Portrait Gallery of Faith (Part 2 of 3)

Faith is believing. It's taking God at His word and doing what He says. In Hebrews chapter 11, the author gives a list of men and women who were exemplary in their faith. So how can we stand on God's promises just as resolutely as they did?

Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg examines the simple faith of two men. We're in Genesis 5 verse 21. When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years.

Enoch walked with God, then he was no more, because God took him away. There were at least two volumes in his life. Volume 1, sixty-five years, absent any faith in the living God. Volume 2, faith in the living God.

Do you have two volumes in your life? You would say here is twenty years, thirty years of my life, and I lived without faith in God at all, and as of this day, I began to live with faith in God. See, faith is a decisive act.

You don't simply drift into it. There has to come a time where you stop believing in yourself and you start believing in God, where you stop depending upon yourself and things you can do to make your acceptance to God, and you say, I can't make myself acceptable to God, and therefore I can't do anything else other than what the ancients did, and that is take God at his word and regulate my life on the basis of it. And as a result of that, Enoch walked with God all of his days. And as a result of the fact that he walked with God, he was taken away, and he didn't taste death. And in this, he anticipates the glorification of the body, which will be the experience of believers when Jesus Christ returns.

Isn't that what we saw in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 16? For the LORD himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet-gall of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And after that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air.

And we'll be together with the LORD forever. Where did Enoch go? He went to God. Where did Elijah go? He went to God, and some of you are sitting there saying, But what happened to 120 seconds after this? Where did Enoch actually go? Where was he?

You got a brain that works like that? And Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, because God took him. Took him where?

This is weird. Where was he? It's the same question you have in relationship to Elijah in 2 Kings 2. It's the same question you have in relationship to the ascension. And he was taken up out of their sight.

Where? Now, let me give you a quote in relationship to this so you don't waste your time on it. It is better to pass over the subtle questions with which curious men and women harass themselves. Let us leave this airy philosophy to those with small intellects which cannot find a firm foundation. It should be enough for us that their rapture—that is, of Elijah and Enoch—was a kind of extraordinary death, and we should not doubt that they put off mortal and corruptible flesh to be renewed with the other members of Christ in blessed immortality. Enoch, as Trapp says in an earlier generation, changed his place, but not his company. For he still walked with God as on earth, so in heaven. You see, he walked with God before he was taken away. He had, if you like, been translated into the realm of God's presence while he lived his physical life, and then for him the experience of heaven was simply to be removed into the fullness of it all.

It wasn't a change of company for him. And when a person is redeemed, as it says in Colossians 1, we've been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and therefore for us to be taken up and gathered into heaven is not to change our company, it's simply to change our place. If we're going to spend all of eternity in worship, then in worshipping down here, we simply get cranked up and ready for going.

If we're going to spend all of our time in fellowship and in adoration, then our experience down here is a preparation for what happens up there. But he walked with God before he left. He didn't leave so he could walk with God. We don't walk with God on earth. We don't live with God in heaven.

It's as simple as that. So for Abel—you look at his portrait—for Abel, faith meant offering his very best to God. For Enoch, faith meant walking with God, every dimension of his life under his control and his constraint. And interestingly, when you read in the Old Testament, it doesn't say that Enoch had faith. But the New Testament writer begins verse 5 by saying, By faith Enoch. So how could he speak of Enoch's faith with confidence? Well, the explanation is in verse 6.

You see, verse 6 is not an evangelistic verse to be unearthed from the context. And without faith it is impossible to please God. Well, we know that Enoch pleased God. Therefore, we know that Enoch was a man of faith. Now, you see, this faith in God is more than an acknowledgment of the fact that there is a someone or a something. This faith in God is actually more than an orthodox understanding that there is a God.

Because in James 2.19, it says that even the demons believe in the orthodoxy of God as Creator and Redeemer. Half base times height is the area of a triangle. The law of gravity was established by experimental knowledge in the constant apparent dropping of an apple from a tree. I know about that. It means something to me.

It stops me from sliding up the street. But neither that arm's-length knowledge or experimental knowledge is to be equated with the knowledge of genuine faith and trust in the living God. The kind of faith that gives my best to God, the kind of faith that walks with God, is the faith which comes about as a direct result of an encounter with God. In the late sixties, at campfires, we used to sing the song, In the stars is handiwork I see, And on the wind he speaks with majesty, And though he ruleth over land and sea, What is that to me?

I will celebrate nativity, Cause it has a place in history—Christmas! Though he came to set his people free, What is that to me? Then one day I met him face to face, And I felt the wonder of his grace. Then I knew that he was more than just a God who didn't care, who lived a way up there. And now he walks beside me day by day.

