The Only Kind of Faith That Works – Part 3 (Hebrews 11:5-7)

Living righteously condemns disobedience, pleases God, and empowers your faith.

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Church family, we’re looking at part 3 of this installment in Hebrews 11, uh, versus 4 through 7 together.
We’re talking about a message titled, the only kind of faith that works.
And there’s a little bit of play with that title, of course, The Bible tells us, we’ll read it tonight.
The Bible tells us that we are saved by faith, and, uh, that really alone faith in the lord Jesus Christ.
And somebody might say, well, that that’s it. Uh, yeah, that’s it, but it’s supernatural.
And it’s not human generated.
You might say, well, I have faith in Jesus, and I haven’t experienced any kind of a change in my life, Well, you may not have actual faith in Jesus.
You might know who he is, but you’ve pro probably not put your faith in him.
So when we talk about the only kind of faith that works, you could also have a title.
The only kind of works is out of faith.
There’s it it they’re so connected that you cannot separate the 2.
They’re Sammy’s twins of the believer’s life. Joined together.
And so before we read, remember this, and I stressed it last time together, that verse 6, and I’ll and I’ll I’ll read it.
Now verse 6 tells us it’s the glue that holds much of this chapter together.
Verse sixes, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.
I’m gonna keep reading that verse, but please listen. Without faith, it’s impossible to please god.
That means that you, me, we who are believers must ask ourselves, how am I living out a life of faith?
Are you guy can you guys hear me? Yes. How am I?
How are you living out a life of faith?
Now for some of you, it can be the faith that you need to get through 1 month.
You’re living from loaf of bread from loaf of bread.
And and you’re living like that, and you’re trusting them to provide the bread.
Some of you are here, and you’ve got global business decisions to make on a multimillion dollar scale and and lie people’s lives are in the balances because if that deal doesn’t close, you’re gonna be laying off 10,000 employees.
And you’re leaning in the god.
You’re pressing into the lord, and you’re you’re asking, lord, you gotta make this clear.
You gotta come through for us. Faith. I’m reminded.
I I’m gonna blow this story, but I do remember it was a historical event.
It was way back in the days of black and white of motion cameras.
And there was a guy. You can read about it.
There’s a guy that had a steel wire strung up just upstream from the Falls of Niagara.
And, um, they had that still line from one end to the other, if you’ve been there.
And, uh, the guy had a a wheelbarrel, and then the wheelbarrel, he had a metal wheel.
And it was on on the rim. There was no rubber tire on the wheelbarrow.
It was just the the metal rim.
So it’s kinda shaped like a, right, a a u, that would fit perfectly into the cable.
So he turned to the crowd that had gathered, and it people there and reporters there.
And he said, how many of you think that I can go across the falls pushing this wheelbarrow?
And they’re crowded cheering You can do it. And I’m gonna ask you again.
He asked him, like, three times. And then he says, sir, do you believe I can do it?
Yeah. I do. Yeah. And everybody’s cheering. He goes, then get in the wheelbarrow.
You just said I could do it.
You’re cheering me on, You confessed. You can do it.
Then there should be no problem for you getting in the wilderness.
That’s exactly how faith is. You can talk about it all day long.
But without faith, it’s impossible to please god.
For he who comes to god must believe that he is. I love that.
And that is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
So I’ve got 2 bits of homework for my life right then. And there, first one is diagnostic.
Am I living a life of faith?
And the second thing is, yes or no, whatever the answer is, I have to see to it now that from this moment, from this night on, if you can hear my voice from this night on, you’re gonna increase your intensity to seek him with a diligent pursuit.
You decide to do that because we don’t wanna be slothful hearers.
So let’s stand for the reading of the word.
I’ll read verse 5, the odd numbered verses, and you can uh, read the one and only, and I’ll end in verse 7.
Just three verses. Powerful. It occupy our evening together.
Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5 begins by saying by faith in our 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 or he who comes to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear prepared an art for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith.
Again, father, bless the going forth of your word in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated at church.
Oh, what a powerful 3 verses that is. Church, we know this.
