back to index2020-11-01 Enoch, A Man Who Pleased God
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews 11. 00:00:12.880 |
We're continuing our series with the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. 00:00:26.120 |
So we're going to be reading verse 5 and 6 and reading out of the NASB. 00:00:36.960 |
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found because 00:00:43.920 |
For he obtained a witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 00:00:48.760 |
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe 00:00:53.200 |
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. 00:01:01.920 |
We pray, Father God, that your anointed word would shape our hearts, our thoughts, our 00:01:10.360 |
We ask, Lord God, that you would bless this time. 00:01:17.200 |
You know, I think this Friday, I think many of you who are here, we had an opportunity 00:01:21.480 |
to pray together, and I think we were all very encouraged by our two sisters, Dawn and 00:01:26.280 |
Ariel, as they are experiencing, again, some persecution because of standing up for their 00:01:34.080 |
About how, again, right now with anybody who's in the medical field with, you know, gender 00:01:42.280 |
transition therapy that's going on, and they're beginning to ask medical workers to sign saying 00:01:48.600 |
that they approve this or for this, and just by saying that they don't agree, you know, 00:01:53.560 |
they are receiving intense persecution for that. 00:01:56.960 |
And again, you know, going forward, I think that is going to be happening more and more. 00:02:05.720 |
We've always known persecution was going to come. 00:02:10.840 |
You know, at some point in our life, we knew it was going to come, but what is surprising 00:02:15.960 |
is just how quickly it came, that we have currently a presidential candidate who has 00:02:23.480 |
openly said that if you go against the LGBTQ agenda, that you will be put on a terrorist 00:02:31.640 |
list, that we're not going to be able to hide against our religious freedom to mask our 00:02:41.160 |
And so therefore, they're going to be passing laws or preventing churches from basically 00:02:47.480 |
practicing our faith that we believe to be true in Scripture. 00:02:51.800 |
So the fact that that is here, whether he gets elected or not, the general social setting 00:03:02.600 |
So the question that we have to ask ourselves and answer ahead of time, have we counted 00:03:11.360 |
The Bible clearly tells us, and those of you who are starting through Thessalonians, Paul 00:03:15.440 |
says in a short period of time that he was there, he warned them again and again that 00:03:20.960 |
If you follow Jesus Christ, persecution is going to come. 00:03:23.760 |
And he's writing this letter to make sure that they're withstanding the persecution. 00:03:28.800 |
Well, what you and I have been experiencing in America is very unique to us. 00:03:38.360 |
We look at what's going on in North Korea and India and China, missionaries who are 00:03:42.200 |
being kicked out and having to find new places to evangelize. 00:03:49.140 |
What is unique is what you and I have experienced during our lifetime. 00:03:53.240 |
And that is possibly coming to an end pretty quickly. 00:03:57.840 |
That there is going to come a time, whether it is in months, I don't think in decades, 00:04:05.980 |
If you want to be a part of the university as a student, there may be a statement that 00:04:10.720 |
you have to sign off on in order for you to be accepted. 00:04:16.580 |
And you're going to be faced with the decision, am I going to compromise in order to be a 00:04:23.520 |
Am I going to, in order to get a bank loan, am I going to have to deny my faith to do 00:04:30.100 |
Right now, a lot of the school teachers in California are beginning to face that scrutiny 00:04:34.500 |
in order to be a credentialed teacher, CTA is pushing hard that you must. 00:04:40.260 |
They're going to weed out anybody who doesn't profess and is going to push their agenda, 00:04:45.220 |
which is directly against what we profess in scripture. 00:04:49.220 |
If we do not, and if we are not prepared for that, and you don't deal with that until that 00:04:53.740 |
time comes, the odds that we will end up compromising or somehow we will justify that the only way 00:05:01.260 |
At least publicly deny the faith even though inwardly that we believe something different. 00:05:06.940 |
And that's why the Bible has been telling us over and over again to count the cost. 00:05:11.820 |
There will come a day where it will be difficult or impossible for you to be a teacher in California. 00:05:17.820 |
Anybody who's in the medical field, I think you already know the pressure. 00:05:21.220 |