Now he keeps me in the narrow way. See, some of you are here this morning, and you're desperately concerned to get a little more religion in your life. And it's, frankly, killing you. Because what it is doing is it is telling you again and again and again that there's certain things you need to do. And the harder you try, the worse it gets. And so far, you've come to a knowledge of a God who's a God who's a way up there, and you're not sure whether he cares. And what is the difference?

The difference is that you need to meet him face to face. You see, creation is a signpost which sends us forward, so that you might be brought to that great signpost, which is the cross of the Lord Jesus. And suddenly you realize that your own sin and your own rebellion and your own sense of emptiness is answered there at that cross. And it is in that that we come to a knowledge of the living God which has been intimated in his creation but which has been given fullness in the Scriptures and in Jesus. Well, let's go to Noah. For Abel, faith meant giving his best to God. For Enoch, it meant considering walking with God the most important thing in his life. And for Noah, it meant that he was concerned for the salvation of his household.

Now, you need to go to Genesis again for the story, and we don't have time to read it all, but I want you just to know where it is. And if you go to Genesis chapter 6 and to chapter 7, you get this remarkable story of how Noah receives the warning of the impending flood, and he responds to it with implicit faith despite every appearance to the contrary. God says to him, Now, Noah, this is what I want you to do. And for a hundred and twenty years, God expresses his patience. And the faithfulness of Noah as he preaches—and he is a preacher of righteousness, we're told—serves not only to hold out the way of salvation to his listeners but serves, according to verse 7b, to condemn the world.

He condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Every time Noah stood up and proclaimed to the people the judgment of God, he called in question their lifestyle. And out onto the terrain of his day comes this man. And he says, Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that there is a judgment, and it is coming. And they said, Hey, Noah, you're crazy, man. No, no, says Noah, God is going to flood the world, and that's why I've started building this ark. They're down at the coffee shop saying, Man, of all the things that have happened so far in our world, there is nothing more bizarre than this guy Noah. He's got a boat thing going in his backyard, there's not a drop of rain in sight, we're a million miles away from the coast, and he's planning, apparently, there's going to be some big flood. Ah, man, oh, man, what will somebody think of next?

And Noah stands out again. He says, Guys, I've got to tell you, it's appointed unto man once to die, and after this comes judgment. But if you will plan on getting yourself in through the door here, then when the flood comes, you'll be saved. Now, where in the world did he come up with that?

Why would anybody preach that unless God told him to preach that? Noah, I want you to build an ark, I want you to take your family into it and be saved, and Noah, I want you to tell the people about the possibility of salvation. Now, you don't have to be a genius to allow your mind to fast forward. And what am I doing here?

What am I doing? I'm here to tell you. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this comes the judgment. Eternity is a long time. We will either spend it in heaven with the Lord Jesus, or we will spend it in hell without the Lord Jesus. And it will go on forever. But God, who is rich in mercy, has, as in the days of Noah, provided a way of escape so that those who are humble enough to admit their need, to confess their sin, and to believe unreservedly in God's promise may come by way of the cross to the place of freedom, forgiveness, redemption, and safety.

But if you would rather stay where you are, you will die in your sins. And you sit there week after week, and you say, Who does this guy think he is? Where does he come up with this stuff? Why would he be so passionately concerned about it?

For the same reason. I take God as his Word. I say what he told me to say. Because I must. Remember, I didn't want to do this. And most Saturday evenings, I don't want to do this.

And by most Sunday nights, I have decided that I'm never doing it again! But I can't stop. Because I want to tell you about the love and the patience and the kindness and the goodness of God that for a hundred and twenty years, he had his man say, Hey, you don't have to go through this, you know. You can come right in here. We're not going in that stink hole of an ark.

Remember the story of Naaman? You go wash yourself in the Jordan, dip yourself in seven times, Hey, do you not realize who I am? Don't you realize that I came here in a stretch limousine? Don't you realize my influence? Dip myself in the Jordan? Are you crazy, Elisha?

And so you sit. Don't you realize what school I went to? Don't you realize how successful I am? Don't you realize how much I am giving to charity? Are you honestly telling me, Alistair Begg, that I must come and bow down before the cross of Christ and that the entryway opens to me on my knees?

Absolutely. That's the way those who are earnestly seeking God come. But for those for whom religion is an esoteric interest, an out-of-body religious experience, no change.

Listen to this quote, and I'll just wrap this up. The example that is here in Noah is the more instructive as it naturally and necessarily brings before the mind the fearfully destructive efficiency of unbelief. You want to remain an unbeliever? Go ahead and remain an unbeliever. But don't consider the fact that you may remain in your unbelief and not be destroyed. For unbelief! Just for not believing. To remain an unbelief is enough to destroy you for all of eternity.

