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God Pleasing Faith, Enoch Pleased God, Lesson 5, Hebrews 11:5,6
After the exodus of the children of Israel God spoke his commandments to Moses to give to this people, this people taken out for his name.
And God choose to speak unto Moses the first and great commandment which described what God required of those brought out of Egypt.
Exodus 20:1-6, And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Jesus in his time on earth was asked in Matthew 22:36,37, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
So the great commandment, the one upon which all others are founded is the requirement of men, women, boys and girls to love God.
Love then is a matter of the will.
It is not something that only certain people can have or else God would not have required it of us all.
We then as created beings are to love the one who created us, no doubting, no questions asked.
Now in our Hebrews passage for today we are introduced to a man named Enoch, who no doubt loved God.
For we read in Hebrews 11:5,6, By faith Enoch was translated (change of place) 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. 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.
So Enoch’s love of God is expressed in his testimony that he pleased God.
Loving God and pleasing God are so interconnected as to be impossible to separate.
If you truly love someone it is only natural to try to please them.
Husbands do you try to please your wife?
Wives do you try to please your husband?
This then is a direct measure of your love.
And we as the body of Christ are to strive to please others for we are commanded to love not only God but to love our neighbor.
But in all this we are to remember our first love and our first one to please is God and sometimes this will mean displeasing our neighbor if they are opposed to God, God’s word and God’s will.
So we are directed in our study of Faith to turn our attention to this man Enoch whom God was careful to note that in Enoch he was pleased.
We are introduced to Enoch in Genesis in a listing of the early genealogy where we find Enoch the seventh from Adam.
The listing being of the righteous line: Adam, Seth: Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, and then Enoch
So we learn of Enoch in Genesis 5:23,24, And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
And he was not means he was no longer among men.
We learn in the epistle of Jude that this time was an evil time upon the earth for the universal flood was in the offing.
Judgment was coming but Enoch spoke of the ultimate judgment to come.
We read of this in Jude 14,15, And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 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.
No doubt this message was hated by those who desired to please themselves and not in any way please God.
The testimony of Enoch was singular, for pleasing God in such a time was so extraordinary that God took him without him having to pass through the vale of death.
Was he rescued from those who wished to see him dead?
We are not given to know but we are given to know that he, by faith was translated for he pleased God for without faith it is impossible to please God.
Our Lord has told us our number one commandment is to love Him so in demonstration of this our number one aim in life should be to please God.
How contrary that is not only to the world but this is also so very much contrary to that that which many believe in the church.
Too many times we are so in a hurry to please others but is that true when it comes to pleasing God?
In verse 6 it speaks of he that cometh to God which means he who draws near to God.
In James 4:8 we are told to draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
In Hebrews 4:19 we are told to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
God is telling us how to please him for pleasing him requires us to draw near to him and to seek him.
Hebrews 10:22 tells us to: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Notice the connection of drawing near to having a full assurance of faith.
Here is a test of your faith.
Ask yourself and sincerely answer whether or not you consistently draw near to God.
Do you draw near to God in prayer, do you draw near to God in the study of His Word, do you draw near to God by being a faithful member of the body of Christ?
Is this the norm in your life?
Just think about drawing near to your mate if God has so blessed.
Do you draw near every day or is that neglected?
What do you think about those who married but are aloof to each other.
Do you really love another to whom you do not draw near?
Again verse 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.
So verse six not only mentions cometh to God or drawing near to God but it also mentions them that diligently seek him.
This speaks for itself.
Think about the last thing you lost that had value.
Perhaps you lost your credit card or your smart phone or even your wallet or your purse.
My how that makes your heart beat faster as you now engage in an intense seeking for that which has been lost.
This is what diligently seeking God entails.
Seeking him until you find him and not letting go until he blesses.
Psalm 105:5, Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
Seeking his face means seeking his presence.
It is the setting of your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God as given in I Chron. 22:19.
It is the fixing of our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on God.
As I said previously to love is an act of the will.
Drawing near to God and diligently seeking God are also acts of the will.
These are not whatever activities that somehow happen but they are deliberate, intentional, mind-decided actions.
But we also must remember that no one ever seeks God apart from God’s drawing, apart from God’s choosing
John 6:44, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
But we are drawn to God that we may draw to God.
God draws us by his deliberate action and sets the pattern for us to draw near to God and to diligently seek him.
Jesus in making plain the priority of life commanded his disciples to Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
When we are born into the family of God we move into the faith life and that faith life requires drawing near to God and seeking God’s face on a continual basis.
And in doing so the very God we draw near to, the very God we seek is our reward.
This was told Abraham in Gen 15:1, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
And the psalmist of Psalm 73:25,26 called God himself my portion: Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
This is the praise of faith.
For from the lips of one who lives by faith these words come for one who lives by faith always desires to please God.
Again verse 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.
This statement by saying it is impossible to please God without believing in him, that is without faith, of course infers that it is only possible to please him with faith.
It is only possible to please him by believing that he is.
You cannot please God without believing that he is and that means all that he is.
This means we must believe that God is exactly who His word reveals him to be.
We cannot know God apart from His revealing Himself to us by His word.
We are not to invent a god of our making, a god who satisfies our every fleshly need.
God reveals Himself to us not only as a God of love but a God of judgment.
He is revealed to us as a God of mercy and kindness, but he is also revealed to us as a God of holiness and wrath.
Faith brings one to believe in the God who reveals Himself to us by Jesus Christ who is the Word of God.
Jesus said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
Now Job was a man of faith, a man who believed in God to the fullest, a man who went through unbelievable difficulties and trials but was by faith able to say in:
Job 1:21, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
Faith then is that which gives stability in all times and in all situations for it brings to mind the admonition of God, to be still and know that I am God.
Now our verse 6 tells us that faith pleases God, it tells us that you can only come to God by believing that he is, and thirdly it tells us of rewards to come to those of faith.
Faith is the gate through which God bestows blessings.
Faith is such to bring one to focus on what is to come and what is to come includes reward to those who diligently seek God.
There is nothing to be ashamed of in doing this because this reveals to us God’s goodness and justice.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.
Satan uses the now and now to bring doubt about God’s love but faith overcomes Satan’s advances for faith believes that whatever we face today will be made right by God at the proper time.
Faith remembers that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Faith overlooks the now and now and sees beyond the vision of this world and instead sees God’s hand stretched in our direction for we have sought him.
Faith stands tall and upright saying God will make things right!
And we get to this place in faith by hearing God’s word over and over and over, studying to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth.
And through it all remembering that the rewards of faith are greatest in eternity, not in this life.
But in this life God expects us to walk with Him daily and that walk will be a walk of faith, believing Him as Enoch believed him for before Enoch was translated, raptured if you will, his testimony was that he walked with God.
You cannot walk with God without faith.
Enoch’s 365 year lifespan was long in relation to our lifespan but Enoch used those years learning of God, knowing God in such a way that it was as if he took daily walks with him.
God taught us this early in his word by telling us that He walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day.
Adam and Eve were hiding from him for they had sinned but the inference is that before sin entered the picture it was their daily habit to walk with God.
What a lesson this is about faith for faith brings us to daily walk with our Creator, our Saviour our Friend that we may know Him.
We are to learn of him, him with whom we are to spend our eternity. |