Go with me if you would back
to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. And let's read verses 5 and 6
again. 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 a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him." In just a minute, we're going
to go to Genesis chapter 5. That's where the story of Enoch
is recorded. It's only four verses. Four verses
long on this man Enoch. But what we're going to see there
is that Enoch walked with God. That's what it says. Enoch walked
with God and he was on this earth for 365 years. He was a young
man when he died. Everybody else was 900 and something.
His son was the longest living man on the earth, 969 years or
something like that, Methuselah. But he lived 365 years and it
says he begat sons and daughters. So he had a family. And then
all of a sudden, this man, this man that walked with God, all
of a sudden, he was not, for God took him. That's what it
says. He was not. God took him. This was a man who lived a life
on this earth exactly like we do. same, exactly the same. He had the same responsibilities
we have. Every father does, every man,
every woman does. He had sons and daughters just
like we have and they had the same needs that our sons and
daughters have. They needed shelter. They needed
food. They needed clothing. This man
had to go out and work. I would imagine when a man lives
hundreds of years old, he has a pretty large family. A lot of responsibility. Enoch
had problems. Enoch had troubles just like
we have. He had worries. He spent his
days worrying about things. Have you ever gone through one
day and not worried about something? Ever. I mean, we have good days every
now and then, don't we? But at some point, sin does something. It creeps in and does something
that goes Ah, right? He had worries the same as we
have, fears just like we have. This was a regular man with a
regular life in a regular world. One day though, he was walking
down a dirt road and one of his sandals stepped on gold. one foot in front of the other,
walking along, and all of the sudden, he was not. Walking with all his trouble,
walking with all his fear, and one sandal stepped into glory,
then the rest of his body stepped into glory. God translated him. The word translated means transferred. It means transported. It means
he changed sides. That's what it means. Now what
happened to Enoch was recorded in God's Word to witness something
to us about our salvation. His story shows us how God deals
with all of His people when their time comes on this earth. Every
single one. At God's appointed time, He takes
them. That's what He does. He takes
them. I want to break these two verses up into seven statements. Seven different statements. Through
these seven statements we're going to see how God will deal
with us if we belong to Him. Here are the seven statements.
The first one is in verse five, by faith. That's the first one,
by faith. The second one is Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. The third one is and was not
found because God had translated him. The fourth one is, for before
his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. The fifth
one is, but without faith it is impossible to please him.
The sixth one is, for he that cometh to God must believe that
he is And the seventh one is that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. All right, here's where we begin.
By faith. Number one, by faith. There are many people who believe,
and the reason I'm bringing this up is because it shocks me how
many times I have run into this since I became a pastor. You
will too at some point. There are many people who believe
that the saints in the Old Testament were justified before God by
keeping the commandments and the ceremonies and the sacrifices
and all those kinds of things. But when Christ came, he put
away the first and he established the second, which is faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. As if to say that throughout
time God has had two ways of justifying a sinner. The Old
Testament saints were by obedience to that law. The New Testament
saints are by faith. That's not so. And the reason
I bring it up is because Hebrews 11 proves it to us, okay? It has always been, it will always
be by faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, always. Genesis chapters 1 through 3,
those chapters are about creation and the fall of man. After the
fall of man, Genesis chapter 4 is about Cain and Abel, and
that's where Hebrews 11 starts. Verse 4 is about Cain and Abel. Hebrews 11 starts at the beginning. As soon as the fall happens,
that's where Hebrews 11 picks up. And then verse 5 is about
Enoch. That's Genesis chapter 5. That's
the next chapter. Verse 6 is about Noah. That's
Genesis chapter 6. He's starting at the beginning
and he's just going through what God has recorded. And with each
one of them, It says, by faith, right? With each one of them,
starting at the beginning, by faith, by faith. It has always
been by faith. It will always be by faith. God's people are saved by believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody's going to say, well,
no, back then it was Jehovah. But who do we believe Christ
is? Jehovah. It has always been and it will
always be by faith. Alright? Second statement. Verse
5 says, Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
Enoch should have seen death. Alright? He should have seen death. Enoch
truly was just like every other man on this earth. He was a sinner. He should have, the wages of
sin is death. And he should have seen death.
Go with me now if you would to Genesis 6. Genesis 6, now this is the next
chapter after Enoch. Okay, Enoch is in chapter 5.
This is the next chapter after Enoch. Genesis 6 verse 5 says,
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. Enoch was a part of that wickedness.
He said that during the days of Enoch. Okay. He was sinful flesh. Every soul has sin. And chapter five, we'll look
at those four verses. Chapter five, verse 21 says,
Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch
walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat
sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were
360 and five years and Enoch walked with God. He walked with
God. Now, what does that mean? to say Enoch walked with God. Would you like to walk with God? I would. I would like for it
to be said concerning me, he walked with God. Would you like
to walk with God? Enoch walked with God. What does that mean to say he
walked with God? Does it mean he was not a sinner
after all? No. All have sinned. Every man's heart was only evil
continually. That's what we just read. That's
what God said. All of them only evil continually. Well, does it mean he finally
got control of his sins? He finally was more worthy than
others in God's eyes. Is that what that means? No. Here's what it means to say Enoch
walked with God. This is what it means to say
any man or woman walks with God. Every believer who walks with
God, this is what it means. This is a difficult book to find,
but I want to show it to you. See if you can find the book
of Amos in the back of the Bible. If yours is like mine, it's page
1142. It's after Ezekiel and Daniel. Amos chapter 3, it's after Hosea
and Joel. Amos chapter 3 verse 3 says, can two walk together except
they be agreed? If two are going to walk together,
they must be in agreement. Enoch agreed with God. Enoch agreed with God. God said, Enoch, you're a sinner. Enoch agreed. God said, Enoch, by nature you
are ungodly. Enoch agreed. God said, you came
forth dead in trespasses and sins. Enoch agreed. Enoch walked with God. Enoch sided with God. That's what it means. Now go
with me if you would back to Hebrews 11. Verse 5 says, By faith Enoch
was translated that he should not see death, and was not found
because God had translated him. God did something to Enoch. Enoch didn't do anything. The only thing Enoch could do
was sin. Enoch agreed with everything
God said about him. That's all I can do. I completely
agree. But God. But God. Enoch didn't decide to be translated. Enoch didn't even know he was
going to be translated. He didn't know. But God. God changed him. God converted
him. Translated him. Why would God
do that for such an unimportant? You know how many verses there
are in the scripture on Enoch? His story is four. How many verses
are there on Abraham? How many times do we read Moses?
