01-23-2022 – “Faith Leading to Eternal Life”

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:5-6 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale |

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January 23, 2022
“Faith Leading to Eternal Life”
Hebrews 11:5-6

 

Read Hebrews 11:5-6… 

5 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 his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

 

There are at least two notable men in the Bible named Enoch; one was born to Adam’s son Cain

 

(cf. Genesis 4:17)

17 Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

 

the other was born five generations later through the ancestors of Adam’s son Seth

 

(cf. Genesis 5:6-18);

6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh.

7 Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

9 Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan.

10 Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters.

11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.

12 Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.

13 Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.

14 So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.

15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared.

16 Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.

17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch.

 

this Enoch was the great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam, and it is he whom we are studying about today.

 

Genesis 5:21–24

says, after Enoch was born,  “[He] lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

 

Although we don’t know a lot about Enoch, we do know that he did not see death; the reason being stated in

 

Hebrews 11:5,

“he was pleasing to God.”

 

There weren’t many men before the Flood who were considered faithful or obedient to God; in fact, most men did not please God, but instead they lived according to their own sinful natures, doing what they thought right in their own eyes.

 

Remember how Adam and Eve had actually walked and talked with God in the garden; that is, until they disobeyed God [incurring the curse of sin], at which time they were put out of the garden, no longer acceptable to walk with God.

 

As we studied last week, Adam and Eve’s second son Abel, was considered righteous by God, because he obeyed and did what was right in offering a blood sacrifice to God, whereas Cain offered fruit of the ground and was therefore not acceptable, for he had disobeyed God’s instruction.

 

By the time of Enoch’s birth the world was becoming an evil place.  Enoch lived 365 years, 300 of those years he lived by faith, after becoming the father of Methuselah, who became the father of Lamech, to whom was born Noah.

 

During the time of Noah, about 1000 years after Enoch was born, the world had become so vile and wicked that God determined He was going to destroy all humankind except for 8 people

 

(see Genesis 6:5-7).

5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

 

The Bible tells use that Enoch was taken up to be with God, before he experienced death, because Enoch pleased God.  Enoch went from mortality to immortality, from earth to heaven, his body transformed instantly into a heavenly body.

 

We who are alive, when Christ returns in the air to gather His people, will experience this same unimaginable transformation

 

(1Thessalonians 4:16-17),

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

 

The Bible tells us that Enoch “pleased God,” but it doesn’t tell us why God waited 300 years before bringing him up to be where God was.  Enoch was faithful to God living several generations before the flood; and he did not keep silent about the wickedness around him, and God’s judgement that would come upon them.

 

 

Jude 5-13

5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.

9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;

13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

records God’s coming judgement upon bad angels and evil men.  It was also about these that Enoch prophesied.

 

records God’s future judgement upon disobedient angels and evil men who would come long after Enoch had gone to be with God.

 

Jude 14-15 says,

“It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’”

 

Enoch was a prophet who foretold the coming of the Lord in righteous judgement, to bring condemnation upon all those who have done evil against God.  Enoch proclaimed that God’s angels will execute judgment upon all the ungodly; giving us a general description of the final judgment upon all the unbelieving

 

(see Matthew 13:41-43,

41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

 

 

Matthew 13:49-50).

49 So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,

50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

We should seek to follow the example of Enoch’s faith, concerning what God requires, as we read

 

(Micah 6:8),

“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

Enoch is listed in

 

Luke 3:37,

37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

 

as being in the ancestral line of Abraham, David, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Christ Himself.  No-one gets into that genealogy without pleasing God and being acceptable to Him.

 

As we read earlier,

 

(Genesis 5:24),

“Enoch walked with God; he was no more, because God took him away.”

 

God spared Enoch from death.

 

Only one other person in Scripture, besides Enoch, was taken up into heaven and did not experience death.  He was a prophet by the name of Elijah, and God took him up into heaven in a whirlwind, and he was no more.  To get a brief overview of what happened to Elijah you need to

 

read 2Kings 2:1-14.

1 And it came about when the LORD was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here please, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

3 Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know; be still.”

4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.

5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be still.”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” And he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

7 Now fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.

8 Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

10 He said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”

11 As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.

12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

14 He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.

Enoch was a man with believing faith that pleased God.

 

Enoch’s great-grandson was Noah, who was also a man who pleased God, and although he did, at age 950, die on the earth, God spared Noah and his family, of all those on the earth at that time, from the Great Flood that covered the earth.

 

God’s judgement will come again upon all the wicked, all who reject Christ at His return to the earth, after the Tribulation Period, will be executed.  But there is still a final judgement at the Great White Throne, when everyone who has lived and died apart from the forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ alone, will be thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity.

