Worshiping Walking and Working (Part B)

Well as we come to that name Enoch, we say righteous man from the line of Seth, a message from his life. It says then, was not found because God had taken him. Abel was the first man to taste death, Enoch was the first man to not taste death. And there's only been two that we know of so far. The other is Elijah.

Very interesting is it not? This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Hebrews.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today Pastor Rick will continue through Hebrews chapter 11 and his message called Worshiping, Walking and Working. Satan said to the woman that God's word and God himself is not trustworthy. You can't trust him.

He won't come to you like you said. He's holding stuff back from you and his word is loaded with doubt. And that lie worked so good the first time he told it that he told it again and again and he's telling it still to everyone who will hear.

It's like, you know, if you have a good joke, you like to tell it over and over again as many people as you can. Well Satan is not joking. He's very serious. He says God, he cannot be trusted. He's not worthy of your trust. He's not offering an alternative incidentally.

Not that it would really matter. It's just something that, you know, you notice as you go through. Within the man-made religions, you go to God your way and he will understand and he will receive it. He will honor you if you're sincere.

You do enough stuff to help out. That's the world's lie that Satan told Eve in his telling today. Jude sums it up in his little letter.

He makes this point-blank statement in Jude 11. He said, woe to them. Well they've gone the way of Cain. They're on a collision course. They're going to die on that course. It's the course that Cain took.

And woe to them, they've gone that way. Cain ignored the shedding of blood. Abel did not. It was a blood sacrifice that Abel brought to God.

Cain, he brought a fruit basket. The way of Cain rejects the blood of Jesus Christ shed for sinners. Because it says we really don't need a savior. Our sin's really not that bad. It doesn't merit bloodshed. And God said, yeah it does. That blood sacrifice admits that sin causes violence, separation from God, eternal death and death now. It causes sorrow, injustice in a world of other things that are not desirable. Isn't it interesting that Cain's religion of bringing a non-blood sacrifice is too refined to shed blood, the blood of a lamb.

But he had no problem shedding the blood of his own brother. That kind of insanity exists to this day in the world. You see it on the news. You read it.

You hear it. It's preached in the university. Universities don't teach only.

They teach some things for sure. They preach everywhere they go. This religion of Cain. And thus the world's first false religion soon manifested its character by not coming to God, God's way in the persecution of the righteous. All Cain had to do was say, okay, I'll go back and I'll fix this. I'll bring a blood sacrifice. We have no record of him doing that.

In fact, the record goes opposite of it. And God speaks to this man. He says, if you do well, will you not be accepted? Genesis four, verse seven. And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Sin wants to take you out, but you should defeat sin. Is God a sin?

That's how he set it up. Verse 16 of Genesis four continues, then Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh. And he never came back.

We never read about him coming back. And this is what the world does in their non-faith approach to life. And that's why the writer is saying, by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nob, east of Eden. And so he refused God's way of thinking.

And men are doing that to this day. What makes the Christian, another thing that makes, identifies us as Christians is we don't disagree with God. We agree with him. No matter what. Hebrews nine, verse 22, without shedding of blood, there is no remission. There's no pardon. We're just singing about the sins being, we are pardoned by God. God says, you're guilty.

You deserve judgment. You're not holy before a holy God. But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin.

You are pardoned. You who believe and receive. He continues in verse one, he says, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. And he's talking about Abel now. Faith leads to surrender and surrender leads to righteousness.

And righteousness is that that pursues that which is right before God. Not right before man. I don't want to hear man tell me about it's right. It's right for any man or woman to no longer want to be a man or a woman.

But to change sides. That's the world's talk. That's Satan talking through the world.

And there are people gobbling it up. They're quite proud of it and smug. The temptation is to hate them, to strike out against them. That's not what we do. If they are close enough, closely enough related to us, maybe in the workplace, we pray for them. We pray that it won't spread to. We pray that others won't fall for it.

But it is war and it is active. He says, God testifying of his gifts. Don't you think that salvation and religion should be based on truth?

If you do, you're in the minority. Especially if you look to uphold it and practice that. Abel, that righteous man, bought that which foretold of the substituted life, of a forfeited life.

Those animals that were used by God to cover Adam and Eve's nudity. And if you're still trying to work through I don't believe in Adam and Eve, then you know, what can anybody say to you? If you have a problem with God being God and giving us his word, the damage is extensive.

It can be instantly resolved or not. It's up to you, the individual. But over the centuries, intelligent, because this means something to people as though we who believe are not intelligent, so you got to say it this way. Intelligent, accredited individuals have come to the Lord, have loved him and served him. And if you are more than likely rejecting the word of God, it is because you do not want to be held accountable to its standard and you're not being honest with yourself. That's been my take of the unbelievers that I have encountered in the world.

Then there are those that are just flat out ignorant. I was in that group. I did not know what these things meant, where they were going, where they came from.

