Life That Is Pleasing to God

Transcript

GR 1710
12/1/2013
Life that Is Pleasing to God
Hebrews 11:5-6
Gil Rugh

We're in Hebrews 11. Come to Hebrews 1:1, just to remind ourselves of how we started and what the emphasis is that is being developed in Hebrews. This letter began very directly by stating in Hebrews 1:1, “God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” And the uniqueness of the Son then is unfolded. God has spoken and our response to that revelation, His Word, is our response to Him. You cannot separate God and His Word. When you believe in the Word He has spoken, you are believing in Him; when you reject the Word that He has spoken, you are rejecting Him.

So he has unfolded something of that revelation that He has given as we've moved through Hebrews. And you'll note, the Old Testament as we have it, beginning in Genesis 1, is the Word of God. And throughout what we have as our Old Testament God spoke through His spokesman at a variety of times in a variety of ways. But the culmination of God revealing Himself is the coming to earth of His Son. The One who reflects His very nature, being God, has revealed in a fuller and more complete way than ever happened before. It does not replace that revelation in that sense, but it expands and gives a fuller and more complete revelation.

So we've moved through the book of Hebrews. Basically the first ten chapters have unfolded something of the revelation given in the Son of God. He came to be a high priest. He came to carry out the priestly ministry of offering the perfect sacrifice of His own body on the cross so that by one sacrifice for all time He could bring God's perfection to those who believe in Him. Having laid that foundation then, he proceeds to challenge believers, the believers he is writing to and by the plan of God to those who would subsequently believe that message to live their lives in accordance with the revelation God has given, to live their lives as lives of faith.

So when you come to Hebrews 11 we are unfolding examples from Israel's history of men and women who lived with their faith in the God who had revealed Himself. And as we have emphasized again and again, the faith that saves you is not a faith that is encapsulated at a point in time and frozen there. Your faith begins when you understand and believe the truth of God's salvation provided in Christ. But this is a living faith and now it is the foundation and characterization of the rest of your life. We live with our faith in the God who has made Himself known, in the God who provided us our salvation in the person and work of His Son. And every day our lives are shaped by the truth of the God who has made Himself known, and we live with the desire to be pleasing to Him. And these Old Testament examples are to encourage and challenge and remind us that saving faith is a living faith. Saving faith transforms a life and makes you new. Now we live to be pleasing to Him.

Come back to Romans 15. And the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans and he said to them in verse 4,”for whatever was written in earlier times.” That's that prior revelation “given through the prophets in many portions, in many times was written for our instruction.” Was not just writing history to inform us, but is writing so we could learn from their lives. So that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. That's a concern for the writer to the Hebrews, to encourage them, to challenge them to perseverance in light of the hope we have of all that God has promised. And then he says in verse 5, “now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind in Christ.” This is the sovereign work of God. We have come to believe in Him and His salvation, now we live every day trusting Him and relying upon Him. And these Old Testament examples encourage us. It takes perseverance, endurance as we walk with God. And He provides that perseverance, He provides that encouragement as we trust Him.

Come over to 1 Corinthians 10. Again he is talking about Old Testament lives, the history of Israel. And then he says in verse 11, “now these things happened to them as an example; they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Because with the revelation given in Christ, we have come to the climax and realization of all that was anticipated by prior revelation. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.” And with all the testing that God brings into our lives He provides “so that we are not overwhelmed by those testings, temptations.” His intention is for us to grow, mature, be strengthened by them. So verse 11, “these things happened as an example.” So as we work through these various Old Testament individuals in Hebrews 11 God had them preserved for our benefit so that we could learn through the trials and testings that we go through to persevere, be faithful, have our faith firmly established on the promises of God; that settled assurance that God is faithful and He will do what He has promised.

