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Biblical Faith is a God Pleasing Faith

Hebrews 11:5-6

Grace Fellowship Church

July 13, 2008

Series 3 Sermon 48

 

⁵ 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. ⁶ 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.

 

Introduction

The writer of Hebrews was a master of the Old Testament.  If you will think all the way back to chapter 5 of Hebrews you will remember the writer introducing us to a very obscure man in the book of Genesis.  His name was Melchizedek.  Not much is known about this man other than he was a priest of the Most High God and King of Salem. Also we know that Abraham the Patriarch paid a tithe to him when he came back from the slaughter of the kings.  But the writer of Hebrews showed us how this obscure man who has only a few verses about him in the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of the Great High Priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ and how in Melchizedek the Lord Jesus would permanently replace Aaron as the High Priest.  It would be through Melchizedek who preceded Aaron and had no end that Christ would assume His rightful place as Great High Priest of the New Covenant.  The unfolding of the truth of this is magnificent. 

 

Now the writer of Hebrews in chapter 11 and verse 5 takes us to another obscure character of the Old Testament named Enoch.  Enoch is found in a genealogical list leading up to the story of Noah in Genesis 5.  There are generations of people who lived, had children, and died.  Two of those things are true for Enoch but with a huge gaping exception.  I want you to turn to Genesis 5 with me and we will begin reading in verse 12.

¹² When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. ¹³ Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. ¹⁵ When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. ¹⁶ Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. ¹⁸ When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch. ¹⁹ Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

 

You should notice a pattern here.  A man grows up, he gets married, he has children and grandchildren, and he lives a certain amount of time and he dies.  We see that in verses 12-20 as plain as day. But in verses 21-24 the pattern breaks.  Look at those verses with me.

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. ²² Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

 

Some very interesting things happened here.  Enoch was the father of Methuselah who was the father of Lamech who was the father of Noah. So Enoch is the great grandfather of Noah.  As important as this is this is not what is significant.  We have verses 22-24.  Notice those verses with me. 

²² Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

 

Now compare these with verses 19-20.

¹⁹ Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

 

Notice Jared and all the others lived after he fathered the one through whom the line to Noah would go.  But look at the first part of verse 22.  While all the others lived, what did Enoch do?

²² Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

All the others lived, but Enoch…he walked with God. 

 

Now something else is very interesting here.  Look at verse 20 again.

²⁰ Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

Now notice what the text says about Enoch who didn’t just live but walked with God in verse 23 and verse 24.

²³ Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

 

This is a very mysterious passage.  Enoch did everything the other passages say except he walked with God and he was taken by God at a relatively early age.  If you do the math on the geneology in Genesis 5 Enoch would have been about 240 years old when Adam died.  And Enoch was only around until he was 365 years old while his son Methusaleh lived to be 969 years old.  If you put that in perspective of today if everyone else was living into their 80’s and 90’s Enoch only made it to his mid thirties.  But he made the most of that time by walking with God.  So in response to this walking with God the text says that he was not, for God took him. 

 

I told you that Adam was alive until approximately Enoch’s 240^th birthday.  Adam, the one who fell, who caused all of the problems that everyone was having was the original man to walk with God.  God came to Adam and Eve and walked with them during the cool of the day.  Of course Adam was expelled from the Garden and no longer was able to walk with God.  But Adam got to witness his great, great, great, great grandson pick up the mantel that he had laid down and walk with God. 

 

There is not a lot of explanation in Genesis 5 about how Enoch walked with God and exactly what the phrase “God took him” means.  Enoch is mentioned in the Bible two other times before we get to our text in Hebrews 11:5.  He is mentioned in two genealogical lists in 1 Chronicles 1:3 and then again in Luke 3:37.  That is it. He is mentioned as prophesying in the Epistle of Jude as well.

 

But when we get to our text Enoch is a big deal.  Enoch is one of those characters in the Old Testament that not much is said about but they stick out like sore thumbs.  Your reading along in Genesis 5 and you see so and so lived beget so and so and then lived a certain amount of time had other children and then he kicked the bucket.  And you are in the groove of reading that and you come across Enoch.  And it catches your attention and you think for a minute.  Here is a man who stands out among his peers.  He walked with God. What does that mean?  Then you read, and he was not for God took him.  And you scratch your head and say now what in the world does that mean?  So you pull out your Strong’s and you think I am going to look up the word for walk and see what it means.  And you find that it means what you thought it did and that is to walk or live before someone.  Then you decide you will look up the word “took” and see what it means.  And you find out that it is a word that is used hundreds of times in the Old Testament and it means, “to take.”  And then you scratch your head some more and you think, “That was not helpful at all.” 

