Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God
so that the things which are seen
were not made of 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 gifts,
and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
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 a warder to them that diligently seek him.
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things
not seen as yet, moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his house,
by the which he condemned the world
and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed,
and he went out not knowing whither he went.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise
as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob and heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked for a city which had the foundations
whose builder and maker is God.
Through faith also Sarah herself received
strength to receive seed and was delivered of a child
when she was past age because she judged him faithful
who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one
and him as good as dead,
so many as the stars of the sky in multitude
and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth.
For they that say such things declare plainly
that they seek a country.
And truly if they had been mindful of that country
from whence they came out,
they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country that is unheavenly.
Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God
for he hath prepared for them a city.
By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac
and he that had received the promises
offered up his only begotten son
of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
By counting that God was able to raise him up
even from the dead from whence also
he received him in a figure.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
concerning things to come.
By faith Jacob when he was dying
blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped
leaning upon the top of his staff.
By faith Joseph when he died made mention
of the departing of the children of Israel
and gave commandment concerning his bones.
By faith Moses when he was born
was hit three months of his parents
because they saw he was a proper child
and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
By faith Moses when he was come to years
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God
rather the will of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season.
Esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches
than the treasures in Egypt
for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt
not fearing the wrath of the king
for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
Through faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood
lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land
which the Egyptians are saying to do were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down
after they were compassed about seven days.
By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them
that believed not when she had received the spies with peace.
And what shall I more say?
For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon
and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah
and of David also and Samuel
and of the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword,
out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in a fight,
turned to flight the armies of the aliens,
women received their dead race to life again
and others were tortured not accepting deliverance
they might obtain a better resurrection.
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,
yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments.
They were stoned, they were saunasunder,
they were tempted, were slain with the sword,
they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins
being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts and in mountains
and in dens and caves of the earth
and these all having obtained a good report through faith
received not the promise.
God having provided some better thing for us
that they without us should not be made perfect.
Let's pray dear Lord God,
thank you for every soul here right now Lord
I just pray that you bless this service Lord.
Please bless our pastor Lord
and fill him with the Holy Spirit
as he preaches unto us Lord
and that us in the congregation
can take these truths from your word
and apply to our lives.
Lord we pray this in Jesus name, amen.
Amen, okay we're in Hebrews chapter 11
and we're nearing the end of our Bible study
in the book of Hebrews.
Let me make a quick comment regarding
what I said something in the,
or something that I said in the beginning
of our Bible study of the book of Hebrews
and that is that I believe
and I can't prove this dogmatically,
obviously this is a theory.
I am simply kind of just throwing this out there
is the fact that you know based upon my study on this
and based upon what I'm reading
it almost sounds like from chapters one to chapters 10
it's actually a sermon that the Apostle Paul was preaching
and I gave a couple reasons a couple sermons ago
as to why I was explaining the fact that
a lot of what's written in chapter one and chapter 10
seems to be in a preachy type of a way.
That's one of the reasons why I believe it
but also because it's just written to a very specific group.
Most of the epistles that we see in the New Testament
are directed to a person,
they're directed to a specific church
whereas the book of Hebrews is just to Hebrews right?
Which seems kind of odd,
it doesn't seem to fit the narrative
or the consistency of whom the recipients
of the other letters were for
but if you think about it you know the Apostle Paul
in the beginning of his ministry
and throughout the book of Acts
you see him going to where?
Synagogues and there's instances
when he would go to a synagogue
and he would be preaching to Hebrews,
he'd be preaching to Jews
so it's possible that from chapters one to chapters 10
it's actually just a full length sermon
of the Apostle Paul preaching
whether it was written on the spot
by someone who's helping him write it
or he wrote it later on
but you can see some of the elements
that are found within those chapters
that kind of indicate that it is kind of like preaching
and one of the telltale signs in my opinion
is in chapter five where he's talking about Melchizedek
and as he's talking about Melchizedek
he's like we have many things to say unto you
seeing that you're dull of hearing
and then all of a sudden he just switches
from talking about Melchizedek
and just talking about the fact
that they're dull of hearing
and as a pastor that kind of resonates with me
you know what I mean?
Because there's instances when I'm preaching about something
and then you kind of see you're losing the crowd
a little bit you know what I mean?