Whether you are a student or a medical doctor or you're a nurse, whatever it is in the medical 00:05:25.580 |
field that has been already being pushed vigorously, hired for a job, you're being threatened left 00:05:37.640 |
Maybe some of us are unaware, but that persecution is already here. 00:05:43.300 |
I say all of this because this is directly related to the passage that we're looking 00:05:49.020 |
These are the same people at one point in the beginning when the persecution started, 00:05:53.600 |
they were joyfully willing to have their stuff confiscated. 00:05:58.060 |
They visited their friends who were going to jail and they were supporting them. 00:06:07.740 |
And so after years of this, they begin to drift back to their old life. 00:06:14.300 |
So if you look at Hebrews and the things that we studied, we know that he's not dealing 00:06:18.560 |
necessarily with specifics of Christology that they were denying. 00:06:25.560 |
Because the thing that was happening is they were just compromising. 00:06:31.060 |
And so they were taking a bit of the persecutors, their doctrines of Judaism, and they were 00:06:37.940 |
They were mixing it up with the Christian faith so that they would not be persecuted 00:06:44.480 |
They were trying to maintain a life where they can have it all. 00:06:47.820 |
And so they were beginning to drift into their old way of life to avoid some of this persecution. 00:06:52.620 |
So the pressure was beginning to get to them. 00:06:54.500 |
And that's why the author of Hebrews was writing to them to be anchored in Christ, to be anchored 00:06:58.500 |
in Christ, to be anchored in Christ, not to drift. 00:07:01.980 |
And that's where we are here in chapter 11, because he's writing to people who are in 00:07:05.300 |
the midst of intense persecution to hold on strong. 00:07:11.220 |
And it is absolutely relevant to our current situation. 00:07:15.900 |
So again, some of you guys I've already talked to are experiencing intense pressure. 00:07:27.300 |
But we, again, our political leaders have openly said that they are not going to allow 00:07:38.220 |
You know, the benefit of living in the United States was that this country is founded upon 00:07:42.180 |
people who are escaping religious persecution. 00:07:46.500 |
And so one of the greatest freedoms that you and I have experienced in this country is 00:07:51.580 |
freedom of religion, that we are able to live out our faith. 00:07:55.460 |
And when they signed into their document the separation of church and state, it was for 00:07:59.460 |
the purpose of protecting the church, that the state would not come in and mandate what 00:08:04.440 |
you can and cannot believe inside the walls of your church. 00:08:08.780 |
It was not for the purpose of protecting the government. 00:08:13.940 |
Now the tides have turned, and they're interpreting that as, we cannot allow the churches to dictate 00:08:18.980 |
what we have in government, even if we have to shut some of these things down. 00:08:23.780 |
Well, like I said, what you and I have experienced in this country has been a blessing, but it 00:08:31.820 |
It is not unbiblical that this stage may be passing by. 00:08:36.100 |
You and I are entering into a stage in this country where nominal Christianity will not 00:08:46.700 |
You have to examine, do I really believe this? 00:08:49.860 |
Is Christ better than everything else that I desire and want and covet in this world? 00:08:54.660 |
And whether we are willing to face that decision or not, the world is going to force us to 00:09:06.740 |
And so what he has to say in Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 11, is directly related to us. 00:09:12.860 |
Now we're going to ask, well, what does this have to do with Enoch? 00:09:18.940 |
In fact, we know the least about Enoch of all the heroes of faith in this chapter. 00:09:22.940 |
Now, the first question that we ask is, how did Enoch get on this hall of fame with Noah 00:09:30.620 |
In fact, in the Old Testament, we only have maybe two or three verses on Enoch. 00:09:36.060 |
And that all we know about Enoch was he walked with God. 00:09:39.460 |
He had a child named Methuselah who happened to live the longest life. 00:09:43.460 |
And then the reason why we know about Enoch is because he's the first one out of two of 00:09:49.220 |
all the saints in the Old Testament who didn't physically die. 00:09:53.460 |
And that's the only thing that we know about Enoch. 00:09:56.660 |
And yet he made it onto this hall of fame of faith. 00:10:04.700 |
What is it about Enoch that he's presenting to us as an example to challenge us, to encourage 00:10:10.620 |
us to persevere in our faith and not to drift? 00:10:14.300 |