 

Which allows us this morning to see the old Puritan method of biblical interpretation where we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture and we see this morning that the Holy Spirit of God through the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews is going to exegete what Moses wrote hundreds and hundreds of years earlier. 

 

And the conclusion that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews comes to is that God superintended Moses to write Genesis 5:23 and 24 precisely the way he did so that true biblical faith could be personified and illustrated for the church, the body of new covenant members. 

 

In Hebrews 11:5-6 we have the exposition of Genesis 5:23-24.  It’s no longer a mystery.  Just like with the New Testament exposition of the mystery of the Priest King Melchizedek and the reason for his mention twice in the Old Testament the writer tells us about Enoch with particular New Covenant application. 

 

Context

I want you to recall with me the context of chapter 11.  It’s been a few weeks since we looked at chapter 11 and I don’t want us to lose the big picture.  Look back at chapter 10 and verse 39.

³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

It is all about persevering faith.  If we are people of the New Covenant in Christ with Christ as our sacrifice and great High Priest then we will hold fast to our confession in Christ and as chapter 11 is teaching us we will be a people marked by a living faith.  That is how chapter 11 begins.  Look at the fist verse of chapter 11. 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ² For by it the people of old received their commendation. And likewise by faith we will receive our commendation.  Verse 1 is not a definition of faith.  It is an introduction to what persevering faith looks like.  The writer wants his readers to know what saving faith looks like, acts like, and feels like?  This is the writer’s concern. 

Giving a definition of faith would be something like trying to give a definition of a ribeye steak.  Do you want to know what part of the cow that steak is cut from and how the butcher does it?  I don’t.  I want to see it sizzle on the grill and cooked to perfection.  I want to experience that steak not just have a definition.  I want to know the smell and the taste.  And that is what the writer of Hebrews is giving us concerning faith.  Definitions are fine but not very edifying, fulfilling, or comforting.

 

This was a persecuted church.  They were experiencing members falling away.  Their numbers were dwindling and they were reminded to hold fast on several occasions in this epistle.  Now in chapter 10 and verse 39 the writer tells the readers that we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but we are people of faith and this is what that faith looks like. 

 

Notice verse 1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.  Remember I told you that this was not a definition of faith but rather a picture of what faith looks like.  Faith is believing.  Specifically, biblical faith is believing what God has said and that belief drastically alters your life.  Verse 3 picks up the theological aspect of faith.  Look at verse 3.

³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Beginning with Genesis 1:1 those of us who have saving faith believe what God has revealed to us in His Word.  To compromise on the Word is to call the legitimacy of your faith into question.  And by the way, there are those who call themselves Christians who deny the first six chapters of Genesis.  I don’t believe for one minute that the writer of Hebrews would call them Christians. 

 

Verse 4 moves us to the more practical side of faith.  Faith is a two edged sword. One side is believing what God says and the other side is obeying what God says.  Specifically verse 4 deals with obedience to the revealed will of God and Abel, the first martyr is mentioned.  Look at verse 4.

⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

 

What Abel is still saying is that God is to be worshipped as He has commanded and Cain shows the futility of false worship.  Biblical faith believes God and acts upon that belief. 

Faith is believing what God says and allowing that belief to direct all aspects of your life. 

 

Verse 5 of our text is very important.  Look at it with me again.

⁵ 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.    

 

Notice the last sentence in verse 5. 

Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.    

This is a quote from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.  When the translators of the Septuagint translated Genesis 5, this is how they brought the statement that Enoch walked with God over to the Greek.  They simply said that Enoch pleased God.  Well how did Enoch please God?  Notice the first words of verse 5, By faith.  By faith Enoch was translated into Heaven so that he did not go the way of all men through the corridor of death. 

 

Enoch still speaks.  He speaks to us today because he is an example of a faith that pleases God.  Previously we have seen that real biblical faith is a theologically driven faith and that real biblical faith is a correct worshipping faith and this morning I want you to see that real biblical faith is a God pleasing faith and God is only pleased by the faith of His people.  Notice verse 6 with me.

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.

 

This theologically driven, proper worshipping faith will manifest itself in a God pleasing faith that understands that although God is invisible He still exists and we have a theological understanding of God that says he is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 

 

Keep in mind that this faith is a gift from God and is worked out in the life of a believer.  Our instructions are to live in such a way by faith that we please the Lord. 

 

PNP

In verse 6 the writer of Hebrews gives us two descriptions of a biblical faith that is pleasing to the Lord.  Let me give these two descriptions to you because they are your two points this morning.