I guessed about it. That guessing about God was leading me to hell on a rocket. And he's the one that graciously got me off as he does with all those who are destined for hell and then repent and come to Christ. And so when he brought the blood offering, he is saying, this is the life forfeited for me, cut out for me. Now this lamb or bull or whatever cannot save me, but it's preaching to me a truth that I cannot escape. And there is one who is coming. We know him as the one who sandals. We're not worthy to lose the Christ Jesus, Son of God.

He will fulfill the image of these animal sacrifices. And this is what he was telling his audience. Why is this so difficult to understand?

Because of that flat line view. It's not easy to get a person to look up in truth. Because like the book of Nehemiah, and you should know this about Nehemiah's book, if you know nothing else about the book of Nehemiah, you understand this much. That before they could build, they had to remove the rubbish and the rubbish was almost immovable. Great lesson from that book. Also from that very book of Nehemiah, we find the saints battling and building at the same time. You battle your own sin, every single one of you without an exception. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you are walking with him, you battle sin.

Your sin too. But you also are invited to build at the same time. Satan will say, no, you cannot build until you are perfect. God says, no. You come as you are and I will change you, and I will sanctify you, and I will work with you.

And again, together we will get much done. This is worship, this is walking, and this is working with God. It's what it looks like. It's not very pretty.

Pretty would be. I never sinned. I was perfect the minute I come to Christ. No faith would be required to draw anybody else to Christ after that.

They'd see it with their eyes. Look at that. He's perfect. I'm going to become a Christian too. You cannot simplify it. It says at the bottom of verse 4, and through it, he being dead still speaks. Do you know the first human being to taste death in the history of humanity was righteous man?

Able. He was able to die righteously. So what does that mean? A righteous man was the first to populate heaven before an unrighteous man populated hell. You see how profound the grace of God is?

I'm going to put people in heaven before Satan can get them in hell. This is the mind of Christ. And it is a beautiful mind. No words in the scripture are recorded from the mouth of Abel. And yet, through it, he being dead still speaks through his sacrifice. And it is a profound statement.

His life is profound. Verse 5, by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him for before he was taken. He had this testimony that he pleased God.

Now if you don't know the Genesis or are familiar with this, you'll just kind of be patient for a moment. Enoch lived halfway between the fall of man into sin and the judgment on the world, the flood of Noah. Now Adam had, and Eve, many children. After Abel died, Seth was born and filled the position of the righteous child from Adam and Eve. Enoch was the seventh from Seth.

Lamech was another man. Now he was not righteous. He was the seventh from Cain. So you have this parallel line coming out from the beginning of humanity. And so as godlessness excelled in Lamech through Cain's line, righteousness excelled in Enoch through the line of Seth. And so you have there this little picture of life in the spirit versus life in the flesh.

And we are not to ignore these things. So as we come to that name Enoch, we say righteous man from the line of Seth, a message from his life. It says then, was not found because God had taken him. Abel was the first man to taste death. Enoch was the first man to not taste death. And there's only been two that we know of so far. The other is Elijah.

Very interesting, is it not? So in Genesis 5, we see God's prophecy come to pass. See God told Adam and Eve, and the day you eat of this tree, you will die.

It did not mean you're going to drop dead on the spot, but he said you will die. And then we get to Genesis 5 and we hear the toll of the bell eight times, and he died, and he died, and he died. But Enoch was not one of them. Those who lived around him before and after, they're said to have died, but not Enoch, Genesis 5, 24. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

That's what the writer is quoting here. He's not seeing death, says the writer, was the fruit of faith. You who believe, when you leave this planet, you will not see death because you walk with God. Jesus used this word, abide, to abide in Christ.

Same picture. In John's Gospel, Jesus said in chapter 11, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. I love this verse because of this point especially, he says this then to Martha. Do you believe this?

Now why is that so special? Because we, we face doubts. When it's our turn to be sick and face eternity, there are doubts that are going to come against us, and Jesus says, take up the shield of faith by which you can repel the fiery darts of hell. Those darts of doubt.

They're serious. And he meant every word of what he's saying. And then he says, do you believe this? And he's just so tender with Martha.

And of course she submits to it because she knew who he was. So it will be with all who live by faith in Jesus Christ. He says before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. What about Enoch pleased God? That he walked with God?

What does that mean? It says that he preached the truth the Bible does, including God's judgment. And we get this again from that little letter Jude.

Jude 14 and 15. Now Enoch was the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men, also saying, behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly, among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed in an ungodly way, of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Now, maybe when you get home, you can look at that verse and you can, you can scrutinize it a bit, but I'll do a little bit for you. Four times he uses that word ungodly, ungodly among them, ungodly deeds, ungodly way, ungodly sinners speaking against Christ.

