Hebrews Series
“The Life That Pleases God”
Heb. 11.4-7
July 9,2014 Chester FBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A The writer of Hebrews makes the intangablity of faith a practical thing.
1 “By faith we understand . . .” (Heb. 11.3).
Hebrews 11:3 (NASB) 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
a Faith is what allows us to understand what God does, to see what others cannot see.
b As a result, faith enables us to do what others cannot do.
aa Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.” -J. Oswald Sanders
bb We have God’s Word, His promises in writing, and if we believe/fully trust that He’ll keep His promises to His own . . . we posse an incredible thing . . . not just hope, love . . . but faith.
2 The best way to grow your faith is to walk with the faithful.
a A few weeks ago I taught how we should be careful who get advise from, well the same goes with our faith.
b Godly, mature, Christians strong in the faith can help us increase our own faith.
B The text tonight covers some pretty good, high stepping faithful people (Able, Enoch, Noah).
1 This text describes the first three inductees in what has been called “God’s Hall of Fame”, “Westminister Abbey of the Bible” and “The Role Call of Faith”.
a Each of the inductees are from the Old Testament (covenant).
aa Operated under the Law, or in many cases, before the Law was ever given.
bb God’s way has always been the way of faith.
b Hebrews 11:4-7 (NASB) 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 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. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
2 Faith looks beyond to an invisible realm through the Word of God.
a It acts on the basis of what God says, promises given, guarentees that He has made.
b Tonight, we’ll see three characters that led lives that illustrate a life of faith, the kind of the faith that pleases God.
c Pray
I Able: The Approach of Faith (11.4) (Image of Abel as background)
Hebrews 11:4 (NASB) 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
A Abel was the second-born son of Adam & Eve, the brother of Cain.
1 What catapulted Abel into the hall was his life answered the basic question of “How does a person approach God?”
a Genesis 4:2-5 (NASB) 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
b Cain/Able grew up watching their father make regular blood sacrifices to YHWH as an offering for his sin.
aa I believe the regularity was weakly because something in the original language, specifically the phrase, “in the course of time.”
bb This phrase is also translated, “at the end of days.” What is the ending day of the week? Saturday; the traditional Jewish Sabbath day.
2 The blood offering offered by Adam spoke symbolically of the sacrifice of sin that God would one day offer through Jesus on the cross.
a Abel received that revelation by faith when he brought the best lamb from his flock as a sacrifice . . . evidence that he believed/had faith like his daddy, Adam.
aa Dad said God wants blood to atone for sin, I’m going to give Him what He wants.
bb He understood that he was sinful, worthy of death because of his sin.
cc So understanding this, the lamb was offered as a substitute for his sin, from Abel’s sincere & faithful heart because that is what God had told Adam that is what the going price for sin was.
b Unlike Able, Cain rejected the revelation and followed his own reason.
aa “God will be delighted that I brought him a bushel full of wheat, basket of sweet corn, a couple crates of pomegranates, sack of potatoes, flat of tomatoes.”
bb “After all, I planted these with my own hands. Sweat from my own brow. I worked hard to get these vegetables.”
cc Cain made the fatal error in believing that he could come to God on his own terms.
3 God doesn’t admit us into His presence on our own terms.
a Abel pleased God by coming to Him . . .
aa By faith in the blood that was offered before YHWH,
bb Because that’s what God insisted upon.
b We may think God loves/listens/delights in us because we’re good, proper, tithe, moral . . . but the truth is we can’t/don’t approach Him on our terms but ONLY on His terms . . . through the blood.
B Because of Abel’s sacrifice of blood (per God’s terms) he laid hold of a rich prize. “. . .he obtained the testimony that he was righteous,” (v.4).
1 Abel obtained heaven’s witness that he was righteous.
a “righteous” means that Abel, through blood by faith is “right for heaven.”
aa You fit in here, you belong, you’re going to do great here.
bb Abel was saved by his faith in the blood.
b It’s a pretty sweet prize for God to say, “You know, you’re going to fit right in here. This place is for you.”
2 However, faith did not mean Abel didn’t encounter trouble/problems.
a Abel was hated by his own brother, Cain, who would later kill him.
aa Death is never the final word in the life of a righteous man.
bb v.4, “. . .and through faith, though he is dead, he speaks.”
b Cain is an example of all of those who reject the way of faith (embrace religion, good deeds, and/or denomination).
aa Cain’s prideful heart prevented him from offering a blood sacrifice, but he didn’t bat an eye at shedding his brother’s blood.
bb Be careful of people who call themselves brother/sister who don’t bat an eye (give a second thought) about shedding the blood (shredding the witness) a fellow believer.
c Abel’s life teaches us that the only way a sinner can approach God is by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
II Enoch: The Attitude of Faith (11.5) (image of Enoch)
Hebrews 11:5 (NASB) 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.
A Enoch is the first man recorded in the Bible to enter heaven without dying.
Genesis 5:21-24 (NASB) 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.