1.  God pleasing faith exemplifies a belief in the person of God as He is revealed in Scripture.

2.  God pleasing faith exemplifies a trust in the character of God as He is revealed in Scripture.

 

Purpose

My purpose for preaching this passage is to show you from the text that a person with biblical, God pleasing faith will be ultimately satisfied in God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. 

 

Being satisfied in God means that you draw near to the Lord in order to satisfy the deep longings of your soul.  Those of you who were converted as an adult, as I was, know the vast emptiness of life without Christ.  You know the emptiness that sin always left you with and that no matter what you experienced sin never satisfied the longings of your soul.  Augustine said this, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in God.”   

 

RPNP

So look with me this morning at these two descriptions of a biblical faith that is pleasing to the Lord.

 

1. God pleasing faith exemplifies a belief in the person of God as He is revealed in Scripture.

Notice again with me verse 6. 

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.

 

Verse 6 is the exposition of verse 5.  Enoch pleased God and in his pleasing God, God was pleased to allow Enoch to avoid the sting of death.  So how did Enoch please God?  By faith.  And so as the writer moves this from Genesis 5 to the contemporary circumstances of his day he reminds us in the first part of verse six that if we do not have a biblical faith like Enoch then we can not be pleasing to the Lord. 

 

The person of faith in verse 6 is described by two phrases.  Notice these two phrases in verse 6.

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 person of faith is one who would draw near to God and one who seeks him. 

 

We should be very familiar with the term “draw near to God” in the Epistle to the Hebrews.  The context of Hebrews is going to dictate the person of God in verse 6 concerning the first description of real biblical saving faith that pleases God.  Look at verse 6 again. 

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists

So the first description of the type of faith that pleases God is a belief that God exists or literally that God is. Now I know in our pluralistic culture this surface statement would be just fine with everyone except for a few ACLU lawyers and atheists.  However the writer has no intention in this passage of being politically correct. However, “exists” is the translation of the Greek word “estin” which simply means “is.”  “Estin” is in the present tense similar to the way the Lord reveals Himself to Moses as “I am.”   So we are not dealing with the generic “god” of 21^st Century American culture.  The term God is used in a very specific sense in Hebrews. 

 

If you go all the way back to chapter 1 the writer has told us that all of the glory and majesty of God revealed to us in the Old Testament Scriptures has been now given to the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.  About Christ the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 1:3, ³ And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

 

All glory has been given to the Son of God and therefore the God that the writer of Hebrews is speaking of is the Lord Jesus Christ.  Of course that is not the only place that the writer speaks of Christ as God.  Turn to Hebrews 7. 

 

Drawing near to God comes only through the glorified Son of God.  After the writer of Hebrews reveals to us that Christ is the eternal Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, we are told that through Him and Him alone can we draw near to God.  Remember verse 6.  Those who would draw near to God must believe that He exists.  The God who exists demands that we draw near to Him through His Son.  Look in Hebrews 7 starting in verse 22.

²² This(Christ’s Priesthood) makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. ²³ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, ²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Only those who draw near to God in faith through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ will have faith that pleases God.  You can’t draw near to God through the Law, through good works, through your lineage, or your charisma.  Biblical saving faith draws near to God through Christ and Him alone. 

 

Now go back to chapter 11 and let’s glean some application from Enoch.   Look with me at verse 5.

⁵ 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.    

Remember Genesis 5?  Enoch was the sore thumb that stuck out amidst a very generic account of the genealogy from Adam to Noah.  All these people lived, had children, and died.  Enoch was the exception and the picture of faith for us.

 

While everyone else was busy with the everyday affairs of mankind Enoch was busy drawing near to God.  He lived his life but he had an eye toward Heaven.  He knew that there was something far more important than merely living the good life. 

 

Enoch was concerned with walking with God and it did not matter what those around him did.   Think about this, Adam walked with God until the fall.  Then after the fall in the genealogical account nothing is mentioned again of his relationship with God.  But Adam lived long enough to see Enoch live in a manner that pleased God. 

 

The picture here is fantastic.  Think again about the context of Hebrews.  I told you months ago and it bears repeating at this point that the people in this particular church were more than likely being told that their faith was illegitimate precisely because they had very few visual aids.  Think about the Jewish faith.  They had when you went to synagogue the Torah Scrolls.  They had a ceremony to bring those out so they could be read.  Then there was the temple worship.  There was the beauty of the ornate temple and the smell of the cooking animals on the alter.  You saw the priests as they moved to and from in the Temple taking care of the sacrifices and the shew bread and making sure the Menorah stayed lit. I am sure it was a fantastic seen.  They had the bells and whistles and the visual and sensory stimulation in Judaism but with one huge problem.  The New Testament teaches that God is no longer interested in that Temple or those sacrifices precisely because the new Temple will be made up from the elect of every tribe tongue and nation and the sacrifices have been put away because of the one final sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.  