We know from verses 1 to 4 several weeks ago that the only kind of faith that works is a faith founded upon the facts.
We’re the only ones in all of the world as Christians. Listen, if you’re a Buddhist here, I’m glad.
God bless you. I’m I’m glad you’re here.
If you’re a Muslim, if you’re in Judaism, if you’re out of whatever you are, maybe you’re listen, maybe you’re an atheist.
Listen, we want you to know right now. Don’t judge the gospel.
Don’t judge the nature of god by looking at us.
Weren’t hot pursuit of god because he is other than us. He is greater.
He’s salvation. He loves. He listen.
Whatever your religion is, you don’t have a Bible like we do.
And you don’t have a god that communicates to you like our god communicates to us.
No god or gods in all of history has ever had the Adacity to say if you believe in me and you die, you’ll live forever.
I’m gonna die in the cross for your sins, but on 3rd day, I’m gonna be resurrected from the dead.
No religious founder had any book ever written about them in advance before they showed up.
But Jesus. Yeah. Incredible. Our faith is founded upon fact.
You stick a shovel in the dirt somewhere that’s mentioned in the Bible and you find pottery and you find coinage and you find statues or you find artifacts.
Try that with some other religious writing, and it won’t work. It doesn’t work.
We also learned last time, verse 5, that regarding this faith that works is that it’s an intimately active faith.
We left off at this.
Verse five says, by faith Enoch, we started to talk about him, was taken away.
So that he did not see death. A a enoch was removed from the earth.
He never saw death. He never died. Enoch never died.
There’s two people in the Bible who never died. Do do you know who they are?
Very good. Where do you go to church? That was great. Inak and Elijah. Never never died.
These, uh, these these 2 escaped What you and I will go through unless Christ comes back for us, hopefully soon, I’m not getting any younger.
I hope it soon. And he was not found because god had taken him.
For before he was taken, he had this testimony.
We’re gonna look at this in a moment further that he pleased god. And we should be asking the question.
How did please, god. You will, you will see a by faith. That’s how we plays, uh, please god. Yes.
But what does faith work like? Notice how I I didn’t say how faith looks like.
It’s how faith looks, uh, looks like, no, how faith works like. Faith works. Faith rolls up its sleeves.
It goes to work. We and we left off with the walk.
I I went back and I reviewed the message just to make sure and we ended talking about the walk that as believers, we are to walk.
Adam and Eve walked with god the god of the bible requires his children to take walks with him.
And for the believer, it is a ongoing life experience to walk with the lord, a day in, day out experience.
I was with some friends the other day, And the topic of prayer came up, and I said, I’m curious because they’re they’re from the Middle East, uh, born and raised believers in Lebanon.
Uh, and, uh, much of your Bible, by the way, happened in Lebanon.
You may not realize that, Eric, but that are not tire and sighted, and the cedars of Lebanon for the great temple, uh, King Hyram, and all of that.
But, this conversation went on into the direction of, oh, my mother was always in living on a prayer warrior, a prayer warrior, always praying.
Always praying. Are we talking? We started talking about prayer? And, um, I asked him.
I said, I’m curious. Uh, to to you, how is what is the act of prayer to you?
The act of prayer? Is it standing up? Is it kneeling? Is it laying down?
Is it eyes open? Ice closed? Hands up? Hands down?
And it was kind of a neat look on their face for a moment because I I read immediately what what they had inside their mouth before it came out.
It was this. It’s all of the above and everything else. We just never stopped praying.
We never stopped. We breathe. And so our life is like that we breathe.
It it it’s second nature. We breathe. We’re programmed to breathe.
And they said, all of our lives growing up in a in a very dangerous violent country that that had been captured by Islamic forces in Lebanon They said, we we we lived off of prayer.
And so we pray. We pray now. We we drive. We pray. We we can’t sleep. We walk.
We pray the house. We we pray all the time. It’s an ongoing conversation. Why? Because there’s an ongoing walk.
And the walk won’t work without prayer. It’s gotta have the fuel that prayer brings.