To believe in yourself rather than to believe in God, to believe in modern wisdom rather than the wisdom expressed in the cross, it will destroy you. The world that perished had materially the same message delivered to them as Noah received. Had they repented, there is no reason to doubt that the fearful infliction would not have taken place. Noah believed and feared and obeyed and was saved. He believed and feared and obeyed and was saved. They disbelieved, mocked, were disobedient, and perished. He feared and believed and obeyed and was saved.

They disbelieved, mocked, were disobedient, and perished. So, let's imagine that there are two doors out of which you can go. Over here is Noah's door.

He feared, obeyed, believed, and was saved. That's the Noah door. That's the other door.

They mocked, disbelieved, and went on their merry way and were destroyed. It's as simple as this. Which door are you walking out this morning? You gonna go out as an arrogant unbeliever, or you gonna go out with Noah? Is this significant?

I'll tell you it's significant. When Jesus, in Matthew 24, it's recorded for us, speaks about the time of his return, what does he say it will be like, in part? He says, As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the day of the Son of Man. When Peter addresses it in 2 Peter chapter 3, he uses the very same picture.

Listen to what he says. First of all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this coming of Jesus Christ?

Ever since our fathers died, everything has been going on since the beginning of creation. But they deliberately forget. What do they deliberately forget? They deliberately forget the flood. They deliberately forget that long ago, by God's words, the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water, and by these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.

By the same Word! By the same Word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Noah stands up, and he says, There is gonna be a flood, and you better get in the ark. And people said, Blow it out your ear. And down through time others like myself stand before men and say, There is gonna be a judgment, and you better hide in the cross.

And they say, Blow it out your ear. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends. With the Lord a days like a thousand years, and a thousand years alike a day.

Listen to this. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Why doesn't he just do it? Why didn't he have the flood on day two? After all, they were a bunch of miserable wretches, weren't they? Why didn't he have him stand up and say, In twenty-four hours, flood in the world, get in the ark? A hundred and twenty years. Why? Because God is not slow concerning the fulfillment of his promise.

What is he? He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but desiring that everyone will come to repentance. And those who do not come to repentance will fail to come to repentance as a result of sticking their fingers in their ears, putting their hands over their eyes, and running out in their unbelief. Choose you today whom you will serve.

How about this little P.S., and I'll let you go. Noah's impact on his community, if you think about it, was related in part to his preaching. But actually, his obedience was maybe a more powerful impact. Because, you see, men and women this morning are influenced not only by what we say to them but by the way we respond to what God has said to us.

See? When you go back to your work tomorrow, if you come in fifteen minutes late and leave fifteen minutes early, you made a direct statement about the nature of Christianity—a real bad one. And they don't care about your bumper sticker. They don't care if you've got bumper stickers so much so that you don't have a bumper big enough to carry it. Because they're not only listening to what you have to say. They are watching to see how we respond to what God said to us. They know that the Bible says you shouldn't steal.

They're watching to see if we steal. They know that the Bible says we should have known God before him. They're watching to see if we worship God with all our heart and soul and life. They know that the Bible says you should not commit adultery. They're watching to see whether by our language and our posture and our lifestyle we're violating those commandments. And our Christian obedience is one of the most decisive, impactful factors in seeing unbelieving men and women become committed followers of Jesus Christ. See, because when, in the coffee shops, they were saying to one another, What is Noah saying down there?

A lot of them would be saying, You know, for the life of me, I don't know what he's saying. But I'll tell you, it's gotta be important. Because he's out there every day, and he's got nothing to go on except a commitment that God said it, and he believes it, and he's gonna regulate his life accordingly. That's faith. Is that your faith? A compelling question from Alistair Begg today on Truth for Life. We're learning about men and women in the Bible who demonstrated faith by believing God's promises and obeying his commands.

It's easy for us to forget that these were just ordinary people, like you and me. But God chose to use them in spite of their doubts, their fears, even their failures, and he can do the same with us. That's why we've selected a new book by Nancy Guthrie to go along with our study in the book of Hebrews.

Today's the first opportunity I have to tell you about it. The book is called God Does His Best Work with Empty. Loneliness, loss, unfulfilled dreams, any of these circumstances can leave us feeling profoundly discouraged and, well, empty. What could we possibly offer God? This book provides hope and help regardless of the cause of your emptiness. Nancy writes to assure us that God never sees us as useless even when we feel depleted.

God does his best work with empty. Request your copy of the book when you donate. You can do that by clicking the book image you see in the app or you can call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Hope you have a great weekend and hope you're able to worship with your local church this weekend. Alistair continues our study Monday as we look at a man whose faith led him to wait for the impossible. I hope you'll join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.