Hebrews chapter 11 and we're
going to be looking at verse 5 and 6 this morning. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 5 and
6. We're talking about faith. The report of faith. The title
of this message is the report of Enoch. The report of Enoch. Let's start at the beginning
in verse 1. It says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained
a good report. And then he is starting from
Abel and he goes on. It starts from creation and he
goes to Abel and then he is going to Enoch. He said, By faith we
understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So the things
which are seen were not made of the things which do appear.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous." God testifying
of his offering. And by it, he being dead, yet
speaking. And now we come to Enoch. It says, 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. But without
faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them
that diligently seek him." Enoch's report, his report of faith. Now, again, we are studying concerning
what the apostle says about the report or testimony of the elders,
the Old Testament saints which lived by faith. We can see this. We are all saved by the same
grace. These men were not saved in any
different way than we are. Yes, we have the fuller revelation. They didn't understand fully
as we have it revealed to us, but they were saved by looking
forward to Christ. And Enoch was just a man, and
he was saved by faith in the coming of Christ. He believed
that Christ was coming. And by this he obtained a good
report. Now, faith, again, is the foundational
grace of every believer. For by grace you are saved through
what? Love? The grace of love? No. Are you saved Through the
grace of hope, or kindness, or temperance, or meekness, or gentleness,
or any other fruit of the Spirit? No. The Scripture says that you
are saved by grace through faith. And that, not of yourselves.
That faith, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Now, We are Christ. We are God's workmanship. I've
said before, that word means skilled craftsman. But if you
look at the word, it's wonderful. It's poema. We are His poem. It is a skilled man who can write
a poem and have such meaning. It takes a skilled craftsman.
You have to really concentrate to make a poem. You have to really
use words very short in rhyme and they have to be filled with
meaning. God says you are my poem. My workmanship. And that God created us in Christ
Jesus unto good works which God before ordained that we should
walk in them. Flip over to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. In verse 13, the Scripture says
that we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is it not mean for us
to give thanks concerning God's election? Is it not worthy? Is He not worthy
of that? And how can we do that? Not just
by looking at ourselves, but I see God's election when I look
at you. When I see your report of faith.
You know what I see? I see God's election. I see God's
grace. I see God's mercy on a sinner.
That's what I see. You have obtained a good report
by faith. Because I can't see really in
your heart. The only thing I can see is what's
on the outside. And faith works, friends. Faith
is not by work, but faith works. Just like living lives. If you're alive, you're going
to live. You're going to do. And that's
the same way with faith. Faith works. God ordained it. And so we should give thanks
for God. He said, I'm thankful for you
because God has chosen you from the beginning of the world, before
the foundation of the world. We are saved by grace. We should be thankful because
we see each other, we see the eternal sovereign election of
God. That He has chosen us from eternity,
not for the possibility of salvation. God did not choose you to possibly
save you. God chose you to save you. Look at that in Thessalonians.
For God had from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. You see, there's no variableness
nor shadow of turning with God. When God decrees something, it
happens. And this is what God has decreed
for you who believe, is that you shall be saved. There was nothing in this world,
in heaven, in earth, or in hell that could have ever stopped
you from believing on Christ, because God has from the beginning
chosen you to this. It's not possible that the decree
of God would be thwarted by man. He chose us unto salvation. But
whatsoever God has decreed, election is a wonderful doctrine. But
you know what? I didn't... Eternity, that boggles
the mind, doesn't it? That God never in His existence
Were we ever unsaved? Were we ever without righteousness? We were in Christ from before
the foundation of the world. Was Christ ever having sin in
Himself before the foundation of the world? No. And yet we
were in Him. We were chosen in Him. But election
boggles the mind. Yet everything God has chosen
to do, He will accomplish by His divine providence. This is
how we know what God has decreed, by what transpires. I don't know
what God is going to do, but I know what God has done. The providence of God is His
decrees being worked out in time. And this salvation that He has
promised, that He has chosen us to, was worked out in time
by Christ. And it was worked out in time
by the Spirit of God. Now, every one of us in this
building who are believers in Christ, we are saved. Saved,
saved, saved. You can say that for eternity.
Saved! Saved by the blood of the crucified
one. But we all have different experiences
of salvation, don't we? Not all of our experiences are
the same. Some are immediately saved. Some hear the gospel and
They believe. They trust Christ immediately.