 

The greatest need of sinful men, women, and children of age is forgiveness for their sins.  God has offered forgiveness to everyone who will repent and believe in Jesus Christ, by faith, for salvation.

 

The story of Enoch is indeed a marvelous one, and although there is not much in the Bible about him, what we have been given is awesome.  Enoch was a man of faith, he had faith that pleased God; faith leading to eternal life with God in heaven.

 

Hebrews 11:6 says,

“without faith it is impossible to please God.”  There is nothing a man can do to please God apart from faith, and that faith “must believe that [God] exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

 

The very first step of faith is to believe that God exists; however, this belief alone cannot bring salvation.  Even the demons believe God exists (cf. James 2:19), but that doesn’t save them.  People of the world today believe in a variety of false “Gods,” all of them are just different aberrations of the devil himself, for there is only one true God who saves, and you must believe that He rewards those who seek Him.

 

(cf. James 2:19),

19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

 

The evidence for God is displayed throughout creation, and much of what is learned through scientific discovery provides evidence of a supreme creator.

 

Psalm 19:1-4a,

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to all the earth, …to the ends of the world.”

 

It takes faith to believe that God exists, although God has made it very clear to all people and He holds them accountable to acknowledge Him

 

(Romans 1:18-20),

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

 

Hebrews 3:4 says,

“every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.”

 

Anthropology is the study of man, and the more you study humanity the clearer it becomes that universally man is conscious of God’s existence; it has only been in the last two hundred years that the existence of God has been openly questioned, and the Bible, as His revealed Word, aggressively challenged.

 

Einstein once said, “Certainly there is a God…. but we could never know Him.”  Both Old and New Testaments are full of passages declaring how God wants to be found – He wants us to know Him personally, eternally:

 

(cf. 1Chronicles 28:9;

9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

 

Proverbs 8:17-18;

17 “I love those who love me;

And those who diligently seek me will find me.

18 “Riches and honor are with me,

Enduring wealth and righteousness.

 

Jeremiah 29:11-13;

11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

 

Luke 11:9-10;

9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

 

Luke 19:10;

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

 

1Timothy 2:3-4;

3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

2Peter 3:9).

9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

Again, Hebrews 11:6,

“he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

 

The reward that God gives to those who express faith in Him is salvation

 

(cf. Matthew 6:33;

33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

 

John 3:16;

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

 

Acts 2:21;

21 ‘AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’

 

Revelation 3:20).

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

 

In Genesis 5:21-24

21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.

22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.

23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

 

that we looked at earlier, two times it says that Enoch “walked” with God.  In the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) the phrase “walked with God” is translated “pleased God,” and it uses the very same Greek word used in

 

Hebrews 11:5-6,

5 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 his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

 

i.e., to walk with God is the same as to please God.

 

When we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior, we begin to walk with Him, to follow Him, trusting God and seeking to obey what He commands us.

 

One of the most revealing uses of the phrase “walk with” is used by Christ in

 

Revelation 3:4,

“They will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.”

 

In heaven we will live with, we will walk with, and we will always please, God.

 

From the moment of our birth we are at odds with God and unable to walk with Him, in fact,

 

in Ephesians 2:3

we are said to be “by nature children of wrath.”

 

Salvation is the cure for our broken relationship with God, through faith we are reconciled to God, like Enoch, and therefore we are able to walk with God and please Him as we serve Him

 

(cf. 2Corinthians 5:17-21).

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

Walking with God begins with faith that He exists, leading to belief that He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of all, and that He loves us and has a marvelous plan for our lives now and forever, for He has

 

(2Peter 1:3-4),

“granted to us everything we need pertaining to life [mortal, biological life] and godliness [spiritual, eternal life], through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature [the Holy Spirit lives in every true believer],

 

Ephesians 1:13-14],

13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust [there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ,

 

 

Romans 8:1].”

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

Hebrews 11:1,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

 

Read Hebrews 11:5-6 again.

5 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 his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

 

Enoch never saw God, but he had faith, believing in God, and he did what was pleasing to God; therefore, he was brought into the presence of God in heaven, where as, we walk with God spiritually, while we are on this earth.

 

God’s greatest reward for those who believe in Him is salvation, but that won’t be fully realized until heaven, where we will live and walk with God forever!

 

Enoch’s story is a picture of how all those who believe in God by faith, and are alive at the time of the Christ’s return in the air [the rapture] will not see death

 

(1Thessalonians 4:16-17),

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

 

Let us seek to be people of faith, believing and obeying all that God has instructed us in His Word, and trusting Him for all that we need, now and forever.

 

Philippians 4:13,

“ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

 

Philippians 4:19-20,

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

 
Pastor Mike
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