Faith in God and faith in His Word, as I mentioned, cannot be separated. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ,” Romans 10:17 tells us. But we must hear with faith. Come to Galatians 3. For those who came out of a Jewish background the temptation was often to go back to Judaism. I was reading the testimony of a man who had claimed to be saved out of Roman Catholicism and for a number of years he was a professor in evangelical schools. Then he decided he was going back to Roman Catholicism and he resigned all his positions. It's a disastrous turn, going back. God says He has no pleasure in those who go back. For these Jews, they are contemplating going back to Judaism and what God had revealed in prior years. In other words I will not believe in the finality of revelation in Christ, I'm just going to go back and trust prior revelation. But you're not really believing prior revelation—you can't believe part of what God reveals, you believe what God reveals because that is the revelation of Himself. You can't believe in part of God.

So in Galatians 3 Paul was writing here to those who are being tempted to convert over to Judaism. So he says to them in verse 3, “are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit are you now perfected in the flesh?” They've begun, how did they begin? Look at verse 2, “the only thing I want to find out from you, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?” How were you saved? By your good works? By trying to keep the Ten Commandments? By trying to keep the Law? No. When did the Spirit of God come into your life? When you heard the message concerning Christ and you believed it. You'll note the end of verse 2, “hearing with faith.” Those who never hear the revelation God has given can never believe it. But many of those who hear that revelation do not truly believe it. We have people who sit here week after week and hear the message of God's revelation but have never truly believed in it and experienced their salvation. That's true of multitudes of people. We must hear with faith. We must believe what we are hearing—the truth that God has given.

Turn over to Galatians 5:5, “for through the Spirit by faith we are waiting for the hope of righteousness.” You see that is God's work. The ministry of the Spirit as we hear that Word and we are convicted of our sin, our guilt and our need for the salvation that can only be found in Christ, the work of the Spirit that results in our believing the message we hear. And now we have our faith in God, the Word He has given, the promises we have which are our hope, and the glory that will culminate our salvation when we enjoy His presence. It is through the Spirit, by faith, waiting for the hope. The end of verse 6 talks about “faith working through love.” You can't be saved by your works, but when you are saved by faith your life is transformed, now you are living for Him, living to please Him.

Now come back to Hebrews 11. This is what we are talking about, faith. And it's by faith, Hebrews 11:2 told us, “the men of old gained God's approval.” He was pleased with them. He testified that they were acceptable to Him, that they belong to Him now as His children. And now he begins at the beginning. By faith we understand that the worlds, the ages and all in them were created by the Word of God. That's Genesis 1.

Then we have the first individual that is picked out—Abel. By faith Abel was approved by God. God testified that Abel was accepted before Him because he came to God by faith. What did he do? He came to God by faith in what God had said and desired to please God by doing what God said. He brought the right sacrifice. Cain came to the same God with the same intention to worship that God that Abel worshiped with a sacrifice. And God said, “no, I reject you and I reject your sacrifice.” What is the difference? Abel came by faith. Now it's not just I have faith in my heart, I believe in God. Cain believed in God, he came before the living God, the same God Abel came to. But he really didn't come by faith. He came to worship God with his sacrifice. Abel came to please God by doing what God required—believing in God and thus obeying God. We looked at the contrast between these two men and their sacrifice.

Now we come to the next example in verse 5. Now we've moved, we started in Genesis 1, then we jumped over to Genesis 4, now we're in Genesis 5 with Enoch. So the writer just moving us through Old Testament history, taking examples, not every person but selecting examples. And you'll note, every example he takes, he takes literally. The creation, how did it happen? By the Word of God, just as Genesis 1 said. The account of Cain and Abel, the writer to the Hebrews takes it exactly as Genesis records it—face value. Two brothers, literal physical men, at a point in time each brought sacrifices. So exactly as Genesis has it. I say this because we interpret the Bible from beginning to end normally. There will be figures of speech and so on, but we interpret it in a normal and literal way.

So we come now to a very interesting and less well-known man, the man Enoch. And again it's by faith. This is the example. Each of the examples here demonstrate faith in God and what He has said. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death. And he was not found because God took him up. For he obtained the witness that before being taken up he was pleasing to God.