They're just kind of wandering off
and I'm like I got a lot of things to say about that
but obviously you're dull of hearing
and then he just starts ripping on the crowd a little bit
and then he gets back on later on
in Hebrews chapter six and so forth
but another reason, the last reason I believe
this from chapters one to chapters 10
is actually a sermon by the Apostle Paul
is because of the fact that it has a very strong theme
a narrative that Jesus Christ in the New Testament
is superior to the old
and that is carried all the way through
up until chapter 10
and it seems as though like the end of chapter 10
is basically where he stops
and it's possible that chapters 11, 12 and 13
were written afterwards
and he's kind of piggybacking off of the very last statement
in chapter 10 and then he begins
you know because he's a lot nicer
in chapter 11, chapter 12 and chapter 13
it's more extra tative if you've read those chapters
whereas chapters one through 10 he's just ripping
it's very systematic in doctrine
he's just getting on the Hebrews
but then he kind of encourages them
in chapters 11, 12 and 13
now I'm not dogmatic about it
but I do believe that's the case
if you were to just kind of look at the overall book here
that's probably what's taking place
now chapter 11 is what's commonly referred to
as the hall of faith right
and I'm sure you've heard that before
and of course it's a chapter that mainly focuses on
the patriarchs of the Old Testament
a lot of people of the Old Testament
and how God used them in a great way
because they had great faith in God
and it's possible that the reason he's even bringing this up
is because in chapter 10 he is admonishing
the recipients of this letter, the sermon
that they should not backslide
they should not count the blood of Jesus Christ
they should not trod on the blood of Jesus Christ
and just get away from God because they'll be punished
and then of course in chapter 10 he tells them
that they have need of patience
he says after they have done the will of God
ye might receive the promise in verse 36 of chapter 10
so he's kind of encouraging and say look
you need to stick it out in the Christian life
no matter how hard it gets
make sure you keep doing the will of God
you're gonna receive the promise
God has a plan for you
he has a purpose for your life
don't give up right is what he's telling them
so then in chapter 11
he starts going through all of these stories
of the Old Testament of people who were of like passions
and when we read them they resonate with us
because we've been through some stuff
and if you've been alive for any length of time
you've been through some stuff
and you see how much people in times past
have gone through difficult situations
and trials and tribulations
but yet they exercise faith in God
and were able to obtain promises
and God blessed them in the long run
so it's a beautiful chapter
highlighting the faith of the individuals
that we see in the Old Testament
so let's start in verse number one
he starts talking about first and foremost
the substance of faith
so he kind of defines what faith is
in verse number one he says
now faith is the substance of things hoped for
the evidence of things not seen
now that's a great definition of what faith is right
because what it's saying is that faith is something
that it's basically our belief in something
even though we can't tangibly hold it
or we can't physically see it with our eyes
because if you could see it
if you can hold it if you can touch it
then it doesn't require any faith
and what he's telling us here is that
faith is the substance it is the evidence
for the things that we do not see
referring to the supernatural
you understand what I'm saying
you know think about it our entire lives
revolve around someone we've never even met face to face
you know none of us have ever met Jesus Christ face to face
we've never seen God the Father
we've never even verbally heard him speak to us
we don't know what he looks like
you know we've never had him speak to us audibly
we've never seen his features
he's never revealed himself to us in the sky
or in a dream or something and in a vision
but yet we believe him right
we believe in him and in fact
we literally live our lives for him
we're literally called Christians
because our life is that's how we identify ourselves
is by the life of Jesus Christ
even though we haven't seen him
he said then you know if you haven't seen him
you haven't verbally heard him
then you know why even live this way
what's called faith
and here's the thing folks it's not blind faith either
because it's a faith that's based upon
the word of God which is our final authority
and so he's telling us here first and foremost
that our faith is the substance it is the evidence
and then he says in verse number two
for by it the elders obtained a good report
now I believe when he says the elders
he's probably referring to these patriarchs
that we're gonna look at in just a bit
and this verse can mean one of two things
he's either saying by it these patriarchs
they obtained a good report
in the sense that God is honoring them
he's giving a good report of these men and women
who exercise faith
he's essentially exalting them in the scripture
showing them to be examples to the believers
or it's stating that by it referring to faith
these patriarchs gave a good report of God
and the reason I say that that's that might be the case
as well as because in chapter 12
it says seeing that we were compassed about
so great a cloud of witnesses
and the witnesses that's being referred to there
are the individuals that we see in Hebrew chapter 11
so a lot of the people that we're gonna read about
these are people who declared the knowledge of God
they preached about God
they proclaimed the knowledge of the word of God
they gave a good report of the Lord
which is why you know the Bible calls this
or not the Bible this is why we call it the hall of faith
these are people who exercise faith
and proclaim their faith
he says in verse number three
through faith we understand that the worlds were framed
by the word of God
and so obviously it's not blind faith
it's not like we have this belief in God
and this belief in Jesus Christ
and all the doctrines that are found there
and just because it's a fairy tale
and we just decided to believe it
you know oh it's just like an idea that someone came up
bunch of Jews in the desert came up with one time
and we just ran with it or something like that
no it's based upon the word of God
meaning that this Bible is God's word
all scriptures given by inspiration of God
these are the words and the thoughts of God
these are the ideas of God
and so when we believe the things
such as what we see in verse three the creation
we're not basing it off of scientific proof
archeological discoveries
what is it based off of?
The Bible
because the Bible says in the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth
and that's all I need right
obviously there's other evidence that can prove to a creator
and we see I preached about in Romans chapter one
the fact that the heavens declare the glory of God
and these things are revealed unto us by nature
that there is a creator
but at the end of the day if I was blind
and I saw none of those things
but I heard the word of God
and I heard Genesis 1 one that's sufficient
to tell me that God made the worlds right
in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
you know by him all things consist the Bible says
the Bible says in the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God
all things were made by him
and without him was not anything made that was made
okay well how do you know you weren't there?
Well it's because I have faith in the Bible
that it's telling me the truth
and you know what you know people who mock that
you know their belief system is funny too
you know what I mean?