Well, there's three things that I want to look at. 00:10:18.520 |
There's three things that I want to look at about the faith because if you look at verse 00:10:23.740 |
Oftentimes we look at verse six of Hebrews chapter 11 verse six, "Without faith it is 00:10:28.780 |
impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he 00:10:34.700 |
This is one of the verses that I quote quite a bit. 00:10:38.620 |
But in fact, chapter 11 verse five is actually connected to this verse. 00:10:43.740 |
That's actually a description of Enoch's faith because if you look at verse five, this is 00:10:48.380 |
all it says, "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death and he was 00:10:52.220 |
not found because God took him up, for he obtained a witness that before his being taken 00:11:02.140 |
So verse five ends by saying Enoch was pleasing to God and verse six begins by saying it is 00:11:13.220 |
Verse six really is an explanation of how Enoch pleased God. 00:11:18.540 |
So I want to look at three things that we see in verse six. 00:11:23.300 |
One, we hear that "By faith Enoch pleased God by believing." 00:11:32.060 |
This is the first of the three points I want to make this morning. 00:11:36.820 |
I think if you've been a Christian for any period of time, you know the frustration of 00:11:41.680 |
trying to live a life that's pleasing to God. 00:11:45.700 |
I mean, you don't have to be a 20, 30, 40 year Christian. 00:11:49.940 |
You could be a 5 month, 10 month Christian and if you've made any effort, which I believe 00:11:55.300 |
that every Christian does, if you've made any effort to try to live a life that is pleasing 00:12:00.160 |
to God, the end result of that is frustration. 00:12:04.500 |
So what ends up happening to a lot of Christians is they end up quitting. 00:12:13.460 |
So many people who've attempted to please God by their own strength, they end up falling 00:12:17.220 |
out or, which is the other part is even more dangerous, they begin to change the doctrines. 00:12:23.080 |
Maybe God doesn't really care that we live a holy life. 00:12:26.820 |
In fact, I've actually heard people say, "You can't please God, so don't even try." 00:12:33.020 |
Even though it's a direct contradiction to the things that we see in Scripture. 00:12:36.580 |
He said he pleased God and that's why he was lifted up. 00:12:41.460 |
I think some of you guys can relate to my own experience when I was a young Christian 00:12:49.860 |
I went to Biola because I was frustrated in my own faith. 00:12:53.380 |
I thought that if I was surrounding myself with more mature Christians that some of that 00:13:00.300 |
And then when I went there, it didn't take long for me to realize that they were all 00:13:07.660 |
And the kind of counsel that I was getting from my older brothers was, "Peter, we're 00:13:13.340 |
It's frustrating, but if you feel guilty, that's enough. 00:13:22.100 |
But the fact that you feel guilty, that's the Holy Spirit in you, so if the Holy Spirit 00:13:26.980 |
And obviously they should have never been counselors. 00:13:30.260 |
But that was the counseling that I was getting. 00:13:32.440 |
And at that point in my spiritual life, it made a lot of sense to me because I didn't 00:13:37.980 |
I didn't see anybody that was any different than I was. 00:13:40.340 |
Everybody who loved God with their mouth, but in their life there was no evidence of 00:13:45.180 |
And I just began to accept, "Maybe that's true. 00:13:48.500 |
Maybe that's how it actually is as a young Christian." 00:13:55.500 |
I think that our main problem with Christians is we are trying so hard to be better Marthas 00:14:02.820 |
and it is clear that God is calling us to be better Marys. 00:14:06.180 |
Now, those of you who don't know who Martha and Mary is, that makes no sense to you. 00:14:12.860 |
Basically in their account, Martha and Mary are two sisters and Martha is the one who's 00:14:16.540 |
constantly running around to try to please Jesus, taking care of things, running around. 00:14:21.820 |
And she's frustrated because Mary's just sitting there, soaking up everything that Jesus has 00:14:25.260 |
to say and she runs to Jesus saying, "Jesus, help me. 00:14:34.180 |
All she's doing is sitting there and just listening to you." 00:14:37.060 |
And then Jesus turns the table around on her and said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried 00:14:40.180 |
about so many things, but only one is required of you. 00:14:47.800 |
And all she was doing was soaking up what Jesus had to say to her. 00:14:52.860 |
Because clearly as he says, it is impossible to please God without faith. 00:15:02.000 |
He didn't say, "You're going to have to try harder. 00:15:06.860 |