Let's go back to Genesis 5. In Genesis 4 we had the account of Cain and Abel and Cain ended up murdering his brother out of jealousy and anger that God would not accept his sacrifice. You realize Cain didn't come with a heart of submission, faith in God and a desire to please Him, he came and he is upset when he is told that his actions are not acceptable. So he kills Cain. We noted there are two lines now, spiritual lines—Adam the head of the race, but then Cain becomes the spiritual father of those who belong to the devil. We noted all the way down as the New Testament reveals like in the book of Jude, unbelievers and false teachers are in the line of Cain; Abel, those who believe in God. So we're not talking about the physical line now but a spiritual line. Abel will die for his faithfulness to God at the hands of his brother and his brother born after his death, Seth, will pick up the line. What you have at the end of Genesis 4, verse 17, you begin a summary of the line of Cain. “Cain had relations with his wife, she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.” That's not the Enoch we're talking about in Hebrews. Not unusual, my middle name came from one of my uncles. My brother's first name came from another uncle. Some of you are the same. You get same names in the family as you pick them up. So not unusual that you would have Cain have a son named Enoch and then later in the line of Seth, who was another brother of Cain born after Abel's death, you have another man that we are talking about—Enoch. But you'll see the line of Cain here at the end of Genesis 4, a summary line.

Then verse 25, “Adam had relations with his wife, she gave birth to a son named Seth.” And Eve is excited because she says, “God has been gracious and given me another son since Cain murdered Abel.” And then you pick up verse 26 ,”to Seth, to him was born a son and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.” I think we have that line there that will come through Seth and his descendants, really the spiritual line. And that will bring us to Abraham and of course down through ultimately until the coming of Christ.

When you come into Genesis 5 you have the generations of Adam down through Seth, this third son of Adam and Eve. “In the day when God created man He made him in the likeness of God. He made them male and female, blessed them in the day they were created.” He is summarizing the first two chapters of Genesis. “When Adam lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness.” So you see the likeness of God is being passed on. “Adam was made in the likeness of God,” verse 1, and now God's sovereign purpose is that likeness be passed on all the way down to us today.

Verse 3, “when Adam lived 130 years he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image. He named him Seth.” Then you go on and it says “he lived so much longer after Seth, had other sons and daughters and he died. Then Seth so long and he had this son Enosh, and he lived so many years and had sons and daughters. Then,” verse 8, “he died.” You note this repeated refrain in Genesis 5 which demonstrates what God said would happen—“in the day you eat of the tree you will die.” And that penalty for sin is passed on. So you have this repeated refrain—Genesis 5:5, “and he died;” verse 8, the end of the verse and these verses, “and he died;” the end of verse 11, “and he died;” verse 14, “and he died;” verse 17, “and he died;” verse 20, “and he died;” verse 27, “and he died;” verse 31, “and he died.” Bringing us to Noah. And you see that repeated emphasis—he died, he died, he died.

But there is an exception, Enoch. We pick up with verse 21, Enoch lived 65 years. He's the son of Jared who died, and his death is recorded in verse 20. “Enoch lived 65 years, became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, he had other sons and daughters. All the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God,” and we repeat that statement that was said up in verse 22, again in verse 24. Then that statement, ”and he was not for God took him.” That's what Hebrews 11 is talking about. “Enoch was not, God took him.” He didn't die, he is an exception. That's all we have about Enoch in the Old Testament here, we don't have any expanded revelation regarding Enoch. Enoch was not, he did not die. He's one of only two men in all of Old Testament history who did not die. The other one is more familiar because we have more about his life—Elijah the prophet in 2 Kings 2 is taken directly to heaven without having to pass through physical death.