If that's the route they want to take
because they believe in evolution
and so it takes faith to believe in evolution as well
the only difference is is that this is actually true
and evolution is fake okay
but it tells us that faith helps us to understand
by the word of God that the world were framed
by the word of God and in fact in the beginning
of the book of Hebrews that says God who has sun-dried times
and in diverse manners spake in times past
unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his son by whom he made the worlds
so we know that the world the universe the galaxies
the solar systems that exist out there
were created by Jesus Christ himself okay
because he is the word of God
and you know what you don't need scientific proof for that
it's great if you have it but you know what
if we were absent of that concrete evidence
it's okay because faith is the evidence
faith is the substance the word of God is the evidence
well how do you know the Bible is true
because the Bible says it's true that's how
well that's circular reasoning
yeah I'm all for it then because it's so authoritative
if it says it's God's word you're like
well that's kind of like blind faith is it not
well obviously there are certain parameters
that we can use to determine if it's God's word
one of them being the most obvious
is does it contradict itself
because anything that man creates will have errors
it'll have contradictions it'll have discrepancies
whereas the Bible doesn't
there are no discrepancies or errors in the Bible
it has withstood the test of time because it's God's word
and that's why books yeah were removed from the Bible
even though those who placed them in the Bible
understood that we're not God's word
that they're apocryphal fictional writings okay
and they're removed because they're inconsistent
with the rest of scriptures
because anybody can read them and see
okay this is obviously not written by God
because it sounds stupid okay it sounds very dumb
it doesn't sound powerful it contradicts doctrines
in other areas of the word of God
therefore we're not gonna run with that
that's not the word of God
and obviously I'm referring to the apocryphal writings
such as the book of Enoch okay
but it says there through faith we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God
so that the things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear
what is it stating?
It's stating that everything that you see
come into existence came out of nothing
because God created it out of nothing
in other words it was a supernatural creation
you understand?
Made by a supernatural being known as God
through Jesus Christ
so it's kind of given us the introduction
of how powerful faith is
it's capable of creating a universe, worlds
and different things there
and in fact everything that we have
was created by the word of God
and the belief in that is called faith
he's gonna go on and talk about
some of the exploits of the patriarchs
of the Old Testament
and how they exercise their faith
look what it says in verse four
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 gifts
and by it he being dead yet speaketh
now hold your place and go to Genesis chapter four
if you would just briefly
we're gonna read this story in Genesis chapter four
who's being spoken of here?
Cain and Abel are obviously the physical offspring
of Adam and Eve
Cain being the older brother
and Abel being the younger
and in Hebrew chapter 11 is telling us that Abel
presented a better sacrifice than Cain
so when they both came to worship God
they came with distinctly different types of worships
one was accepted by God and one was not
let's look at the story verse one it says
Adam knew Eve his wife
and she conceived him bear Cain and said
I have gotten a man from the Lord
and she again bear his brother Abel
and Abel was a keeper of sheep
but Cain was a tiller of the ground
in the process of time it came to pass
that Cain brought to the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord
and Abel he also brought to the firstlings of his flock
and of the fat thereof
and the Lord had respect unto Abel
and to his offering
but unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect
and Cain was very wroth
and his countenance fell
so follow me here what's taking place
Cain and Abel come to worship God
one does it on God's terms
the other does it on his own terms
now what are we talking about
well Abel brings an animal sacrifice
and it should come as no surprise
because you know he's in pretty close proximity
to the fall right
and it was at the fall where God
provided an animal sacrifice
in order to clothe his mother and father
and so therefore Adam would be able to hand down
pass down that information to his sons
what is the proper way to worship God
and the proper way to worship God
is through the animal sacrifice okay
keep in mind that this is not a time
where there's a bunch of religions
where people can get confused right
it's just like you know you got the
you got those who are you know
planting trees and fruits
and they're competing with those who are
you know raising livestock
and doing animal sacrifices
it's like there's only one religion at this point
okay and that's God's religion
so like false religion did not exist at this point
you know now it's just like you could understand
why people could be deceived right
because there's so many different types of religions
so many sects of Christianity that are false
so many heresies that abound
you know that the spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter times
some shall depart from the faith
given heat seducing spirits and doctrines of devils
well that was not this point right here in Genesis 4
okay everyone knew how to worship God at this point
you understand what I'm saying
so Cain willingly even though he knows
what type of offering to bring him to the Lord
decides not to worship God in that manner
and decides to bring a vegetarian type of worship okay
which is not sanctioned by God
and so what happens God respects Abel's offering
and he does not respect Cain
now we don't know exactly what that looked like
you know in my opinion it's just like
he actually observed and accepted the sacrifice of Abel
but he probably didn't even regard Cain
so probably didn't even pay attention to Cain
he didn't respect it he didn't honor it
he didn't look upon it
because it's not the way God wanted him to worship
so Cain takes offense with this and he gets mad
he's very upset and then of course
the Lord rebukes him and says in verse six
the Lord said unto Cain why art thou wroth
wroth means he has wrath he's angry
and why is thou countenance fallen
now what does that mean
that means like he was like this
countenance is your face right
and so he's moping okay
so it's not like you know he's picking himself up
Cain is like well this vegetarian offering was stupid
let me go find an animal real quick
and do it the way God wants me to do it
he's just like you know like little kids
sometimes they can throw a fit
and you know if they don't get their way
or something like that they're just like
you know sometimes adults do the same thing
they kind of throw a fit
their countenance falls right
they allow their face to droop
he wants God to know that he's upset
he wants everyone to know that he's upset
he's wearing his emotions on his sleeve
he's beating I'm just gonna
I'm just leaving it at that okay
verse seven says if thou doest
God's like if thou doest well
shalt thou not be accepted
if thou doest not will sin lieth at the door
and unto thee shall be his desire
and thou shall rule over him
so God gives him
he tells him look
fix what you're doing
do well and then you'll be accepted
right pretty easy
and obviously Cain just completely disregards