And it’s not the prayer that brings the fuel. It’s the crying out to god that brings that fuel.
I have to tell you. I wasn’t gonna tell you this. It just came in on my mind.
Just now so god can get all the glory.
So remember, I I was with you on last Sunday, but the Sunday before I was away from you, And I I was not speaking anywhere.
I had Mother’s Day down, uh, with Lisa.
We were away with the grandkids, and when you speak publicly a lot, you have to use your diaphragm.
And if you don’t, you’re really messed up. But your diaphragm, the older you get your diaphragm weakens quickly.
You gotta keep practicing all the time speaking from the bellow, from the rotunda, as Charles spurgeon put it.
Well, when when I miss a week, I really pay for it in the pulpit.
I I I tired. It’s hard. The lungs are struggling. All that stuff last Sunday, I told Matt.
I said, you know what? We had 1st, second, third service.
The topic was Israel, so I was off my rocker yelling and screaming about it because I’m so excited about Israel and love Israel, and that was just kind of my wheelhouse kind of a topic.
And so I was all excited about that.
And and then, uh, we had the super swordsman event, uh, to deal to to do within between service, And then we had buds.
That didn’t get over to 6:15, and I’d been up since 2:30.
And I I got home, and I think Lisa and I watched some really little English movie thing.
We’d like those little teacup kinda.
With all the 1800s, things, you know, and carriages.
And and so I realized, you know what?
It’s like uh, 11 o’clock, and I am not even tired.
I had to tell myself to go to sleep. How did that happen?
God? He said, oh, come on, man. Maybe it was the coffee.
The coffee doesn’t do that to me. It was god.
The point is this, get out into a situation where you can’t do it.
A lot of people criticizing Christianity including Christians criticizing Christianity, and they’ve scarcely even tasted it.
They’ve never put themselves in a place of being exhausted when god shows up with his power.
And then you’re looking around wondering where did this come from?
Or put them put yourself in a situation where you are so outside your comfort zone, and you wind up experiencing god in a way that you’ve never known.
So many people.
I don’t know how many people in this church could bear witness to the fact that they went with us on a short term mission trip somewhere in the world for a few weeks to minister to those that were either without god or in great pain, and they forgot about themselves.
They even got in trouble sometimes because they didn’t call back home to America. Because they forgot about themselves.
They forgot about their lives. They were so engrossed in helping other people. How does that happen?
That there’s an intimate active faith, and Enoch had that.
And the Bible tells us that he walked with god, and then he vanished.
Uh, don’t you wanna vanish walking with god? It’s so funny.
The world hates Christians. They’re supposed to hate us. That’s what Jesus said would happen in the end.
They don’t wanna see her anymore. We don’t wanna be here. Yeah.
We wish you guys would leave. Us too. Listen to doctor J.
Vernie, Let him talk about this to you.
Enoch was translated out of one sphere of lie. And translate it into another. God took it.
And the best way I know to describe it is to describe it as a little girl did that came home from Sunday school.
And her mother said to us, what did the teacher tell you about today in Sunday school?
And that little girl said she told us all about this man, Ena.
This was a good old fashioned Sunday school that talked to Bible.
And so the little girl said that all about Ina. And some mother says, well, what about Ina?
And she told it this way.
And, friends, I couldn’t tell it any better than this way that the little girl said she said that Inna lay a long time ago, and god would come by every afternoon and say to Inna, Inna, would you like to take a walk with me and Enick said, yes, he’d like to take a walk with god.
And so every day, god would come by Enick’s house and in it with go walk and with god.
And said, one day, god came by and said, Enoch said, let’s take a long walk today.
I wanna talk to you. And so they started out in, that is quote and everything.
And eating his lunch, and they started walking, and they walked, and they walked, and walked.
And finally, it got late. And Enoch said, mine’s getting late when long ways from my home said, maybe we better start back.
And god says, Tina, you’re closer to my home then you are to your home, so you come on, go home with me.
And so Enoch went home with god.
Now friends, I don’t know how to say it any better than that.
Isn’t that great? That’s that’s gonna happen to you someday. You’ve walked all your life with god.