Enoch here we are told that he walked with God. Now in the New Testament we are told that he was righteous. In Hebrews 11 they refer to him as being righteous. That's the same thing as walking with God. When the Jews translated the Old Testament into Greek they translated it here the way we have it in Hebrews, that he was righteous. It's the same. Look over in Genesis 6 and we'll move to Noah. We'll get to Noah in our next study in Genesis 11. But in Genesis 6:9, “these are the records of the generation of Noah. Noah was righteous man, blameless in his time, Noah walked with God.” So to be a righteous man, same thing to walk with God, same thing to have fellowship with God. Your life is pleasing to God, you are manifesting God's character, you are walking by faith. Remember later God will tell His people Israel, “you shall be holy for I am holy.” Here it says Noah was blameless, set apart from sin to live a life pleasing to God, a righteous man. He walked with God.

Back in Genesis 5, Enoch walked with God. We're going to count here. We pick up with Adam, that's #1, use your fingers. Adam. Then Adam had a son, Seth; then Seth had a son, verse 9, Enosh; then Enosh had a son, Kenan, verse 12; then Kenan had a son, Mahalalel, verse 15; I'm up to five, I hope I have this right. Then verse 18, Mahalalel had a son, Jared, that's #6; and Jared had a son, that's #7, Enoch. So Enoch is the seventh in the line of Adam recorded here. We are all agreed on that, right?

But come over to Jude, and here we get some more information about Enoch. Remember we were in Jude before because Jude was writing to challenge the believers that he is writing to, verse 3, “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” There is only one faith, that's the faith that God has revealed. These believers were getting lax. Well, we want to be broader. We don't want to always be sitting in judgment of people. He says it is time to stand up and do battle. Why? “Certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation.” And he describes and he goes on through this whole letter to be talking about the danger of these false teachers and those who follow them. And he gives examples using even the angels who sinned.

Come down to verse 11, we looked at this verse in our study on Cain and Abel. “Woe to them, they have gone the way of Cain.” They still are following the line of Cain that Scripture tells us was of the evil one. Verse 12 says, “these men are hidden reefs in your love feasts.” Even as they get together for their meal together and to have their communion to remember the death of Christ, these false teachers were welcomed as though they were believers. These churches had lost their discernment. He says you ought to exercise some judgment here, you have to step up and oppose them. You know sometimes there is misunderstanding. The wheat and the tares grow together in the world. Nowhere does the Bible say the wheat and the tares are to grow together in the church. You know when letters were written to the church, he writes to the saints, the holy ones. That doesn't mean unbelievers aren't welcome to come in and hear the Word. We're glad to have unbelievers who come and hear the Word. Unbelievers cannot be accepted as believers, and false teachers and those who would promote anything contrary to the Word of God must be dealt with. Church discipline is becoming a bygone thing. And the idea as long as anyone says,”I believe in Christ and whatever else they teach.” You know, we have the faith once for all delivered to the saints. I don't pick and choose what God said, what I decide will be important and won't be important. We have to do battle for the faith that was once for all handed down to the saint. We act like we are God's editors. I've decided about this much is worth fighting for, the rest . . . You can have your opinion and other people have their opinion, as though, if I can say this, God was filled with hot air. I mean, is that what we're saying? You say, “I don't even like to hear you say that.” No, but we'll put that into practice as though the opening chapters of Genesis aren't that important, the book of Revelation is not important. And there is a lot in here that people disagree on, that's not important. So I guess we're down to what you can put in the one page. No, we have to contend for what was once for all delivered to the saints.

I had a pastor in town from an evangelical church come and see me one day and says, “Gil, usually we follow you in what you're battling for but we're not going to follow you on this.” I said, “what?” “Gil, you would die for every doctrine.” Well, shouldn't we? I mean, if this is the Word of God, don't we stand here? What do we stand for? Well, the one-page summary. Here we are. I'll just take this page out. If I had an old Bible, I would do it for impact. But I hate to ruin the one I'm using.

We're in Jude. You'll note here what he says in verse 14, it was also about these men that Enoch. Now how do we know it's the Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam? Remember, we counted seven. There are a couple of evangelical commentators, men who have written some good stuff. Do you know what they said about this? This doesn't mean it's a literal seven generations from Adam. I couldn't find out any good reason why they would say it, they just say it. I counted, I even used my fingers.