1 Hebrews tells us “Enoch was taken up”, literally means he was translated to a higher place, change in position or carry across.
a For believers, it usually takes death to occur for people to enter heaven (taken up, higher place, change in position), but not so with Ol’ Enoch.
b Abel died a violent death at the hands of his brother; Enoch never died . . . but both were faithful.
aa God has a different plan for each one who trusts Him.
bb Some of us will have more difficult times, some easier times . . . either way, we continue to feed our faith.
2 Enoch walked with God.
a To walk with God implies compatibility, (Amos 3.3) “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” NO
b To walk with God implies agreement, harmony with Him.
c Walking with God also implies confession of sin.
aa Confess means to “agree with God.” PUT THIS SENTENCE ON SCREEN
bb In order for Enoch to walk with God, he had to agree with God that he, Enoch, had sin in his life, but he lived in a repentant spirit.
cc “Dear Lord, I can’t walk with You and carry this sin burden, help me to be rid of it.”
B To walk with God in harmony leads to communion.
1 If we walk with God we are in fellowship with Him.
a There is genuine relationship, love, devotion and affection toward God irregardless of what is going on around you and the world.
aa Remember, Enoch lived in a pre-flood world. (WICKED)
bb Enoch was able to keep his life pure even though the world around was perverted.
b I don’t think Enoch physically saw God on earth, but his faith enabled him to see beyond this world to take the hand of the invisible God to walk with Him.
aa Enoch’s secret? Attitude.
bb I’m going to walk with you no matter what is going on around me, going through, people think.
cc I’m going to trust my life in the hand of the invisible God that prepared the world.
dd That kind of intimate faith is ONLY developed by walking with God in harmony & agreement.
2 IL. A little girl in a Sunday school one described Enoch’s home-going this way: “One day the fellowship was so sweet that God said to Enoch, “It’s late and we’re nearer to My house than yours; come on home with Me.”
a Our life of faith ought to be a walk with God until the hour of death or at the sound of the trumpt, we are called to be with Him.
b Tonight, through the blood of Jesus, we have already been “moved across, changed positions, lifted higher”
Ephesians 2:4-9 (NASB) 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
III Noah: The Activity of Faith (11.7)
Hebrews 11:7 (NASB) 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
A Noah teaches us that faith without works is dead (James 2.20).
James 2:20 (NASB) 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
1 By faith Noah worked, not to be saved, but because he was saved.
a Noah got a word from God to build a large ship.
aa He was building a ship where they had never seen a drop of rain, let alone a flood.
bb He set out to build the ark on faith in nothing more than a word from God.
b Noah worked for 120 years without any regard to his critics, detractors, nay sayers, skeptics.
aa He just kept building and preaching . . . without a single convert.
bb Noah held to the word of God, and when the ark was completed, Noah’s family was saved, but the world was condemned (Every critic, detractor, nay sayer, skeptic) would be found at the bottom of the ocean.
2 Noah got a word from God and acted on that word of God even though he didn’t understand it. (God said it, that settles it.)
a IL. Dr. Percy Ray was a church planter for many years with the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board, (NAMB).
aa In the late 1940's, God told him to build a large assembly hall where Christians cold gather.
bb God told him to stand in the middle of the land in Myrtle, Mississippi, and start digging the footing for the 2,000 seat building . . . so he went out and started digging. (Folks laughed at him.)
cc One day, a man came along and gave Dr. Ray a check to pay for the entire shell of the building; This man had been praying in Memphis, Tennessee, and God told him to ride down into northern Mississippi where he would find a preacher digging a footing for a building, and he was to give that man a large amount of money!
dd Camp Zion stands today as one the great Christian assembly halls in America . . .Dr. Ray obeyed God, and the blessing came. (Get pics of Dr. Ray & Camp Zion)
b Noah showed he was righteous by his faith, his righteousness however was a by-product of his faith. (Righteousness doesn’t mean you have faith.)
Conclusion:
A Hebrews 11.6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Hebrews 11:6 (NASB) 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.
1 You can do anything in this world to gain favor with God, except trust Him.
a Abel teaches us that the only way a sinner can approach God is by faith in the blood of Jesus.
b Enoch teaches us how to please our God in our daily walk.
c Noah teaches us the importance of obeying God in the area of works.
2 Faith carries us through the treachery of others and help us overcome even death.
a Faith carries us through catastrophe, chaos (global or personal).
b Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
B To come to God you must “believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (v.6).
1 If we are to know God, we must accept His existence and believe in His generosity . . . that He is good and desires for you are for you to have the absolute best.
a Doesn’t mean you won’t have problems, pain . . . ask Abel.
b It means you trust God in the problems, pain.
2 IL. I wonder what would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives?
a If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable?
aa If the postman skipped delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy?
bb If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a reliable employee?
cc If your fridge stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it work most of the time.”?
dd If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?
ee If you skipped a couple of electricity bill payments do you think Ameren would mind?
b If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?
aa If you question His power, promise, providence, planning all the time . . . would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?
bb Though He may slay me, yet I will trust in Him!!! - Job
We expect loyalty and reliability from things and other people - isn’t it reasonable then that God just might expect the same from us.
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