You're going to have to pour more money and find the right people." 00:15:11.220 |
It is not possible to please God without faith. 00:15:15.860 |
No matter how righteous, no matter how holy, no matter how pure we are," he says, "God 00:15:22.740 |
And there's a reason why so many Christians end up frustrated because we focus so much 00:15:26.740 |
on what we need to do like Martha and we get frustrated with other people who are not doing 00:15:32.700 |
Yet internally, our love for Christ is never increasing. 00:15:41.620 |
It is faith that caused him to walk with God. 00:15:45.260 |
And it is faith that caused him to walk with God that pleased God. 00:15:48.760 |
And it is faith that caused him to walk with God that pleased God that caused him to be 00:15:59.540 |
He says, "He who comes to God must first believe that he is." 00:16:08.220 |
And the ESV says that he who comes to God must first believe that he exists. 00:16:13.180 |
That's how some of your other translations have translated it. 00:16:17.260 |
Now let me explain to you why I believe the NASB has the better translation. 00:16:23.300 |
Because that word, if you look at line six, he uses the word "is." 00:16:30.380 |
God must believe, he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder 00:16:44.540 |
The first "is" is third person singular of "a me." 00:16:49.580 |
The second one, I'm not going to get into the Greek because it doesn't matter, but it's 00:16:54.980 |
He uses the same "he is, he is," and yet the word "is" in that same line is two different 00:17:02.580 |
I believe the reason why is because what he is saying in the beginning has deep theological 00:17:09.780 |
He's not simply saying that he who comes to God must first believe that he exists. 00:17:16.180 |
Because we're not talking to an atheist society. 00:17:22.420 |
They believed that the rock was God, the sun was God, the moon was God, the earth was God. 00:17:26.700 |
In fact, they accused Christians of being atheists because they were monotheists. 00:17:31.820 |
They only believed in one God, and so that was so strange to them, they actually called 00:17:38.140 |
So he's not talking to anybody who believes that there isn't a God. 00:17:42.260 |
So he's not saying if you want to first come to God, you must first move from an atheist 00:17:49.780 |
See, the third person singular of Amy, if the first person is what? 00:17:58.700 |
So I believe what he is saying is he who first comes to God must believe that he is. 00:18:07.020 |
Well, if you look at the Gospel of John, that's the whole point of the Gospel of John. 00:18:11.700 |
The seven "I am" statements of Jesus, where Jesus is correcting the false hope and false 00:18:21.140 |
First of the "I am" statements, chapter 6 of John, "I am the bread of life." 00:18:27.340 |
He's talking to people who wanted to forcefully make Jesus king because Jesus was healing 00:18:33.220 |
And Jesus points out to them and says, "You're coming to me not because you know who I am, 00:18:40.900 |
And it's in that context that Jesus says, "The bread that you get from this world will 00:18:45.260 |
make you hungry again, but the bread that I give to you will rise up in eternal life." 00:18:54.820 |
He says in John chapter 8, "I am the light of the world." 00:18:59.100 |
This is in the context of celebrating the Feast of Booths. 00:19:03.140 |
And during the Feast of Booths, they were celebrating the 40 years of wandering in the 00:19:06.940 |
desert and they would set up lights at the temple to remind the nation of Israel how 00:19:11.180 |
God led them and they believed that one day that the Messiah was going to come, a leader 00:19:15.620 |
was going to come and lead them into a better country. 00:19:21.420 |
Jesus in that context says, "I am the light of the world." 00:19:26.740 |
In John chapter 10, he says, "I am the door of the sheep." 00:19:32.060 |
He's saying this right after healing the blind man in chapter 9 and people were living in 00:19:38.300 |
fear of the leaders of the synagogue because he said to the blind man, "If you give credit 00:19:43.660 |
to Jesus, you will be cast out of the synagogue." 00:19:48.460 |
To be cast out of the synagogue means you may not be able to get married. 00:19:55.340 |
Whatever standing that you have in society, God's going to shun you. 00:19:57.780 |
You're going to have to live outside the camp. 00:19:59.340 |
So imagine a blind man who was forced to beg all of his life, opens his eyes, meaning that 00:20:05.820 |
he can now enter back into the regular society and the leaders are telling him, "If you do 00:20:14.100 |
And out of fear, even his parents refuse to stand with him. 00:20:21.300 |
The blind man stands up and he gets kicked out of the synagogue. 00:20:25.580 |