At any rate it was about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied. You see how the New Testament writers under the inspiration of the Scripture take the Old Testament? You can go back in Genesis 5 and count from Adam to Enoch inclusively and you have seven. Thousands of years later Jude, writing under the inspiration of the Scripture says, I counted, too. It is seven. How do you take the opening chapters of Genesis? Same way Christ took it, the same way the New Testament writers take it—exactly as God has it written.

Enoch was the seventh in the generations from Adam and he prophesied. Now finding out more about Enoch……and he knows a lot. And we realize that God revealed much that is not contained in our Old Testament. It is consistent with it, but I did not realize God had revealed this, this early. What did Enoch prophesy? “Behold, the Lord came with thousands of His holy ones.” And he is writing about a yet future event. But often Old Testament prophets wrote in what we call the prophetic past. They wrote about future events that God prophesied in past tense because from God's perspective it is as good as done. It is just as settled as if it had happened yesterday. But this is thousands of years in the future from Enoch, but he says “the Lord came with thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” Wow! Enoch knew about the coming of the Lord from heaven with myriads of angels to execute judgment on an unbelieving world? God had revealed much. These weren't game men huffing and puffing about, carrying their clubs, trying to figure out how to strike a match that they didn't have yet. I mean, these are men that God . . .

Remember God spoke to Adam and Eve. They heard. They understood even though they rebelled. God spoke to Abel and Cain and talked with them. God told Cain, if you would do what I require, you would be accepted. God spoke to Enoch. Enoch is prophesying on the earth in those days and these are dark days we'll see when we talk about Noah. We are moving toward the flood of Noah as we move along in Genesis 5. It's on the horizon, these are dark days. That's not the ultimate judgment that Enoch was prophesying, but we're going to get a taste of it with the flood of Noah. This just reminds us there will come judgment. So these are difficult times.

You'll note how many times the word ungodly is used in verse 15 as Enoch prophesied—“to execute judgment upon all, to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” Then Jude adds, “they are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts, they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining” and so on. Then he tells them, “you ought to remember what the apostles spoke about.”

How do we know that Enoch said this? Well the Lord preserved it. This seemed to be taken from some non-scriptural writings, the writings of Enoch that were preserved by the Jews. And we have some apocryphal writings. The Spirit of God has directed Jude to select out of that writing which is not Scripture, but preserve certain history that is true. This is often true, there are some things that are true that are contained even in writings that are not completely true. So here the Spirit of God selected. We find out that was Enoch's prophecy. The seventh from Adam, already God has revealed he will be coming in judgment on a sinful earth. And when He comes it will be the angels of heaven, this is a description of ultimately, we have realized, it will be the second person of the Godhead, the Son of God, when He returns to execute judgment. Enoch was a prophet speaking of those coming events.

Come back to Hebrews 11. “Enoch was taken up so he would not see death,” verse 5, and so he wasn't found on the earth. And then you have that reference back to Genesis 5, “he was not found because God took him.” How he was taken we don't know. Maybe it was an event like Elijah where it was visible and you have the chariot come down and you have the whirlwind that takes him to heaven and so on. Evidently he didn't just disappear at night—when his family got up, he wasn't in his bed any longer—because there had to be an awareness that God took him, a demonstration of God's power in some way. Maybe he just disappeared before their eyes. We don't know. But the Scripture is clear, God took him.

Why? “For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” Now Genesis didn't use that exact expression in the Hebrew, the Greek translation did. But we noted to walk with God is the same thing as to be pleasing to God. If you are walking with God, you are in fellowship with God, you are pleasing to Him. When it says he walked with God, it's like we read about Noah—Noah walked with God, he was pleasing to God. That's the point. Well, how could you be walking with God? How could you be pleasing to God? It was by faith. We're going to get to verse 6, “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Enoch couldn't be pleasing to God if he didn't have faith in God and what God had promised. He walked with God.