And, listen, if the lord doesn’t come back to take us up, there’s gonna come a time when you as a believer, your body will die.
And when your body dies, it’s because it can no longer handle the inside of you.
You will have outgrown your body. And like a like, a cocoon or a chrysalis, the butterfly’s gotta go.
What what you what you started out as is not what you’re going to end up being with the lord.
And it’s absolutely precious. Colossians chapter 2 verse 4 tells us.
Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with pros persuasive words.
For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him.
And established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with Thanksgiving.
That’s a powerful tool, by the way, with Thanksgiving.
Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the traditions of men.
Pow for war. I’m gonna give you a few more scriptures on this, this intimately active faith before we, uh, go to the 3rd argument.
Galatian chapter 6 verse 7 tells us. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.
For whatsoever, a man sows that shall he also reap. That’s that’s not science for us.
We we know what what that’s like, right, especially springtime right now.
What are are you working in your garden at all? Did you plant anything at all?
Well, whatever you whatever seed you planted, it’s gonna come up.
You’re gonna you if you planted tomatoes and avocados pop up, you some some was wrong on the label.
Or your eyes. I mean, something was wrong. The Bible is very clear about this verse 8.
For who for he who sows, to a flesh that is the carnal appetites of this world will have the flesh root corruption.
But he who sows to the spirit, notice capital s. It’s a holy spirit.
We’ll love the holy spirit, reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary and well doing or doing good.
For in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose art. Therefore.
As we have opportunity, here it is, I wanna see god moving my life. Here it is.
As you see opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Do you know what that verse 10 means?
Verse 10 means Christian ought to love on Christians and you make sure that your brothers and sisters are taken care of, and then you turn out into the world.
That’s pretty cool about that’s pretty brilliant state.
You might say, well, uh, shouldn’t we reach out to the world first? The Bible says, nope.
You ever been on an airplane? Remember, I mean, I think they still say this.
I don’t pay attention anymore to it, but, you know, when they say if if the mass dropped from the ceiling of the plane, Uh, make sure you put it on yourself before you put it on your kid.
Yep. And if you don’t know what’s what is going on to think, what?
Are they they trying to do away with kids? Don’t you wanna put it on the kid first?
Nope. You want the kid to live, don’t you? Yep. Then put it on you first.
Because that kid is dependent upon you.
And you know, if you give that mask to the kid first, you’ll never get it out of his hands.
That little guy will hang on to that thing. He’ll turn blue and pass out. He doesn’t care.
He’s got his mask, but you care for both of you and others.
Let the adult in the room put the mask on.
Get the air flowing, then reach out to those in need. The Bible’s like that about the church.
If you know brothers and is a need. Love on them first. Why?
Because then together, both of you are healthy now, and you can both in unity go out and help the world.
It’s called ministry. That’s why the lord sent out the disciples, the 12 together at once.
And then when that worked, the the next wave was 70 of them in the gospels. Remarkable.
Ephysians chapter 4 verses 1 to 3. And this is all about faith working.
Faith being active. I, therefore, pulse says the prisoner of the lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.
Oh, boy. We could end tonight and just on this right here.
Christian Christian Christian, please listen to me. Ask yourself this, but don’t settle until you get the answer.
And don’t don’t say anything out loud. Are you a Christian?
Do you know god What is your calling?
What calling is on your life?
There is a calling that’s on your life.
You have been commissioned by the Holy Spirit. That’s part of your salvation.
He didn’t save you to set you on the man told her in the the glass case waiting for the end of life.
He save you.
Now you’re saved, and you’re gonna be saved in that moment of death or rapture, But what now?
Every one of us who named the name of Jesus ought to be able to answer that question.
What is your calling? Your Christian life.
And, listen, don’t think, well, god didn’t call me to be a pastor, so I don’t know what it is.
Listen. God has called every one of his children to some work of ministry that you were actually created for, literally created for.
And if you don’t know what that is, you shouldn’t go to sleep tonight until you find out.
You’ve got to find out Lord, why why did you save me?
What stirs my heart? God speak to you. What do you want me to do?