 

But real, living, saving, God pleasing faith is not concerned with the temporal or the visual.  … faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith draws near to God according to what God has revealed about Himself to that person or group of people.  So as God had revealed Himself to Enoch, Enoch walked with God by drawing near to God in faith knowing that God is.

 

So for us, when we are drawing near to God we are walking with God.  And walking with God is a privilege of faith. This is an intimacy with God that the Scripture describes for us.  It is a life changing experience.  But before we look at that, if you don’t mind I would like to cap off the application and link the two points together for us. 

 

Thus far we have seen that God pleasing faith exemplifies a belief in the person of God as He is revealed in Scripture.  Finally I want you to see that: 

 

2.  God pleasing faith exemplifies a trust in the character of God as He is revealed in Scripture.

Look at verse 6 again.

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 character of God here in verse 6 describes Him as a rewarder.  Specifically God is a rewarder of those who seek Him.  The word rewarder is very interesting.  It literally means to pay wages. The writer of Hebrews is the only New Testament writer that uses this word in this sense.  Those who would seek God and draw near to God by faith will be rewarded.  

Keep in mind that we understand that the people who are reading this letter are a suffering people.  Look back at Hebrews 10:32-38.

³² But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³ sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴ For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. ³⁵ Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. ³⁷ For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; ³⁸but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

 

The writer of Hebrews says, in spite of past suffering and the possibility of future suffering, endure and keep seeking the Lord because there is great reward. 

 

What is the reward?  In the immediate context it is the grand privilege of walking with God in the legacy of Enoch.  But there is also great reward that we have yet to experience. 

 

In Hebrews 1 we are told that we have been given the massive privilege of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Christ, God has finally and fully revealed Himself to us and given us eternal life. 

 

What about the suffering?  Is that a reward?  I want you to listen to Hebrews 2:10-11.

¹⁰ For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. ¹¹ For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

 

Remember Enoch?  He did not taste death because God took Him.  In Christ our death is gain and is not to be feared.  Listen to Hebrews 2:14-15.

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

 

Then in chapter 3:1 we are told that we are partakers of a heavenly calling and in verse 6 are told that we are now of the household of God.  In chapter 4 we are told that in Christ we have entered the rest that was promised so long ago.  We rest in Christ as the guarantor of our salvation.  Then one of the greatest privileges and commands in all of Scripture is given to us in Hebrews 4:16.

¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The reward is 24 hour a day, seven day a week, no holidays, no down time access to the very throne room of Heaven in order to find grace and help in time of need. 

 

In chapter 5 we are told that Christ is our Great High Priest and He is the source of not temporal but eternal salvation.  In chapter 8 we are given the explanation of the New Covenant in Christ and the last two verses of that covenant says, ¹¹ "AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, 'KNOW THE LORD,' FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME,
FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. ¹² "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE."

 

In other words as we seek the Lord we are walking with Him and we have the two promises that we sinful humans need. We will know the Lord completely and fully and He will remember our sins no more. 

 

For the Christian, the one who by faith knows the God that is through the Lord Jesus Christ and is diligent to seek Him, has rewards that are unutterable by mere human language.  It is true that one may suffer to get there.  It is true that you will not be the most popular person in the world in order to live this out.  It will cost you but the cost is not nearly the same as the reward. 

 

Even in the most difficult of situations real, biblical, saving faith will express itself in a trust in the God who is and will continue to seek Him knowing that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

 

Let me close by calling your attention to Philippians 3:7-11.  Here is a real life example of walking away from all you know and hold dear for the surpassing reward of Christ.  As you turn there let me remind you that the Apostle Paul had a promising career as a professional Pharisee.  Fame and wealth were beckoning him to come but like Enoch, Paul say the surpassing value of the God who is the rewarder of those who seek Him.  Look starting in verse 7.

⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

 

Are you seeking the Lord by faith?  Are you trusting in Him as your rewarder?  Are you like Paul and the writer of Hebrews willing to sacrifice everything so you could have the greatest of all rewards?  Do you have the conviction of things unseen and hoped for?  Do you like Enoch walk with God? 

 

If not, you must seek the Lord for salvation while He may be found.  You must seek the Lord to grant you repentance from dead works and to give you the gift of saving faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Without God’s gracious intervention the deadness and depravity of your soul only condemns you to eternal Hell.  Like the woman with the issue of blood grab the hem of His garment and don’t let go until the Lord of Glory grants you saving faith. 

 

Let’s pray.