It is in that context that Jesus says, "I am the door." 00:20:30.060 |
You're so afraid of being kicked out of the synagogue door, he says, "I am the door." 00:20:34.300 |
And that's why directly connected to that in John chapter 10 and 11, he says, "I am 00:20:40.820 |
Because they were in such fear of submitting to these leaders because if you don't submit 00:20:47.860 |
You can't have the life that you desired, what you coveted, if you don't submit to their 00:20:54.540 |
And it is in that context that Jesus says, "No, I am the good shepherd." 00:20:59.420 |
These false prophets, they come to devour you. 00:21:02.820 |
You're so concerned about their approval that they have not come to give you life. 00:21:10.900 |
In John chapter 11, Lazarus, a good friend of Jesus' ministry, he's about to die and 00:21:18.580 |
He takes his time in allowing this to happen. 00:21:22.020 |
And as he is going to the grave to resurrect him, Jesus says, "I'm going to resurrect him, 00:21:26.720 |
but I want you to know I am the resurrection and life." 00:21:30.620 |
Whether Lazarus lives a long life or short life, even if he is resuscitated for a period 00:21:42.340 |
He says in John chapter 14, verse 6, "I am the truth, I am the way, and I am the life." 00:21:49.620 |
He's saying this because he is about to leave his disciples. 00:21:53.500 |
And they, right up to that point, they just did whatever Jesus did. 00:21:57.940 |
If he goes to Galilee, we're going to go to Galilee. 00:22:03.560 |
And Jesus just told them, "I'm going to leave, and where I go, you cannot come." 00:22:07.940 |
And so he's reminding his disciples, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life." 00:22:12.740 |
And then that's why he ends John chapter 15, verse 1, as he is preparing to go, he says, 00:22:20.620 |
You cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me, unless you continue in me. 00:22:25.000 |
Even though I will leave, your life is going to be continually dependent upon you continuing 00:22:33.980 |
And every one of these statements is to cut into the temptation that every one of us has. 00:22:41.820 |
That I am your basic need, I am your hope, I am the one who guards the door to life. 00:22:52.780 |
I am your purpose and direction, and I am the one who will sustain you and cause you 00:22:59.100 |
And that's what all the seven "I am" statements are about. 00:23:03.660 |
Not I will be, not I will point you to, not I am the source of. 00:23:09.120 |
So I believe that the author here is saying that he who comes to God must first believe 00:23:17.440 |
Because if we live our life to try to appease him, to please him by our efforts, we're going 00:23:29.100 |
We want the world, but we're going to fight against it. 00:23:32.960 |
We find pleasure in the things that the world has to offer, but we're going to fight against 00:23:38.420 |
And a lot of people in the church live their Christian life constantly trying to resist 00:23:51.420 |
It's just like a man who's hungry constantly walking around the buffet, "I'm not going 00:23:58.420 |
And that's what Christian life feels like for a lot of people. 00:24:03.740 |
I covet it every single day, and I feel this pressure in me constantly. 00:24:07.760 |
And I come to church, and all I do is feel guilty. 00:24:19.820 |
Your flesh is going to win until there is a transformation in our heart of what ultimately, 00:24:29.720 |
That's what transformation does in our heart, where we find life in Christ more than this 00:24:38.580 |
So until we genuinely believe that He is, we're not going to walk with Him. 00:24:44.040 |
Our feet are going to take us to whatever we're tempted by, even though our mind and 00:24:49.080 |
what we hear is telling us to go the other direction. 00:24:51.700 |
What he is saying is, you have to do about faith. 00:24:55.660 |
That's why Martha is going around doing all this stuff, and he says, "No, Mary has chosen 00:24:58.660 |
what is best," because until there is a transformation of seeing the glory of the gospel of Jesus 00:25:04.620 |
Christ, everything else is just determination. 00:25:08.940 |
Our determination is not going to get us closer to God. 00:25:16.060 |
You must first believe that He is, because believing is what leads us to seeking. 00:25:31.080 |
If you find life in the world, of course your flesh is eventually going to go there. 00:25:37.700 |
But if you find life in Christ, and that's where we find the greatest pleasure. 00:25:49.740 |
So my heart, my life, my legs are eventually going to cause me to seek after the things 00:25:54.580 |
that I believe is going to give me what I desire. 00:25:58.140 |
But if my desire is for the world, and my doctrine is for Christ, no wonder there's 00:26:03.780 |