Others, over a period of years of hearing the gospel in some
form or fashion, they find themselves believing. They don't know when
this started. They don't know how it started.
They heard the gospel. They believe. So our experiences may be different.
I wasn't riding to Damascus and fell off a horse and saw the
Lord Jesus Christ. That wasn't my experience. That was Paul's experience. And
you may have a different experience of salvation, but listen to me.
The means of our salvation is exactly the same. The means. Your experience may be different,
but the means of it is the same. The same means of Enoch. The
same means of able are the same means by which we are saved in
the process of God's providence. Look at there in Thessalonians. It says, God chosen you to salvation. Here's the means through this,
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, faith. Sanctification of the Spirit
and faith, belief of the truth. Jesus said this, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. That's to me and to you, we understand
that. Why? Because we have experienced
the new birth. We have been born of the Spirit
of God. The Scripture says, as many as
received Him. Who are the as many as? The elect. Who are they? How did they receive
Him? By faith. He gave them the right to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which
were not born of blood, of kin, nor of the will of their own,
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of others, but of the
will of God. And we give thanks that we are
the sons of God. You know what joy that should
bring us to really understand that we are the sons of God? Do you realize that you are a
child of the living God? And I love my Son. I do. I desire to give my Son
all things that are good for Him. But how much greater is
my Father? And I am His Son. And I have a right to be called
the Son. I have a right. Because I was born not of my
own will, not of the will of others. I was not born because
I was raised in a Christian family. I was born because God willed
it. God willed it so. And what is the means? The means is the Spirit of God
through faith. The power of the Spirit to give
life and faith. The means of this faith, of this
new birth, is the preaching of the gospel through belief of
the truth. Paul calls it our gospel. And I wrote an article on that
in the bulletin. You can read it later. About
it being our gospel. Why? Because it's our gospel
given to us of God. God gave us this gospel, and
this gospel, though it is God's gospel, is my gospel. And when
I declare unto you my gospel, the Spirit of God comes in power
and gives you faith in my gospel, which is God's gospel. And we believe. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life." I believe that. I believe the Son of God was
lifted up. I believe He died and was made
sin for us so that we should be the righteousness of God in
Him. I believe that. And that faith is not of myself.
God gave me that faith. He that believeth on Christ is
not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed on the Son of God. And this faith in Christ
that was purposed of God, accomplished by Christ, is always the first
fruit of spiritual life. Now, you can love me, and you
can claim to love God. But truly, faith is the foundational
evidence of things not seen. I can't see in your soul, but
I know this. You watch a person, you'll see
what they believe. You watch them, and you'll see
what they truly believe. You know, I come to somebody
and I'll talk about grace. I'll talk about the sovereignty
of God. We'll talk about redemption,
justification, righteousness, sanctification. And they can
nod their head in agreement with me and say, yes, I believe. I believe that. I believe. And
then watch this. Where do they go? Where do they
hear the Word of God? That tells me a lot about what
faith they have. Doesn't it, you? If they're going to an Arminian
church or a church that believes in free will, works religion,
and yet claims to believe on Christ, that don't mix. Works and grace don't mix. Scripture says, He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And this faith in Christ was the faith of Enoch. I want
to show you this. There's very little spoken about
this man Enoch. Genesis chapter 5 and here in
Hebrews and in one other place. Go to Jude chapter, I mean, Jude
verse 17. I'm sorry, verse 14. It says, "...and Enoch also,
the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints."