And please don’t think it’s gonna be just some little narrow avenue of options.
The options are infinite brothers and sisters. Infinite, you might be a corporate wheeler and dealer.
You might be uh, a nanny at someone’s home or whatever. It doesn’t matter.
Those things are vocations.
You’ve got an eternal calling that god has given you before the world was ever made.
Don’t answer anybody else but yourself. What is it? You ought to be able to write it down.
If it’s something like this and you don’t know the Christianese, the verb the, uh, verbiage, you might just put, I just love helping people who are hurting.
Well, you have the gift of helps to say the least. That’s in the Bible.
There are some people who they do work constantly and travel the globe, and they can’t be an usher.
They can’t do this. They can’t do that. But they say, you know what?
How can I give I’m not here? I’m always on the road. I’m somewhere in the world.
But god has given me the ability to to to make money. How can I help others?
I know that’s a intimate, active faith question, but This is the Bible after all, and it dives deep into us.
The scripture that goes on in the book of Ephesians there and it says in verse 2, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
You see the word bond of peace? The word bond means this.
In fact, you can see it on the screen that I love this. The ligaments.
That’s what the word means.
Ligaments that which binds together a unifiner woven together structure of fabric, flesh, vision, or cohesiveness.
Is that awesome? What a great word?
We are bonded according to god’s word in the peace of god by the spirit of god.
To do the work of god. Faith in action. Hebrews 11. And I wanna give you this quote.
I I I’m gonna throw it on the screen. If it blesses you, then god gave it.
If it does was my idea. Nothing that is alive stands still.
I think I think that’s true. Right? I mean, I wrote this.
So I I doubt myself a lot. Nothing that is a live stand still.
Well, Professor Jack, Amiibo, don’t stand up. Well, but they don’t they don’t sit there either.
They move. I think everything in life moves.
Apart from Christ, we were all stillborn if you think about it.
See, what are you talking about? Doesn’t the Bible say that we were born dead into the world.
We were born spiritually dead. You and I were born into this world. We had no appetite for god.
We had no passion for god. We had no heart for god.
We were spiritually stillborn, spiritually speaking.
Having been born again means you have been born alive. Been born again. Listen.
If you were born once into this world and your life has been a miserable wreck, it’s because you were still born, spiritually, we all were.
Do you wanna have life? Do you wanna live?
Do you wanna find the meaning and the purpose for your life and for living?
Be born a second time, and you’ll find out that you’re born alive.
And god will move you.
I’ve used this analogy before, but I just saw the other guy the other day.
Do you remember, uh, you can buy them at Home Depot Or Lowe’s.
It’s that little fluorescent green guy with the orange add on. And he’s made out of plastic.
He’s got a little handle on his back, and he’s holding the flag.
Like, slow down, children present, or stay off of grass or you know what I’m talking about? He’s weatherproof.
Did you know, go look at him. He’s at Home Depot. He’s he’s weatherproof.
If he if he gets knocked over, you can just send him right back up.
He doesn’t complain. He never says anything. And you know what?
Even has a smile on his face. That’s the Christian life.
He’s got a little handle on his back, because so do you.
God wants to grab you by the little handle, move you all around the life and the world that god has for you.
And he’s got you. Number 3 is verse 7, and it’s this.
The only kind of faith that works is a publicly righteous faith.
It’s It’s a faith that is a a righteous faith, but it’s public now. It it’s very public.
What do we mean by that? Verse 7, by faith, Noah. So everybody take notice.
The Bible says Noah was a real guy.
There’s some nuts out there who are pastoring churches with doctors and degrees, and they’re in, uh, pastoral ministry.
And they teach the book of Genesis, as a story. It never happened. It’s poetic.
They had a big problem. Do you see a problem right now?
Now they’re now they’re gonna have to convince us that the book of Hebrews is is poetic because why?
Because the author of the book of Hebrews, I believe it’s Paul, mentions Noah. Noah.
You’re not gonna tell us next about Jonah, are you?
In in time, We’ll get to Jonah.