this tension that causes us to be constantly frustrated. 00:26:06.700 |
That's why he says, "It is impossible to please God without faith." 00:26:19.020 |
Before we worry about discipleship, before we worry about discipline, before we worry 00:26:23.480 |
about doing all of these things and what other people are doing, do you believe that He is? 00:26:32.100 |
Because if you can't say adamantly, "I believe that," everything else you do outside of that 00:26:43.060 |
It's just going to be leading to more frustration. 00:26:50.860 |
Secondly, by faith Enoch pleased God by walking with God. 00:26:56.620 |
By faith Enoch pleased God by walking with God. 00:27:02.740 |
And we're going to get that, "Well, how's he going to milk this?" 00:27:05.780 |
From two words, verse 22, Genesis 5, "Enoch walked with God." 00:27:11.260 |
Verse 24, "Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him." 00:27:15.820 |
In fact, in verse 5 it says, "By faith Enoch was taken up." 00:27:21.860 |
Literally, "taken up" in your King James Version, if you guys are using that, it just says, "He 00:27:29.660 |
The word simply means he was here and then now he came over here. 00:27:34.320 |
So they interpret it by saying, "Oh, he meant he was taken up to God." 00:27:39.020 |
But the word just means he was here and then he was removed. 00:27:41.940 |
But we know that he was taken up to God because it says he didn't taste death. 00:27:45.500 |
So that's our image of him just going to God. 00:27:49.740 |
I mean, what an anticlimactic way of saying, "He didn't die. 00:28:05.000 |
What is it about him walking with God that he is named among the Hall of Fame with Abraham 00:28:13.460 |
Well, in Amos chapter 3, verse 3 it says, "Do two men walk together unless they have 00:28:18.960 |
Well, "appointment" just simply means an agreement. 00:28:23.280 |
He says, in other words, two people can't walk together unless there is an agreement. 00:28:27.120 |
So if I'm going to make an appointment, an agreement, we have to agree that we're going 00:28:31.240 |
to make this time, we're going to meet at this place for this purpose. 00:28:35.620 |
When two people marry, there's an agreement, there's a covenant that they enter. 00:28:38.720 |
So he's saying that when Enoch walked with God, there was an agreement. 00:28:44.440 |
Because a sinner can't just simply say, "Hey, I want to talk to you." 00:28:47.940 |
So even though it is simple, elementary words, in those words there was a reconciliation 00:28:55.560 |
with God, with Enoch, and he walked with God. 00:29:00.480 |
Well, in the New Testament version of that, Jesus says the same thing. 00:29:05.440 |
In Luke chapter 9, 20-24, and he was saying to them, "If anyone wishes to come after 00:29:11.240 |
me," "come after me" is just another way of saying he wants to walk with me. 00:29:18.640 |
He says, "He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 00:29:24.000 |
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, 00:29:33.640 |
You can't walk with me, you can't have an appointment with me, you can't live with me 00:29:37.640 |
until there is an agreement, and this is the agreement contract. 00:29:41.920 |
If you want to walk with me, you must pick up your own cross and deny yourself. 00:29:46.180 |
You can come to church, but you're not walking with God. 00:29:49.340 |
You can be an evangelist and tell people, but you're not walking with God until there 00:29:53.040 |
is an agreement, until there is a reconciliation. 00:29:56.880 |
And Jesus says that this is the requirement, and that's what he's saying. 00:30:01.640 |
When he walked with God, that he had fellowship with him because there was an agreement of 00:30:10.320 |
There's something else about Enoch that we can easily miss. 00:30:16.680 |
In Jude 14 and 15, any of you who've ever studied Jude, Jude is a difficult letter to 00:30:25.740 |
understand because it has a lot of spiritual, demonic, and angiology that's mixed in with 00:30:31.640 |
Well, it is in that book that Enoch is mentioned. 00:30:35.040 |
In two verses, and this is what it says about Enoch. 00:30:38.360 |
It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, 00:30:42.960 |
saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon 00:30:47.920 |
all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done 00:30:53.320 |
in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against 00:30:59.840 |
Do you notice how many times he says "ungodly"? 00:31:04.920 |
"Ungodly, all the ungodly, godly, ungodly, ungodly." 00:31:10.080 |
So if you read that, you know that that's being emphasized. 00:31:19.440 |
And so what he was saying at that time, it resonates as prophetic to the time that the 00:31:27.880 |