Did you see that? The Lord cometh! Christ! Christ cometh! He believed. He trusted. His faith. He had faith in Christ
to come. Now, this man Enoch received
a very special blessing that only two men in all of Scripture
received, and that is he was translated. In other words, he
was taken without death. God took him and translated him
into heaven without seeing death. Elijah is the other one. Remember,
Elijah was walking along with Elisha, and all of a sudden,
as they said, a whirlwind, a chariot of fire came and took him up,
and he was translated. Now, he was translated so much
that the Scripture says his mantle fell to the earth. He didn't
need that earthly cloak anymore. Why? He had the clothes of the
righteousness of Christ. He was changed. He was translated. He was translated to be like
Christ. This is our hope. We have faith
in this, that we too one day will be translated. We'll be
changed. Changed. Elijah was changed and
Enoch was changed. Now this is not a promise to
us that we will all be given this same blessing. Most of God's
saints will see death. Most of us will experience death
like our Lord Jesus Christ. Most of us will enter in through
the veil of death. But there are others that when
Christ comes, they'll be translated rather than going through death. Go over to 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Verse 13 it says, But I would
not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which are which
sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him. For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of
the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. You see, and there's going to be a great translation
one day. He was a token. Enoch was a token of what is
going to happen to some believers who are alive and remain. He
was a token of God's promise to resurrect the soul. To bring the man. that He has
saved through faith to Himself. A difference in the translation
or the resurrection, whether we're alive or we're dead, we're
both going to be changed. Isn't that right? Does it really
matter? 1 Corinthians says, we shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed. You're not going to
heaven like this. Are you? Well, I'm not going
to heaven like this. No way. Either this body is going to
be dropped into the ground and decay into dust, or the Lord
will come and He'll change this body immediately in a twinkling
of an eye to be changed. You know what? This is something
that I want us to understand, that we will be raised incorruptible.
In other words, when we come out of the graves, we're not
coming out as zombies, some kind of monstrous thing. No. We come out living. Isn't that
amazing? When we come out of the grave,
and we will, the graves will be open. I won't even have to
open it. It'll be open for me. And when
I come out, I'll come out as Christ. I'll be like Him. I'll already be translated. When
the graves open, I'll already be perfect. And those that are alive and
remain, they'll be caught up after us. After we who have been
taken. They're right along after us,
but we're both going to be caught up. Both going to find the same
rest I'm sure none of us want the
suffering of death. I'm sure a lot of us would hope
the Lord would come in our time so that we would not have to
go through the veil of death. But this is not promised to everyone,
but what is promised is this. If you believe on Jesus Christ,
you shall be saved. Saved from that dark dominion
of grave and resurrected. Resurrected. You'll be translated
to the image of Christ. Now, we know this, and I want
us to see this, when he was translated, that was not his testimony of
faith. His testimony of faith was before
he was translated. Notice this in, go back to your
text. in Hebrews 11. It says that he was translated,
that he should not see death, and he was not found because
God had translated him. Four, before his translation,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. God took this man
in a very special way. But he had a testimony before
God took him. Now listen to me. If you don't have a good report
of faith before you go, there's no hope after you go. You must believe now in this
life. There's no purgatory. There's
no place where a man goes in the middle If you believe Christ,
you will be translated into glory, or if you do not believe Christ,
you shall be damned. It's very simple. Very simple. But this man had a testimony
that he pleased God. The Scripture says in Genesis
that he walked with God. Here it says he pleased God.
That's the same thing. He walked with God. How do we
walk with God? We walk with God by the faith
of Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. Enoch walked because he knew
Christ was coming. He believed in Christ. He trusted Christ. That's how
he walked with God. That's how he had testified he
pleased God. It says, but without faith, it
is impossible to please God. Without faith. Without pure, perfect faith.
Is your faith seen to be perfect? Does it seem that you always
have faith? No. Oh, man, praise God that he is
not judging me based on my faith, but rather the faith of Christ
is my faith. His faith is what I'm walking
in. His faith is what I'm trusting
in. I'm trusting in a person who believed God. Now, I believe
in a person who believed God. I trust him. I trust his faith. And I know his faith was perfect.
His righteousness was perfect. And friends, I believe God is. I believe God is just and the
justifier of the ungodly. I believe God is. I believe God
is the Lord Jesus Christ, manifest in the flesh. I believe and know
that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Now,
I didn't diligently seek Him. He sought me. And when He said,
seek My face, I said, Lord, Thy face I'll seek. He spoke to my
heart the gospel. And I believe. And I do believe. Right now, I believe. If I've
never believed before, I believe now. I trust Him now. I always trust
Him now. And just as Enoch, my brother,
was translated, so have I the promise of God that I'll be translated. Although I might see death, me
and Him will have the same body. We'll have the same likeness. John says, I don't know what
that means. I don't know what that is, but
when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. And praise God for this. I'm
so thankful that God has given me faith and belief. And I pray
He continues by His grace to give me faith in Christ all the
days of my life. I pray that the Lord will bless
this to your hearts. We're dismissed.