You'll note there is a consistency in Scripture. Obviously some things change. The old covenant, the Mosaic covenant was just an anticipation and preparation for the coming of God's ultimate sacrifice. But the foundational things of God's relationship to His people doesn't change. Enoch walked with God. What are we as believers doing today? You are walking with God.

Come back to Ephesians. This is a characterization of a person who has his faith in God, faith that began with that initial faith in what God revealed. What we have is what God said, which is the record of, for example, the death and resurrection of His Son. You either believe that or you don't. In Ephesians 4, and Ephesians is broken down—the first three chapters primarily focus on the doctrine, then with chapter 4 and the closing chapters the exhortation now to continue to live in light of the doctrine you believed. That's what we have in Hebrews with all the doctrine that has been unfolded about the person and work of Christ and then now we're in chapter 11 exhorting us to follow the example of those who lived by faith. So Enoch walked with God.

Ephesians 4:1, “therefore I the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” We are to walk, we are to conduct ourselves consistent with the call of God that brought us to salvation in Him. And he describes something of that walk. Come down to verse 17, “this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk in the emptiness of their minds.” No longer walk that way. Formerly you did, the emptiness of your mind with no understanding, no true knowledge of the living God. “They are darkened in their understanding, they are excluded from the life of God, they are in spiritual ignorance because of the hardness of their heart.” They are calloused and so on. “But you didn't learn Christ this way.” You see we still describe a believer's life as a walk with God. I came to trust in Him and place my faith in Him and His promises of salvation and provision for me and every day, every step is lived in reliance upon Him, in trust in the truth that He has given. And that's what makes my life pleasing to Him. Not like Cain who determined he would do what he wanted and God better accept it or he'll be angry. No. First you must hear the Word, you must hear it with faith and believe it and now submit to it.

Come to Ephesians 5:2. Verse 1 says, “be imitators of God as beloved children.” You don't become a loved child of God by trying to imitate Him, but when you are His child you want to imitate Him. We've had things, they had an advertisement of some kind, I remember years ago, some of you remember, where you had the son trying to step in the footprints of his father in the snow. That kind of pattern. God is my heavenly Father now, I want to be like God. So God said, “be holy, for I am holy.” You are My children, you must manifest My character, you belong to Me. We have become partakers of the divine nature. “Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ loved you and gave Himself up for you.” So now, the pattern has been set, and we'll pick up with the example of Christ in Hebrews in chapter 12.

Come down to Ephesians 5:8. “You were formerly darkness, now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” Some people as Christians wring their hands, what's going on in world, what's happening to our country, and I can't believe this. Do you believe the Scripture? We live in a world of darkness, we are to be lights in the darkness, Paul told the Philippians. We as Christians, what are we going to do? Our country is . . . What do you mean? We live in a world of unbelief. We live in a world that has rejected God. Some have put on a veneer, like Cain, of religious activity and . . . It's not real, it's a foundation of sand, their heart is hardened toward God. We shouldn't be surprised. We are not trying to fit into the world. We have a determination, by the grace of God, to live representing Him in a world that has rejected Him. That was Enoch's condition and situation. That wasn't an easy world, that wasn't that far removed from the original Garden of Eden and so . . . No. He had to announce the coming of God's judgment and ultimately they would be accountable to Him. You were formerly darkness, now our life has changed. Come down to verse 15. “Therefore be careful how you walk.” We are God's children, we desire to live pleasing to Him.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 5. Paul is talking here about the situation to keep our eyes on the future. Some of the personal things happening to us may be discouraging. “Our outer man is decaying,” the end of 2 Corinthians 4 said, “but our inner man is being strengthened.” And I am anticipating the glorious provision God has made for me when I receive the body prepared for me in heaven, the glorified body. So verse 6, “therefore being always of good courage knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We have been to this verse before in our study. We walk by faith. This walk of faith began when I placed my faith in the truth that God has given regarding His Son. Now it's a life of faith, walking by trust in Him, His promises. Verse 9, “therefore we have also as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” Whether I'm living in this body or I get transported to His presence in glory, it's one continuous pattern—I want to please Him. Walking by faith in His promises, that controls my life, not what is going on in the world around me, but what God has said, I want to be pleasing to Him. You see that connection. We walk by faith, not by sight. We have as our ambition to be pleasing to Him. Enoch walked with God, the testimony of his life before God took him into His presence was he was pleasing to God, he walked with God.

