR US WHAT IT MEANT TO DRAW NEAR…AND AS A CONSEQUENCE, HE EXPERIENCED THE GREATEST REWARD (TO SHARE ETERNALLY IN GOD’S PRESENCE)

Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To the cross where Thou hast died; Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, To Thy precious, bleeding side.