Now what's interesting is, if you go to the next slide, this is a chart of the life of 00:31:32.600 |
the patriarchs that are mentioned in Genesis chapter 5. 00:31:36.720 |
You notice Enoch is about halfway or to the lower part, and obviously his lifeline is 00:31:46.480 |
He didn't live a long life, or a long life at their standard, right? 00:31:50.520 |
365 days was his life, where others lived 900 and some. 00:31:54.720 |
But you notice something unique about Enoch's life? 00:32:01.440 |
When Enoch was living, all the other patriarchs were still alive. 00:32:09.680 |
Enosh, Kenan, Mahalal, Jared, they're all still alive. 00:32:15.120 |
During his lifetime, because they lived such a long time. 00:32:18.280 |
So they had kids when they were young, and then they lived another hundreds and hundreds 00:32:22.680 |
So if you look at their timeline of their life, Enoch knew his grandfather, great-grandfather, 00:32:29.320 |
great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfather, and all the way up to Adam. 00:32:34.280 |
Now what's interesting about all of this is that Genesis chapter 6 is when the flood comes 00:32:40.820 |
And this is how, before the flood comes in, how God describes mankind. 00:32:47.160 |
Genesis chapter 6, "And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth." 00:32:59.360 |
The ungodliness was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart 00:33:11.160 |
Enoch was the first prophet who was prophesying against the multiplying sinfulness of mankind, 00:33:17.360 |
and he stood against the tide, and he preached to them the warning of the judgment of God. 00:33:24.960 |
I mean, imagine how hard it is to be a Christian if you are a minority. 00:33:31.880 |
Imagine how difficult it is when you're by yourself. 00:33:35.440 |
You know, when I was young, I used to ask myself that question. 00:33:38.680 |
If I didn't live in a Christian community, if I didn't have friends in church, if my 00:33:42.920 |
family wasn't Christian, if I was the only Christian that I knew, would I still follow 00:33:49.440 |
Do I believe in him enough to go against the tide of everybody around me? 00:33:54.520 |
If I was the only businessman, if I was the only doctor, if I was the only nurse, if I 00:33:58.640 |
was the only student, would I still follow Christ? 00:34:02.200 |
Well, I can't answer that question because that never happened to me. 00:34:13.560 |
I don't know how to answer that question because that's never happened. 00:34:18.880 |
Enoch stood in darkness, and he was preaching. 00:34:25.880 |
He was the first prophet who was warning them that if this continues, judgment is coming. 00:34:34.320 |
Third and finally, by faith, Enoch pleased God and lived. 00:34:42.240 |
You know, if you look at Genesis chapter 5, it gives the timeline of the patriarch, how 00:34:49.160 |
It says in Genesis 5, 5, so all the days that Adam lived were 930 years. 00:34:55.600 |
Is it the record that we have in Guinness Book of World Record? 00:34:58.880 |
The oldest person that has ever lived that we have on record is 122 years and 164 days. 00:35:04.280 |
Janine Calmart, she was born in 1875 and died in 1997. 00:35:11.600 |
I mean, she's an infant compared to these people. 00:35:31.920 |
Verse 17, Mahalel were 195 years, and Jared were 962 years. 00:35:39.720 |
Now we may look at that and we get caught up. 00:35:44.760 |
And we get caught up with these numbers of how long they lived. 00:35:47.760 |
But you missed the whole point of Genesis chapter 5 because Genesis chapter 5 isn't 00:35:55.720 |
Genesis chapter 5, theologians call this the graveyard chapter of the Bible. 00:36:02.880 |
Because the point wasn't that they lived long. 00:36:11.480 |
So all the days of Adam lived were 930 years and he died. 00:36:17.600 |
So all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. 00:36:23.280 |
So all the days of Enoch were 905 years and he died. 00:36:28.040 |
So all the days of Canaan were 910 years and he died. 00:36:32.600 |
So all the days of Mahalel were 895 years and he died. 00:36:38.720 |
So all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died. 00:36:50.880 |
God said, "If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely 00:36:54.840 |
And Genesis chapter 5 is a record of the death of mankind. 00:37:00.360 |
And it is in this record that Enoch stands out because of his faith. 00:37:11.160 |
And we naturally ask the question, "Why did he get to go up? 00:37:18.440 |
We may ask ourselves, but the real question that we ask is, "Why didn't we?" 00:37:41.680 |
If our eternal life is here, if the rest of our Christian life is meant to be this struggle, 00:37:47.480 |