One more passage on this and then we'll have to summarize it with verse 6 where we'll pick up next time. Come back to 1 John 1:5. We're told, “this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. So if we say we have fellowship with Him, we have a relationship with Him and yet we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” You have no relationship with God. If you are walking in the darkness, you do not know the living God, you have no fellowship with Him. You are not His child. Doesn't matter. You can come here and cover it up and look good, if you're walking in the darkness you don't belong to God. If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son keeps on cleansing us from all sin. Our walk manifests our faith. You are not saved by trying to live a certain style of life, but if you are saved, become partakers of the divine nature as Peter said, you will live a different life. Doesn't mean we don't stumble, we all stumble in many ways, James says, but the pattern of our life is different.

Come back to Hebrews 11 as we just wrap it up by reading verse 6. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him.” I want to leave you with this and we'll pick up here. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. This is why the unbeliever, the unsaved person never does anything pleasing to God. In fact Romans 15 puts it the opposite way, verse 23, “whatever is not of faith is sin.” That's why Proverbs 16 says, “the one who rejects the Word of God, even his prayer is an abomination to God.” Christians get fuzzy on this and say, well, I think they are sincere in their religion. Well, I think they really want to do what is pleasing to God. Get over it, they don't. Whatever is not of faith is sin, without faith it is impossible to please Him. He who would come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. When you're talking believe that He is, you're talking about the true and living God. How do you know? You respond to what He has said, not having a feeling in my heart. I know in my heart that I am pleasing to God. I know in my heart that God accepts me. I know in my heart . . . What does that mean? We read in Ephesians that the unbeliever has a hardened heart. What has God said? People are like Cain, they get upset if you tell them their sacrifices aren't acceptable, their worship is rejected by God. They do not have a relationship with Him. They have been confused by the devil. We don't want to sound like the only ones right. We're not. God is the only One that is right. What He has said is the only thing that is true. Jesus prayed and said, “your Word is truth.” And unless you respond in faith to this Word and what God has said, and that will be manifested if you have truly experienced the power of God transforming you from within, you will now be living differently day by day.

Examine yourself. Not asking whether you come here, not asking whether you've memorized a lot of Scripture. No. Have I really believed this truth, beginning with my own sin and guilt and the death of Christ is the only payment for my sin. If I say I have, what is the walk of my life? There is no future in deceiving yourself. “Many will say to me in that day of judgment, Lord, Lord, we did all these wonderful things in your name. Jesus will say, I never knew you. Depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.” Your life was not lived for Me. You did not live trusting Me. You did not live in submission to Me, pleasing Me. Where are we? This reminds us as a challenge, we want to be like Enoch, living by faith, representing God as a light in the midst of the darkness of a world that is on its way to judgment and condemnation. But we have the promises of God, not because we are better people but because in God's grace, we have heard the truth of God, turned from our pride and self-centeredness and placed our faith in Him and what He has said, what He has promised. That's what guides my walk every day.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of your Word. How awesome it is that you, the living God, have made yourself known. You have spoken, you have spoken to us so that we might hear and understand. Lord, that we might believe what you have said. What a wonder it is that the truth concerning your Son and His provision for us is a message that contains your power for salvation to cleanse from sin and make new every single individual who would respond in faith to the beauty of that revelation. May we be faithful to you, count it our greatest privilege, have it as our ambition to live every moment of every day pleasing in your sight. We pray in Christ's name, amen.