that information verse eight says
and Cain talked with his brother Abel
and he came to pass
and when they were in the field
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother
and slew him
so instead of actually worshiping God
the way he wanted the way God wanted him
to worship him
he's like I got a better idea
I'll just kill my brother
because I'm so mad
now the New Testament tells us
that the reason he did that
was because he was of that wicked one
referring to Satan himself
and this essentially sets the stage
of that division between God's religion
and everything else okay
and in fact when talking about false prophets
in the book of Jude
it often likens the false prophets
as going the way of Cain
you understand
meaning creating your own belief system
your own way of worshiping God
hey make no mistake about it
if we're gonna worship God
we gotta do it the way God wants us to do it
and not just bring some offering
that we think is cute
and he should just accept me how I am
and accept my type of worship
no we need to worship God on his terms
and in fact if we're gonna worship God
we must worship him in spirit
and in truth the Bible says
the truth of the Bible
we need to worship him
through the Lord Jesus Christ
not through some false deity that exists out there
or some false ideology that goes against the Bible
we need to use the Bible to worship God amen
and so Cain kills his brother
because he's upset he's wroth
he's of that wicked one
and the New Testament also tells us
that he killed him
not only because he's of Satan
but because Abel's works were righteous
and his were evil
you understand what I'm saying
verse 9 says the Lord said unto Cain
where is Abel thy brother
and obviously he's asking him this
not because he doesn't know
God is omniscient
he knows all things
what he wants is a confession
just like when he went to Adam
he says where art thou
it's not like God didn't know
he wants Adam to confess
and he said I know not
I mean what are the stupidest answer you can give right
like I don't know
you God's asking you
where's your brother
and you're gonna say you don't know
you know what I mean
it's just like
yeah it's just kind of like
Cain you're not that smart
I know not am I my brother's keeper
so to add insult to injury
he's giving him lip
he's like I don't know am I my brother's keeper
am I in charge of my brother
yes you are
and he said what is thou done
the voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground
now go back to Hebrews if you would
I'm gonna get to that point in just a bit
go to Hebrews chapter 12 if you would
Hebrews chapter 12
very next chapter
now in Hebrews 11 it says that Abel's faith was great
and it tells us that he offered a more excellent sacrifice
than his brother
why is that?
well because Abel's sacrifice
was excellent because it foreshadowed Jesus Christ
so based upon the offering that he made
that form of worship
it was an indicator that he believed on the Lord
you understand?
because anybody who offered an animal sacrifice
did it knowing that it symbolized the future Christ
that would come and sacrifice himself
for the sins of the world
you understand?
they believed on that future lamb of God
who should take away the sins of the world
so it was far more excellent
it excelled in worship
it excelled in redemption
because it testified that he was a saved person
okay
and at the end of the day
Abel carried out God's prescribed form of worship
that's why it was excellent
and the fact that Abel chose to offer an animal sacrifice
really testified that he'd already placed his faith
in the Lord
of course not Jesus
because he didn't know the name of Jesus
but Jesus is the Lord
so when people believed on the Lord in the Old Testament
they're believing on Jesus Christ
okay
now look at Hebrews 12
because it mentions Abel once again
regarding the fact that he speaks things from the ground
we see that in Genesis chapter four
Hebrews 12 24 says
and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant
and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than that of Abel
so in Hebrews 11 it says that Abel being dead yet speaketh
Genesis 4 God testified and says
your brother's blood cries unto me from the ground
and Hebrews 12 says that Jesus Christ's blood
speaks better things than that of Abel
now what is that referring to
well what it's talking about the fact is that
Abel's blood in Genesis chapter four
cries out for revenge
okay
whereas the blood of Jesus Christ speaks of redemption
understand
so one speaks of revenge
whereas the other speaks of redemption
and we know that it speaks of revenge
because God does punish Cain
and even people thereafter who commit murder
and commit those types of crimes
you know God wants to execute vengeance upon them
whereas the blood of Jesus Christ actually reconciles
it actually brings redemption
it brings remission of sins
understand
so even though Abel's blood
you know he was a righteous person
even though he had a more excellent sacrifice
you know his blood could only speak revenge
whereas the blood of Jesus Christ
far more excels that which of Abel
because it's there to redeem the sinner
back to the Lord
go back to Hebrews 11 and verse number five
so we see the faith of Abel
you know he's essentially the first man
to kind of display that type of faith
by worshiping God as prescribed by God himself
but also because he sets forth the tone thereafter
as being someone who obviously believed in the Lord
based upon his offering there
and by the way he's the first person
to go to heaven by himself
you know for a while
okay he added to himself for a long time
and he's been there ever since
and so you know he's probably just like man
he's been there the longest actually right
you know God created
when the Bible says that God created the heaven
and the earth
it doesn't say heavens by the way
okay because the modern versions will say heavens
and they'll often declare that
they'll often state that that's referring to the sky
the stratosphere and so on and so forth
but it actually says heaven
which is referring to the place where God dwells
so God created that place where he currently dwells
he created that in Genesis chapter one verse one
okay and a lot of people get confused about that
they're like wait what do you mean
he created the place where he's gonna dwell
well God's always been eternal
but he created heaven knowing that one day
redeemed people would be inhabiting that place
understand and it should come as no surprise
because he's gonna make a new one
later on in the future as well
it's called the new heaven right and the new earth
look at verse five 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 it 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 to diligently seek him
so now we fast forward to the patriarch Enoch
and Enoch you know not much is said about him
regardless of what the book of Enoch says
he's spoken up very sparingly throughout the Bible
but what is known of him is pretty powerful right
and one of the reasons why is because in Genesis chapter five
where he's mentioned in verse 24 it says that Enoch
walked with God and was not for God took him okay
and if you only had Genesis to work off of
you would think oh he died
because most of the time when the Bible says
that someone was not it's referring to the fact
that they died okay and it says that God took him
but the New Testament sheds light on that right
this is why it's important not to be a Torah observer
you're only sticking to the first five books of the Bible
you need the entire word of God okay
and we love the first five books of the Bible
but we see them as just as important as everything else
and in fact we would even see the New Testament
as more important than the old superior to the old
now the New Testament why?
