Sermon Tone Analysis

The living by faith is a dynamic relationship with the Lord

It’s having an overwhelming belief that God will use my life for His ultimate glory.

We’re studying the hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11.

We began looking at the inner workings of faith—built upon and sustained by trusting the Word of God.

We understood the offering of faith—sacrificially giving my life to the Lord.

Up to this point we have seen what faith is and what faith does.

Today we discover the purpose of faith.

Why live by faith?

What is the purpose?

Everything has a purpose.

But sometimes it is easy to lose focus of the purpose.

A preacher was in Atlanta, several years ago, and noticed in the restaurants section of the Yellow Pages, an entry for a place called Church of God Grill.

The peculiar name aroused his curiosity, and he dialed the number.

A man answered with a cheery, “Hello!

Church of God Grill!”

The preacher asked how that restaurant had been given such an unusual name, and the man said: “Well, we had a little mission down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills.

Well, people liked the chicken, and we did such a good business, that eventually we cut back on the church service.

After a while we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving chicken dinners.

We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill.”

It is just as easy to lose focus of the purpose of living through faith as it was for that church to forget why they existed.

The purpose is not:

How life benefits us

Pleasing a spouse

The giving our children every thing they desire.

The purpose goes much deeper than that.

And we are introduced to a man whose life of faith went much deeper than that.

His name is Enoch.

The faith that drove Enoch to walk with God for three hundred years was built and lived for a purpose.

What is the purpose of faith?

Why live through faith?

Follow with me if you will and let us discover three profound purposes of faith.

I. Defies Death

vs. 5

The Bible says that Enoch was “translated.”

In Genesis 5:24 the Bible says Enoch, “Was not; for God took him.”

What does that mean?

There are only two men who have never physically died.

One of them is Elijah—after the conclusion of his ministry the Lord brought him home in a whirlwind and a flaming chariot.

The other man is spoken of here—Enoch.

Translated comes from a unique Greek word— metatíthēmī – a compound word 1) mĕtathāso – denoting change of place or condition and títhēmī – to place – it means to transfer, (literally) transport, to exchange, to change sides.

In other words, the faith of Enoch allowed him to defeat death!

A. The Power of Death

Sin is a terrible plague upon mankind.

It all started in the Garden of Eden when man disobeyed the commands of God.

Adam and Eve were cast out the Garden, out of the presence of God and condemned to die in their sins.

And from that point on, death has had a dominion over mankind because we are all the offspring of Adam.

Worse than physical death, The Bible tells us there is eternal death.

But Christ came to provide victory over the dominion of death caused by sin!

There is hope and there is life!

Jesus conquered death!

We have seen the Power of Death

But, How is this victory secured in our lives?

B. The Power of Faith

Enoch had faith in God, and the Bible says he walked by faith.

Verse 5 tells us that Enoch was translated that he should not see death by faith.

God honored Enoch’s faith by delivering him from death!

Friend, that is the way in which we are delivered from death as well—through faith!

We must believe:

God loves us

We are sinners

Sin bears a severe penalty

Christ died for our sins and rose again

Christ is the only way to escape death—John 14:6

Trust Christ and turn to Him

We said that the first purpose of Faith is that it Defies Death, the second purpose is that it...

II.

Delights God

I am sure that everyone here wants to please God.

It is the purpose of our existence!

A desire to please Christ is not something extra for the Christian.

It is basic of the Christian life.

It is not a dessert, but the main course.

It is not a sideshow, but the main event.

It is not a motive to which we can resort when convenient; it is a controlling force to which we have committed our lives.

For the pleasure of Christ, we have abandoned everything else.

As we walk with God, eventually the applause of man and pleas of this world have a hollow ring.

We are marching to a different drumbeat.

His delight is our greatest joy!

But, wait—notice:

A. A Warning

vs. 6a

We are told of an impossibility.

We are told that it is impossible to please, to delight the Lord without a clear, true, pure faith in Him.

You may seek His pleasure, but my friend, you will never please God without true, living breathing faith in Him.

We must have both the desire to please Him and the diligence to seek Him.

Too many Christians lose faith in their life so easily.

Paul had many men who traveled with him through his journeys.

Each of them had their unique strengths and unique gifts for the work of the ministry and became very helpful to the apostle.

Among them was a young man named Demas.

The world is full of faith killers—evil assassins designed to pull you away from the Lord and destroy your faith.

1. Sin

2. Adversity

I can almost hear Solomon say here…”Toughen up buttercup!”

3. Fear

It is said that Fear Not, or similar wording, is in the Bible 365 times, one for every day of the year.

Quote: :When fear enters, faith leaves!”

4. Pride

The devil knows that if he can destroy your faith he can destroy your delight in the Lord!

So He gives a warning - it is impossible to please God without Faith, Secondly Notice we are given...

B. A Witness