Little old Ruth has a whole book devoted to her story. He has
four verses. He has a verse here in Hebrews.
I think he has a verse in Jude. Why would God do this for such
an unworthy, unimportant, ungodly sinner? Why would God do that? The end of verse 5 says, he pleased
God. Before his translation he had
this testimony that he pleased God. How can a sinful man please
God? Well, verse 6 says, without faith
it is impossible to please Him. We have to start there. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. And if you'll turn with me over
to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3 verse 21 says, Now when all the people were
baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and
praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended
in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from
heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son in thee, in thee I am well pleased. Pleasing God has something to
do with faith and it has something to do with in the Son of God. in Christ. You put those two
together and God will be pleased. Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Faith is in
Christ. It's in Christ. That's what faith
is. True faith looks to Christ. True faith trusts Christ. It believes Christ. True faith
waits on him for his help. True faith. And it doesn't do
it in theory. It does it in practice. It truly
does. If a sinner truly has God-given
faith, then all of his standing before God, all of his hope will
be in Christ. Every bit of it. He will plead
the blood that is in Christ. He'll plead the righteousness
that is in Christ without true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is absolutely impossible to
please God. It's impossible. Here's why.
Go with me back to our text. Verse 6 says, But without faith
it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is. He is what? Everything He says He is in His
Word. Every single thing. He said,
I am. Isn't that what he said? You
go tell them I am hath sent you right now. Not I was. You go tell them I am. Faith says he is. He is. In Genesis 35, he said,
I am God Almighty. Faith says he is. In Leviticus 11, he said, I am
the Lord. Lord means the sovereign, the
ruler, the controller. Faith says he is. He said, I am the Lord your God. Faith says he is my God. He's not just the God, he's my
God. He said, I am holy. He said,
I am just. He said, I am the first. I am
the last. He said, I am the only savior. Faith says he is. He's the only savior. Outside
of him, there is no savior. He is it. He said, I am the bread of life. He said, I am the light of the
world. He said, I'm the door. You think
about that. The bread of life. You know what
faith says? He is. He really does feed me. I really do live on him. Faith says when I don't see him,
I feel like I'm in utter darkness. I feel like I'm lost somewhere
out in absolute darkness. And every time God's spirit reveals
him, I feel like I've seen light. He really is. He truly is the
door. There's one way. He said, I'm
the good shepherd. Faith says he is. He really is. He'll keep me. He said he would. He said he'd protect me, he said
he'd feed me. Will he share me? You better
believe it. He's my good shepherd. He said
I am the resurrection and the life. Every person in here has
a hope of eternal life. And you know what eternal life
truly is? It's the person, Christ Jesus
the Lord. To say we have the hope of eternal
life, what that means is we're all hoping to be in him. We're all hoping to live truly
in him. Faith says he is everything he's
declared himself to be. Verse six says, but without faith,
it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and here's the final statement, our final
truth concerning a sinner's salvation. The end of verse six says, he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. True faith does not seek what
it can get out of him. Huge difference. True faith does
not seek what it can get out of him. True faith seeks him. We are not seeking him because
we want to inherit heaven. We're not. We're seeking him
because he is heaven. He is heaven. That song says,
all that thrills my soul is the Lord Jesus. He is more than life
to me. This life we've been given, it's
a good life, but he's more. He's more. He's more than life
to me. Golden streets and mansions are
nothing to a sinner who's seeking him. They're nothing. I have to have him. I don't need
those things. I don't need those things. He said, you seek me
and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. All your heart. What does a sinner
find when he finds Christ? What does a sinner find when
he finds Christ? He finds mercy. He finds forgiveness. He finds
favor with God. Peace with God. He finds all
things. He said, whoever diligently seeks
me. Number one is the recipient of
faith. That's what faith does. But he said, whoever diligently
seeks me will not seek in vain. Not in vain. If you seek Christ
by faith, you'll find him. You'll find him. You know, we were just singing
the song a minute ago, it was talking about this word that
is able to open our eyes and make us see. I was thinking while
I was singing it, Lord, that's me. Open my eyes right now and
make me see. I pray that the Lord would cause
sinners to truly need Christ. I really do. I pray that God
would cause a sinner to be so low in sin, so sunk down in the
mire that he sees, I have one hope, like blind Bartimaeus,
oh, I wish that man would just pass by me. He said, if you seek me, you
will find me. And if we find him, it means
he found us first and gave us faith to start seeking. That's
what it means. It also means if we find him. And this is just amazing. And
I wrote this and I thought, well, should I write that? And I said,
based on the authority of God's word, yes. If you find him, this
is what it means. You please God. That's what it means. That's amazing. If you find Christ,
it means you have been transferred You've been transferred. It means
you have been transported into Christ. At God's good time, according
to His good purpose, He sends His Spirit and sinners are walking
down this gravel road and all of a sudden they take one foot
into Christ. In Christ. And in Christ, in Christ, we
please God. And we will not see death. He
said, by faith, whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Believest thou this? I pray so. All right, stand together with
me.