Because the New Testament actually sheds light
on all of these cryptic enigmatic passages
because the New Testament tells us that when it
when Enoch walked with God it means that he pleased God
and when it says that God he was not for God took him
it means that Enoch was raptured he was translated
translated means he was transported from here to heaven
so he was essentially the first person
to be raptured in the Bible
now he was not raptured with a glorified body
because Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection
so he is currently in heaven
and is still you know a pre-flood body okay
now this is obviously a unique story here
and it kind of goes to show you that
when Enoch walked with God
the fact that he fellowship with God
he loved the Lord so much that God was so pleased with him
that basically he never saw death okay
he was just like let's just skip all this earth stuff
and just take you straight to heaven
because Enoch obviously is a man who loves the Lord
and you know apparently it shows us here
in Hebrew chapter five or it's Hebrew chapter 11
that he came to God believing
and it's almost as if he knew that he could get translated
or he could go to heaven because he just kept diligently coming to God
because it says there without faith it is impossible to please him in its context
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him
now given you know Enoch had a lot of time to walk with God
okay but regardless you know he walked with God
with the limited knowledge that was already given to him during that time
because they didn't have the 66 books of the Bible
I mean the book of Genesis wasn't even written at that point
they had very limited knowledge of God at that point
God was still revealing himself you know through visions
and through prophets and such
and so whatever he did have to work with
I mean that's how he walked with God
that's how he pleased God
now what can we learn from the faith of Enoch?
well you know what we can learn is the fact that
don't take your walk with God lightly
you know what are we talking about when we talk about the walk with God?
well obviously today when we talk about walking with God
it's more specific and that is that we need to read the Bible and pray
we need a fellowship with the Lord
we need to be reading the Bible every single day
that's what it means to walk with God
and that's not a term that's just found with Enoch
I mean the Bible says that Adam walked with God in the cool of the day
and it's not like they're just taking a stroll
it's referring to the fact that they are in one accord
they're speaking to each other
can two walk together except they be agreed
so when someone walks with God
they're coming into agreement with God regarding his precepts and statutes
and this is something that we have to do every single day right?
we wake up in the morning
we open up the Bible
we read the word of God
and what are we doing?
we are asserting that what God is saying is true
we agree with the Lord
you understand?
and folks don't take your your Bible reading lightly
I hope all of you are reading your Bible sometime throughout the day
preferably in the morning because it's the most important part of the day
and you say well you know it's just hard because I don't have time
then make time for it
make time to walk with the Lord
make time
well I listen to preaching though that's not the same
it's not the same at all
and in fact you're doing yourself a disservice
if you're only listening to preaching but you're not reading the Bible
because preaching is supposed to supplement your Bible reading
your daily Bible reading
you understand?
and in fact walking with God and reading the Bible enriches preaching
it makes it even better actually
you say why is that?
well because of the fact that how many of you
and I'm sure there's many of you
hopefully all of you experience something like this
you know you read the Bible
you come to church
you hear a sermon and you're like well I just like read that
or he's talking about something that I just learned about
or you know God was dealing with me in this particular
when I was reading the Bible
and then you just all of a sudden just came up with it or something
it's not because I'm special it's because I'm preaching the Bible that is special
and it's the Holy Spirit working in you
just kind of showing you how powerful the Word of God is
it's working in your life
you're walking with God
now make no mistake about it
hearing the preaching of God's Word is part of walking with God
because you read the Bible on a daily basis
but then you come to the house of God
to hear the pillar of ground and truth the Bible says
to hear the Word of God
and then you're just supplementing your walk with God that much
the more you're reinforcing beliefs
because obviously if you're reading the Bible on your own
you're going to be learning things
but you know what preaching kind of helps streamline a lot of your learning too
you know because you could be stuck on learning something specific on your own time
but you need me to help you broaden your horizon of learning
when it comes to the Bible right
because I might talk about a subject you're not really interested in
or a sin you know you may not be thinking about
but you need to hear it though
and so you know the preaching is like the sides to the main course
you know to your ribeye your New York steak
you know your meaty portion there
the side the preaching is like the mashed potatoes
it's the corn you know I'm hungry
it's the what else is on the sides there
rice, mac and cheese, cornbread
put a little bit of butter on
you know it's the biscuits
but you can't just survive just eating biscuits though
it's good but you know you need the meat of the Word
you need to be walking with God yourself
and don't misinterpret what I'm saying
I'm not saying that if you walk with God closely enough
God's going to rapture you tomorrow
but hey you know what God is going to rapture you if you're saved though
it's just not going to be some special rapture
only designated for you
okay that's only for Enoch
and it's there to inspire us right
the testimony of Enoch's faith is there to inspire us to walk with God to know the Lord
you know the Bible tells us in Jeremiah
you know he that glorieth
listen to this
he that glorieth let him glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me
he says don't let not the rich man glory in his riches
or the mighty man in his strength
he said let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me
if you're going to boast about anything boast about knowing the Lord
you know don't boast about how strong you are
how much money you got how good looking you are
obviously none of us are going to boast about that
got nothing to boast about
you know he says if you're going to if you're going to brag about something brag about the Lord
you say well what if someone you know boast about knowing God but they don't really know God
then they can't really boast because in order to boast about knowing God
you got to talk about the things of God
and I'm not talking about like I just love God
and he's just so beautiful and wonderful and I just you know just
you talk about him like he's your boyfriend or something like that
that's like that modern day you know TikTok Christianity out there
let's talk about God the way he wants us to speak about him
that he's magnificent he's powerful he's full of terror amen
he's omniscient he's God almighty he's Jesus
and so this should inspire the faith of Enoch that we see the fact that he walked with God
and was not for God took him should inspire us to walk with the Lord in like manner
and you know what knowing full well that your personal walk with God is not in vain
