"The Test of a Testimony"
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
INTRODUCTION: Enoch is one of the most interesting characters in the entire Bible, who did not experience physical death, Elijah being the other who was caught up in a whirlwind. The thing that stands out for me as I read about the life of Enoch is the last two phrases in our key verse; "...he had this testimony, that he pleased God..."
ILL - The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves at home here on earth.
Malcolm Muggeridge
I suspect that the reason God "took Enoch" was that He found a man who was more at home in heaven than He was on earth!
I. Does Our Walk Please God
Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
a. He walked in faith
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
ILL - God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.
Martin Luther.
b. He walked in fellowship
Twice in Genesis 5 we find the preposition "...with..." Enoch walked in fellowship with God.
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
c. He walked in faithfulness
Notice that chapter 5:21 says that Enoch "...begat...Methuselah at age 65 and that he "walked with God" for 300 years after the birth of this child who would be the oldest living human ever.
WHEN THE WIND BLOWS
ILL - A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The young man slept soundly. The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well. The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man's words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. So when the wind blew, he was not afraid. He could sleep in peace. There was nothing dramatic or sensational in the young boy's preparations -- he just faithfully did what was needed each day. Consequently, peace was his, even in a storm. Paul says "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
II. Does Our Worship Please God
No man can come into fellowship with God without worshipping God but much of what passes today as worship is not worship at all. The weakness of the modern concept of worship is that it is egocentric and not Christocentric! If you want to know what worship should be like you turn in your Bible to Isaiah 6 and you will find the Biblical pattern for true worship. When you compare the prophets experience in worship with what passes for worship today you will find that there is no comparison. Real worship is characterized by four things:
Isaiah 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphim's unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
a. Our confession/contrition
Worship is about coming into the presence of God. We talk about in modern church speak all the time. We say "God is in the house" and "God met with us today" and a host of other expressions all meant to imply that we have been in the presence of the Lord but most of these expressions reveal a very shallow and egocentric view/concept of worship. When God is "in the house" something very important and impressive happens. Isaiah's response to God's presence was "...woe is me..." There was a brokenness that we don't see very often in modern worship. The word contrite is mentioned 4 times in the Bible and God always responds to a broken heart.
Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isaiah 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
b. Our confession
Next, this brokenness led to a confession of sin/sinfulness. We see this also in the publicans confession in:
Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
c. Our cleansing
Notice also that it is fire from a hot coal that has come from off the altar that provides the cleansing/purging. A sacrifice has been offered and it provides the means to cleanse the prophet because he cannot cleanse himself.
"...thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged..."
d. Our commitment
Real worship always results in service. The call goes out, "...whom shall I send and who will go for us..." and the commitment is made, "...here am I, send me..."
III. Does Our Witness Please God
Albert Barnes writes: "The age in which he lived was undoubtedly one of great wickedness. Enoch is selected as the only one of that generation signalized by eminent piety, and he appears to have spent his life in publicly reproving a sinful generation, and in warning them of the approaching judgment; Jude 1:14-15. The wickedness which ultimately led to the universal deluge seems already to have commenced in the earth, and Enoch, like Noah, his great-grandson, was raised up as a preacher of righteousness to reprove a sinful generation."
Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
a. It must be verbal
When we think of the word witness we generally think of verbal communication. Jesus did say the we are to go into all the world and "...preach..." the Gospel (good news). There is no substitute yet for this.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
ILL - There is a legend which recounts the return of Jesus to glory after His time on earth. Even in heaven He bore the marks of His earthly pilgrimage with its cruel cross and shameful death. The angel Gabriel approached Him and said, "Master, you must have suffered terribly for men down there."
"I did," He said. "And," continued Gabriel, "Do they know all about how you loved them and what you did for them?" "Oh, no," said Jesus, "not yet. Right now only a handful of people in Palestine know." Gabriel was perplexed. "Then what have you done," he asked, "to let everyone know about your love for them?" Jesus said, "I've asked Peter, James, John, and a few more friends to tell other people about me. Those who are told will in turn tell other people about me, and my story will be spread to the farthest reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of mankind will have heard about my life and what I have done." Gabriel frowned and looked rather skeptical. He knew well what poor stuff men were made of. "Yes," he said, "but what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? What if way down through the centuries people just don't tell others about you? Haven't you made any other plans?" And Jesus answered, "I haven't made any other plans. I'm counting on them." Twenty-one centuries later He still has no other plan. He's counting on you and me to continue His work of reconciling the world to Himself, to continue the work so many have faithfully carried out before us. Will we do so well?
ILL - Years ago, I heard a story about a preacher who went to a small town to preach a series of gospel sermons. His attempt was to evangelize that little town. He preached for two weeks. During the whole time, only one little girl responded to the invitation at the end of one of his sermons. She confessed Christ, was baptized, and turned out to be the only convert during the entire meeting. The preacher judged the meeting a failure, and for years, bemoaned the great effort he had made for such little result. However, he did not have the right view of things. That little girl grew up to be a strong, faithful Christian woman. She married a Christian man, and together they produced several sons, all of whom became preachers of the gospel. Those sons converted thousands of unbelievers to Christ. Now, what do you suppose would have happened to that little girl and her family, had that gospel preacher not faithfully proclaimed Christ? Do you really think that preacher's effort was a failure? Sometimes, what looks like a very small, insignificant effort on our part, turns out to be far greater than we think.
b. It must be visual
A young girl once consulted with her minister. "I cannot stick it out any longer. I am the only Christian in the factory where I work. I get nothing but taunts and sneers. It is more than I can stand. I am going to resign." "Will you tell me," asked the minister, "where lights are placed?" "What has that to do with it?" the young Christian asked him rather bluntly. "Never mind," the minister replied. "Answer my question: 'Where are lights placed?" "I suppose in dark places," she replied. "Yes, and that is why you have been put in that factory where there is such spiritual darkness and where there is no other Christian to shine for the Lord." The young Christian realized for the first time the opportunity that was hers. She felt she could not fail God by allowing her light to go out. She went back to the factory with renewed determination to let her light shine in that dark corner. Before long, she was the means of leading nine other girls to the Light.
c. It must be virtuous
Our witness must be both verbal and visual but more important it must be virtuous!
A SWEET SCENT
The story is told of a missionary to China who was in language school. The very first day of class the teacher entered the room and, without saying a word, walked down every row of students. Finally, still without saying a word, she walked around the room again. Then she came back and addressed the class. "Did you notice anything special about me?" she asked. Nobody could think of anything in particular. One student finally raised her hand. "I noticed that you had on a very lovely perfume," she said. The class chuckled. But the teacher said, "That was exactly my point. You see, it will be a long time before any of you will be able to speak Chinese well enough to share the gospel with anyone in China. But even before you are able to do that, you can minister the sweet fragrance of Christ to these people by the quality of your lives. It is your lifestyle, lived out among the Chinese people that will minister Christ to them long before you are able to say one word to them about personal faith in Jesus." It is like that with us as well. Though we may not be eloquent speakers, unbelievers we encounter will be ministered to by the Christ-likeness of our daily lives, if indeed we are Christ-like.
Conclusion: The Greek word in our key verse (pleased) is in the perfect tense meaning that He pleased God then and that is still his testimony today. Is that our testimony? Are we pleasing God in our walk, worship and witness?