He said, he's coming back. He's going to deal with the ungodly. God's word offends sinners. They don't like that. They don't want to submit, but we must preach it.

But he also preaches they can, they have a choice, they have a say so. We have no say so in our first birth. We're not able to say where we are going to be born and to what family we're going to be born.

Where on earth are we going to show up? No say so. But in the second birth, we have every bit of a say so in it. Contrary to what some in Christianity say that you've been selected, you have no choice in the matter and enjoy it. That's not love. Love is a response. The salvation involves love that responds to God's love. And love cannot be forced. And there are different levels and types of love. There are different things that belong to the most purest spiritual love. There's the love that says, well, I may not feel it, but I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do nonetheless.

This would account for all those marriages before our generations when people were just assigned their spouse and they didn't love each other, but they grew to love each other and do the right thing and even produce children who are righteous. So we do preach judgment to the ungodly, but we also preach the love of Christ. And the love of Christ is not limited to Christ loves you. Now that's part of it, but it's agape love.

It's all that belongs to that. In 1 Corinthians 13, for example, in the book of Acts, the word love doesn't show up, yet it's all over its pages. You think Philip had love for the Ethiopian unit when he said, there's water?

What stops me from being baptized? Philip says, if you believe, you see, yeah, man. And into that water on the side of the road, Philip and the eunuch went and there was a baptism. Do you think there was love in Philip's heart? As someone who has baptized people, you bet there was. And so we must also preach the love, the truth, the joy, the peace, the heaven. We have to be honest, the struggles even within the body of Christ. He pleased God. What does that mean again?

Well, the Bible tells us that his walk was progressive, that his walk with God lasted for 300 years. People don't live that long. They don't now. They don't drink enough milkshakes. It's a simple answer. But then they did, and it's scientific to back that up, and I'm not going to go into that right now.

You either take it or you investigate it or you won't believe. Anyway, at 65 years of age, he gets converted. And for the remainder of his life, he walked with God for 300 years. And it was not a stroll.

You don't stroll 300 years. What happened to eunuch during that time? Do you think he faced depression, discouragement, disappointment, danger?

You bet he did. But he walked anyway and didn't stop walking until he ended up walking those golden streets of heaven. And so the only body left behind of eunuch was a body of testimony, of righteousness. In other words, he was what is we call translated. He was taken to heaven and without dying on earth. That body that he was born with at some point was jettisoned, but not here on earth. And his spiritual, he was made spiritual to survive.

And so there he is. Verse 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Now this is a verse that's very difficult to expound on.

I'm going to try and hope I don't mess it up anyway. Most of the commentators don't have much to say about this verse. Why is that? Well, it's because it's profound on its own. But yet God calls us to listen to him and if he has something to develop from it, develop it, we must. This is saving faith incidentally. There are types of faith. There's saving faith and there is serving faith. The saving faith produces serving faith. Serving faith really doesn't produce saving faith. In other words, when you trust God for your salvation, that is the saving faith. When you then go ahead and start doing things for God, working that faith, that is serving faith.

And we all should have both. We know that because it tells us right there, for he who comes to God must believe that he is. He's talking about that beginning of belief.

Again, they were drifting from the faith back to empty rituals. They cast their eyes and he is trying to say don't do it. Peter was a little bit more forceful.

He says, you're like a dog returning to your vomit. Oh man, that's Peter for you. And he's quoting the Old Testament.

You say, well, Peter was crude. Well, he's quoting Solomon who was wise, very wise. You try writing a proverb.

Look how many Solomon had. Well, anyway, continuing back to this, Romans 14, Paul says to us struggling believers also, whatever is not from faith is sin right between the eyes. And coupled with this, without it, faith is that key.

We talked about that last week. Without it, you unlock nothing in the kingdom. With it, you unlock it. Without faith, it is impossible to get on the right side of God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. If you don't believe that, you don't get to the Father.

And again, the world hates it. Other religions do not bow to that. Otherwise, they would not be other religions.

But they are. Without faith, we cannot see past this physical world around us and we cannot rightly see into the spiritual world that is here with us also, that spiritual world of Christ. And though, remember, Elijah, the prophet praying that his servant's eyes would be open so that he could see that they were more with them than against them. And that prayer is a lesson for those of us who do have faith to pray for those who don't have faith.

Paul says to Timothy that God would grant them repentance, pray for them that God would grant repentance. He said, I don't understand it all. You don't need to understand it all.

You just need to exercise it. You go into a room and you flip the light switch on and if the lights come on, you don't say, well, I wonder how it moves through the copper wire. Does the wire have to be copper?

Can it be made of Twizzlers? And you don't go through that. You just work the light.

And so without faith, we cannot see past the things that are right in front of us to the things that are beyond us that we need to see. You've been listening to Cross-Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross-Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross-Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews right here on Cross-Reference Radio.