because it says that he is a rewarder of them to diligently seek him
and I know this to be a fact because I remember years just you know walking with the Lord
and you know whether it's it was being defrauded or being wrong being shortchanged
and always recognizing you know at the bottom of my heart that
when I would read my Bible in secret in quiet it would pay off in the long run
knowing the Lord will pay off in the long run it always does
why because the Bible tells us that he's a rewarder of them to diligently seek him
so no matter you know what happens in your life or you know who comes out the winner in the short
term if you're diligently seeking him and walking with him you come out on top in the long run
God rewards you for that in the long term and so he's like I don't know about that have faith
right that's what it's about because without faith it's impossible to please him
he says in verse seven let's go let's go on to the next patriarch here
it says by faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear
prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of
the righteousness which is by faith this is obviously referring to the flood Noah's ark and
the flood and what we see here is that Noah's faith caused him to prepare an ark in light of
a judgment that he had never seen before because it seems to indicate that it just like never
rained during that time in such a fashion you understand where like the whole world is flooded
and everyone dies but yet God warned him and he moved with fear even though he'd never seen
something like that and not only did he move with fear the bible says that he prepared an ark to the
saving of his house and he simultaneously did what condemned the world what does that mean it means
he was a preacher so you know he's preparing he's making sure his house is his household is saved
he's moving with fear and he's preaching the word of God he's condemning the world he's
like you guys are gonna you guys are gonna die everyone's gonna be destroyed and you know what
he probably got some converts but they probably didn't move beyond being converted to getting
saved because no one else joined them on the ark everyone else stayed out stayed outside the ark
but isn't that how sowing kind of is though you can preach to thousands of people but how many of
those thousands of people actually come to church right you know out of the hundreds of people that
you have seen saved outdoor knocking i'm saying let's just talk about door knocking where you're
preaching you know a whole there's a lot of times people don't come to church from those door knock
doors being knocked but that's how no you know that's how Noah's ministry was he got his household
saved he condemned the world but in the long term he became the heir of righteousness because of that
now how does this apply to us well you know the bible says knowing therefore the terror of the
lord we persuade men now what terror we're referring to hell but here's the thing i've
never seen hell i don't know what it looks like i mean i can give you a description by faith right
based upon what the bible says you know i can i can describe all the details of heaven as though
i've been there even though i've never seen it i can describe hell to a t even though i'll never
go there and i've never seen it by faith right and so it's kind of like noah where he's preaching
about a judgment and destruction that he's never seen before but he did it by faith because god
told him this is what i'm gonna do and it's not noah's not like wow but you've never done that
before though so i don't know but i don't know about that you know i think you never really did
that before no he believed god and so he's like putting the ark together so he's like building the
ark as he's preaching i mean the man's putting in a lot of work okay and by the way let me just say
this don't get caught up in this whole ark at mount out mount ararat and there's like a satellite
the saw of the ark or whatever and they found those are no they didn't someone built that thing
and put that thing there well how do you know folks let's just use common sense here
think about this okay
after the flood noah gets off you think they're just like i see ark and then he's just like how
are we gonna how are we gonna make a fire he's like gee i wish i would i wish there was like
wood somewhere that we can burn or how are we gonna build shelter i don't know i wish there
was just like wood available somewhere that we could just reuse do you know of any wood dad
if only we had like you know like gopher wood or something folks common sense says that they
probably use the wood from the ark for just everyday things right making weapons spears
to kill animals shelter wood to burn the ark is gone and that ark doesn't even matter because our
ark is jesus christ so don't get so caught up in the physical things of the old testament where
are they now you know it doesn't matter because at the end of the day we have a better ark you
understand we have a better sacrifice jesus christ is our ark which is exactly what the ark pictured
because they went in the door closed and they were saved okay physically speaking it pictures
salvation spiritually but the point is is that we as noah preach righteousness and we're also
preaching the word of god but we're preaching about a judgment to come even though we ourselves
have never seen judgment on that scale we've never beheld hell with our eyes we've never seen what
it's like to weep and well and gnash your teeth and to have no rest day nor night day nor night
that's something that we could imagine based upon the word of god and we preach that every single
by faith i mean we go to doors and say yeah if you die you'll descend into a place called hell
where they'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth the bible even gives us a list of people
who are going to go there let me read it for you i mean we're like compelling we're trying to tell
them like you have to believe this in order to be saved and if someone told me well have you seen it
i'd be like never seen it never want to see it but it's there
and you know what probably people probably mock noah it's got that in oh yeah oh rain
oh yeah water's gonna come from the sky and we're all gonna die or whatever you know
a loving god wouldn't do something like that
right a loving god would never do something like that and now they're just like drowned in the
water but you know it's the same arguments people make today well a loving god wouldn't send people
to hell well you're not going to go there and you're going to see the love of god if you just
get saved and stop being so prideful and arrogant about it but there is a judgment to come
flee from the wrath to come you know i can describe the wrath for you even though i've
never seen it but i'm describing it by faith based upon the bible and so you know we can definitely
you know we we could agree with noah and we we know that we're men of like passions because
you know noah throughout his life he's preaching and like this he probably got people saved but
you know what he probably wanted to see people in church too and it was just him and his family the
entire time that's it i mean what a traumatic experience people don't really think about that
like everything you've ever known is gone it's just you and your family eight of you that's it
everyone dies everything is drowned every animal other than the ones you and then you're on a boat
for 40 days and 40 nights with all these animals i mean just imagine how
smelly that thing was and it just you know i get seasick so i'm just like man that's like
probably terrible but hey you know what he did it by faith and because of that humanity was preserved