and there is this constant struggle, struggle with friendship, struggle with community, 00:37:53.060 |
struggle with our children, struggle with our marriages, struggle with the temptation 00:37:56.460 |
of the world, struggle with drifting, struggle with politics, struggle with economics, it 00:38:05.380 |
I mean, I wonder all the time, like, "Why do people want to live such long lives here? 00:38:16.160 |
Every good thing that I desire turns out to be bad for me. 00:38:36.900 |
In 2 Peter 3.9, people were asking that question, "When's he coming? 00:38:44.300 |
And Peter answered, "The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, 00:38:49.060 |
but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." 00:38:58.100 |
God did not leave us here so that we can enjoy heaven before we get to heaven. 00:39:03.740 |
God left us here as a witness to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the 00:39:08.500 |
name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 00:39:10.580 |
He wanted us to be the aroma of Christ wherever we go, that we ought to be the light and the 00:39:17.260 |
What good is salt if it loses its flavor other than to be put underground and be trampled 00:39:23.380 |
And repeatedly, over and over again, he said he left us for a specific purpose, to be a 00:39:37.980 |
Some of us are trying so hard to clean up a burned-down house. 00:39:43.820 |
The Bible already said, "Mankind is under condemnation." 00:39:50.940 |
And we're trying so hard to make heaven and earth on this place, and it's no different 00:39:55.460 |
than going into a burned-down house and putting new carpet in. 00:40:03.060 |
So all our efforts to make our life better, at the end of the day, is vanity, vanity, 00:40:10.820 |
And until you and I come to that conclusion, and we live our life, whether it is as a doctor, 00:40:16.300 |
whether it is as a lawyer, as a businessman, or as a student, if our life, that we live 00:40:20.540 |
here, isn't for the purpose of bringing God the glory, it is vanity, vanity, all is vanity. 00:40:26.500 |
No matter how much money you make, no matter how nice of a house, no matter how long and 00:40:31.140 |
healthy, even all the investments that you make, get 10,000 percent profit, all is vanity. 00:40:39.180 |
Because the only reason why you and I are here, until he comes, is so that you and I 00:40:50.380 |
If you're spiritually sober, I know that you agree with me, it's coming. 00:40:55.940 |
But persecution is not a bad thing for the church. 00:41:00.260 |
Persecution basically is God turning the light down. 00:41:04.620 |
There's reasons why we drive long distances to go up to the mountains and to the countryside 00:41:09.260 |
so that we can have a better look at the stars. 00:41:12.340 |
Because while we're here with all the man-made lights, it's a distraction. 00:41:16.940 |
So we get away from the light so that we can have a clearer view of the stars. 00:41:21.820 |
When persecution comes, the light gets turned off. 00:41:30.100 |
This is the time where we stand and say, in the midst of darkness, that hope is found 00:41:39.020 |
So I pray, as you and I know what is coming, that we will not be caught off like the rest 00:41:46.980 |
of the world, and hoping that the boat that we got on just kind of casually drifts toward 00:41:56.300 |
That we would put on the armor of God, knowing that we do not fight against flesh and blood. 00:42:02.060 |
That we would put on the gear and be ready to shine Christ. 00:42:18.260 |
That even when we die, we will live in Christ. 00:42:23.740 |
Because without faith, it is impossible to please him. 00:42:27.860 |
So I pray that, again, as our community, as our generation, as the politics and all that 00:42:32.740 |
is around us becomes darker and darker, that we will see more opportunities to shine Christ. 00:42:45.020 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for your continued guidance and blessing, especially, Lord God, 00:42:55.940 |
Help us, Lord God, that our love would not grow cold. 00:42:59.540 |
Lord, we pray that you will bring revival into your church. 00:43:05.860 |
That we would not live in fear because of certain laws that will be passed. 00:43:10.740 |
In fear, Lord God, that we would not be able to attain the things that we've coveted in 00:43:20.860 |
That we would profess with stronger and stronger faith that Christ is. 00:43:28.160 |
That he is our sustenance, he is our hope, he is our leader, he is our refuge, he is 00:43:41.060 |
So for that end, I pray that you would strengthen your church, that you would keep us sober, 00:43:46.500 |
open our eyes to see the opportunities that you are creating for us. 00:43:51.100 |
That we may shine Christ and shine him bright.