let me read to you from second peter three three it says knowing this first that there shall come
in the last day scoffers walking after their own lust and saying where is the promise of his coming
for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of
the creation for this they are willingly ignorant that by the word of god the heavens
were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that
then was being overflowed with water perished and i don't think it's saying this on accident i think
it's comparing noah with modern times because it's telling us that people probably scoffed at noah
they probably made fun of him they probably said where is the promise where is this rain that you're
talking about you know and they didn't believe him and then they suffered the consequences of
their actions it's the same thing today folks and so go back or you're in hebrews 11 look at verse
eight here's the last ones we're going to cover i'm actually going to break this up into two parts
because there's so many uh patriarchs to cover here verse 8 by faith abraham when he was called
to go out into a place which he should after receive for inheritance obeyed and he went out
not knowing whether he went now this is talking about genesis chapter 12
where god comes to abraham this is prior to him being called abraham he was called abram at the
time and he told them get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred from thy father's house
unto a land that i will show thee so according to the bible this is why abraham's the father of faith
by the way man had a lot of faith it's like i want you to leave your home your country
and just go to a land that i'm going to show you he didn't even tell him where he was going either
just go and it's not like can i get a map can what's it like he's like to a land that i will
show thee that's a lot of faith obviously he's referring to we know because we have the bible
he's referring to canin land it says verse number nine by faith he sojourned in the land of promise
as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with isaac and jacob the heirs with him of the
same promise of course the promised land canin land is referring to israel not yeah i guess
modern day israel but what would become israel verse 10 says for he looked for a city which hath
foundations whose builder and maker is god so i want you to notice that even though he was in
that promised land abraham had the maturity of understanding this isn't what i'm finally looking
for though now can someone explain that to our fundamental baptist brethren right because he's
just like he's obeying god he understands this is a physical promise that he needs to go to that
physical place but he's like i'm looking for a city whose builder and maker is god though
what is he saying he's his affection is in heaven and let me just tell you that if you're saved
you might be physically a citizen of the united states of america although there might be seeing
some illegal people here i don't know you might be a citizen of mexico or something you know
but at the end of the day you're truly a citizen of heaven though that's actually the most important
thing and we need to be aware of getting so political in our ideologies as christians
the you begin to be more heavy on your rights as an american and we need to keep these immigrants
out of here and you need to weigh more heavily on the fact that you're a citizen of heaven
especially this year because at the end of the day we're all
illegal citizens in this world this world is not our home
the bible says that we are pilgrims and sojourners in this world you know if if someone asked me for
my green card i would not have it here spiritually speaking i do have my i don't have a green card
because i was born here uh i promise i was born here that was good in case someone's watching
on the internet uh but you know the spiritual green card i don't have that though so someone
like told me like oh you know are you you know for america and you know god i'm like i'm a citizen
of the new jerusalem not the old definitely not the old one the new one and you know i'm a citizen
and you know what that's not popular with a lot of republican conservative christians but i don't
care okay and i know it's not popular with some of you in here i know that once you know later on
the year comes around you're going to be voting for your savior trump and hoping everything goes
back to normal you know i get that whatever but at the end of the day i'm just kind of bringing you
back this is my job here is to help you to understand like hey we're citizens of heaven
okay so don't get your priorities mixed up and you know instead of fighting the immigration issue
okay why don't you fight actually getting people saved instead
and people could get caught up in that stuff okay and i get it you know there's bad people coming
from across the border murderers and rapists and pedophiles but let me let you in on a little
secret though you you may not know this they've been coming over for a long time
murderers rapists have you guys ever heard of ms-13 you know that's that's happened a
long time ago okay and let me just say this is that if we were to compare this biblically
what god often does to punish a nation is he allows immigrants to come in and take over
yeah that's what he does did you know that so in order for god to punish the united states of
america you know for all the bloodshed all the millions of babies that are being aborted i know
things that's stuff that you don't really like to talk about okay god has to punish that and he's
not going to overlook it just because it says in god we trust on the dollar bill and just because
you know pledge allegiance to the flag and all that and because you mentioned god every once
in a while god has to punish that and so part of it according to the bible he allows foreigners
to come in and take over now you can either spin your wheels trying to fight that issue
or you could actually go somewhere spiritually and just focus on getting people saved
okay because at the end of the day no christian and i know a lot of people don't agree with me
on this but again i don't care i'm the pastor here you know at the end of the day uh you're
not gonna christians will not succeed politically here in this world until the millennial reign
and in fact in my opinion the millennial reign is a testimony from god that the issue has always been
a spiritual issue because everyone's always fighting like oh man let's get it back to a
christian nation again and you know institute biblical laws well first of all that's never
gonna happen you're you're living in a dream it sounds great though okay i would love for biblical
laws to be instituted but you know when jesus christ rules and reigns here for a thousand years
there's still people who are like bucking him during that time and committing crimes
because the issue is not who's in power or if there's a democrat ruling it's literally a sin
issue and it's not until sin is completely removed from the picture it's not until death and hell are
cast into the lake of fire it's not until satan is just permanently thrown into the lake of fire
do we have total peace total christian world that's the only time but even when jesus is
ruling the reign here we don't have that and so i say that to say let's be like abraham
because abraham you know he actually got the promised land and i wish abraham can preach in
the pulpits of the old ifb and tell them like hey you guys are fighting the wrong battle
you guys are fighting for the wrong land i don't even want that land i guarantee you if abraham
was there he'd be like i don't even want that land i don't want it and in fact when i first
stepped foot in the promised land it was just like it's foreshadowing right the promised land
but people are so fixated on the item or the person or the thing that foreshadows
the figures of the true that's always what it is i want to see the arc of the covenant
forget the arc of the covenant there's like it's literally not even that important there's
a better one in heaven i want to you know i just we want we got to get israel forget israel that
thing is sodom and gomorrah in god's eyes it's literally called spiritual sodom and gomorrah
it's the capital of sodomy of the world yeah but so many biblical sites there just to see
i got a better better biblical site it's called heaven
and you can talk about jesus there and people aren't going to get mad at you
anyways let's move on here little last point okay i'll talk about sarah real quick through
faith look at verse 11 also sarah herself received strength or conceived seed and was delivered of
a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised therefore sprang
there even of one referring to isaac and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the sky in
multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable now sarah's faith is incredible because
of the fact that she was able to have a child in her old age and we don't have time right now
but the story is actually really funny okay because if you go back to genesis 18 where
god visits them god is telling abraham like hey you're gonna conceive your wife's gonna conceive
and then you know um sarah's like behind the tent and you know she's kind of like eavesdropping
she's being a metiche as they say in spanish you know and she's just kind of listening
and then she hears that god tells this to abraham and then she laughs in her heart she's like
because she's she's old and so the time of her uh i forgot how the bible words it
the time of a woman has passed or something like that i can't remember the exact wording
basically she can't have children anymore and then god you know confronts abraham and she's
just like why is sarah laughing and then sarah's like oh i didn't laugh and then god's like nay
but thou didst laugh
and then sarah didn't say this is the funny go back to genesis 18 and read that story it's so
funny because she laughs in her heart which is by the way god knows it just kind of testimony that
god knows what's going on in your heart she laughs in her heart and god's like why is is anything too
hard for god because that's what he says like is anything too hard for god what's so funny and then
she's like oh no lord i didn't laugh he's like nay but doubt this lie it's like sorry yeah i
did laugh you know she should have just admitted it then and there so she laughed in her unbelief
but then she actually ended up having isaac and you know when she didn't she laughed again but
this time it was because like wow god actually he did this so it's like a different type of a
laughter you understand what i'm saying and often you know we laugh at the what's what
what god says is possible to happen in our lives we're like i don't think i can do something like
that and then later on you laugh at your unbelief when god actually comes through god actually like
answers your prayers he shows himself strong on your behalf and then you just laugh at your past
self like i was so dumb like for not believing like my faith was so small then god did it
so the laughter of sarah is very telling because it really represents us sometimes that we laugh
at the promises of god not in a disrespectful way but just like can that really happen like
seriously you really think that's going to happen you know abraham's like a hundred years old and
he's going to have a son but then it happens just like oh man i guess it did happen and then you
and then you become your own joke you become the punchline god's punchline
go to romans 4 and we're done
i just want to read these verses here from romans 4 because this works well in conjunction with
hebrews 11 talking about sarah and abraham and it just shows how great faith they had because
you know it took a lot of faith to believe that and just keep in mind that god promised him
not only a son but just to be like like a lot of kids right as the stars and as the sand of the sea
and they're just like we're old how we can we just have one now let me say this is that when
they had isaac they did not see the fulfillment of that of that promise so they died not seeing
the total fulfillment of that promise they didn't receive the promise but they did receive the
promise they just didn't receive it in a lot of time and you know what we have to come to peace
and to terms with the fact that there's certain promises that we're just not going to see in our
lifetime we will see some but there's some that we will not see and we just gotta have faith that
we will see it just not in our lifetime look at romans 4 verse 16 therefore it is a faith that
it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is
of the law but to that also which is of the faith of abraham who is the father of us all as it is
written i have made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed even god who quickened
it the dead and call it those things which be not as though they were who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which is spoken so
shall thy seed be and being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead when he was
about a hundred years old neither yet the deadness of sarah's womb he staggered not at the promise of
god through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to god and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able also to perform powerful so he's just this old guy
like i still think god's gonna do it he's got like isaac but he just never saw listen to this
he never saw us because we're the children of abraham he's got a bunch of kids
like the fulfillment came like hundreds and thousands of years later and here we are and
abraham is still spiritually having kids because anybody who gets saved is automatically spiritually
a child of abraham and so you know it kind of shows you that sometimes you see the payoff
later on and the payoff is huge big enormous a lot but it doesn't come immediately and so
you know i hope this inspires you to just step out in faith a little more often than not
to believe that he is and he is a rewarder of them to diligently seek him don't stagger at the
promises of god you know in unbelief be fully persuaded that what he had promised he's able
also to perform in spite of you being a hundred years old in spite of the deadness of sarah's
womb and against all odds against all hope just believe it well i just don't think is anything too
hard for the lord though nothing's too hard he created the universe just leave it at that
let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you lord for
doing the impossible in our lives lord and uh and the individuals in our church and our church just
in general lord and our families with our spouses with our children help us to be a people of faith
and we don't talk about faith enough i feel just on my end it's important for us to just believe
lord uh and and to step out in faith and work and be faithful in spite of the overwhelming
opposition that we may face in our lives and help us to base our faith on on you and on the bible
help us not to stagger at the promises of god through unbelief help us to be fully persuaded
and i pray to you bless this as we go on our way we're so thankful for all these patriarchs who
were an example to us and give us a great weekend of many people getting saved and bless our
services on sunday we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen
we turn your bibles to song number 389