You start tampering with the Bible and listen, you become the house of cards that comes tumbling down.
Here in the scriptures, old in New Testament, god says there’s Anoa.
And there was a Noah, and he had a great ship.
I don’t know why people get kinda wiggy, but I can’t believe you’ve built a boat that big.
There’s pyramids, aren’t there? There’s other strange things out there.
Lisa and I were in Stone hinge, England, not too long ago.
I don’t well, maybe it was a long time ago, And I don’t remember things anymore.
But, uh, we went to Stonehing.
I don’t even ever been a stone hitch. And it’s like, you know, we got there, and it’s okay.
I mean, it’s just like everybody’s, like, freaking out. And it’s like, alright. Big rocks.
They’re in a circle. And it’s so funny.
They’ve been there for, like, a, you know, thousands of years, but they won’t let you touch it.
They say, you can’t touch them. You see, there’s thousands of years old.
But you can’t touch it because it might you might ruin it.
And I’m thinking, what is this? Fake? No. It’s there.
But then when they said and this caught me, they said, these stones here, this these stones, nowhere on this island, are these stones this geology is on this island in England.
This comes from the far north of either Ireland or Scotland, and nobody knows how they got there, but you go to Sunhenge.
Gastone Hinge T shirt. I can’t wait for the day when god opens up Mount Eraat, and there’s the ARC, and you’re gonna have a T shirt. I saw the ARC.
It’s been to the arc. It’s a real arc. If you’re impatient, go to Kentucky.
Ken Ham’s got an amazing knockoff. It’s absolutely blow your mind.
I think that’s a miracle what they did out there.
5 Amish companies hand working, putting together a life size replica of the arc? It’s unbelievable.
Noah. The Bible says, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen.
That’s faith. Hey, Noah. It’s gonna rain. Say, what? What does rain?
The Bible says in Genesis, rain had not yet happened on the earth. Wow. No.
I’m gonna I’m gonna cause it to rain.
The Bible says here that he was moved with godly fear, awe, reverential awe.
But listen, everybody don’t miss this. What’s built in is urgency. He had urgency.
No one didn’t hear from god when god said, no. I want you to build me an arc.
And no one didn’t like go take a vacation.
He didn’t think about it for a few weeks.
He immediately went to planning that out Can you imagine what did he use? I don’t know.
But for drawings, he had to have schematic.
I I’m sure maybe the Holy Spirit led him but cutting the lumber and putting it together and, uh, using pitch.
How did he know that? God says, you gotta use pitch, by the way. What is pitch?
It’s an oily substance. That’s waterproof. Oh, and it’s gotta be made out of gopher wood. Why?
Because go for wood works perfect for the calling that got put upon that boat.
And the very calling of the boat was no one’s calling. Go get the wood.
Go get pitch. Build it. Well, god, that’s gonna take me a 120 years.
That’s exactly how long it’s gonna take you. 120 years. No.
It was building a big boat in his front yard. Can you imagine people walking by? What are you doing?
You never think about that hot. What are you doing?
And the Bible says, Jesus said, that when he comes back in the second coming of Christ, the world will be so wicked.
It will be like it was in the days of Noah. Can you imagine what Noah saw?
You would you don’t wanna imagine what Noah saw. There must have been decadence in the streets.
There must have been the most grotesque things going on so much so that god says, I’m sending a flood.
That’s enough of that.
And the Bible says that Noah prepared an arc for the saving of his household.
How many people, church? Eight people by which he condemned the world.
That’s fascinating and became air of righteousness, which is according to faith. So real quick on this.
I don’t wanna dwell on this too long, but it’s kinda cool.
You you ought to write this down, I think. Uh, people will often say, yep, Noah.
Noah is our poster child for the church going through the tribulation period.
Noah went through the judgment of the entire world in the arc. And that’s noah represents the church.
You got your analogies backward.
The Bible tells us that god’s gonna preserve Israel through the tribulation period, but there’s someone who leaves before it starts.
His name is Enoch. I mean, his name is your name.
Enoch is the guy that leaves before it goes bad. Isn’t that amazing?
You’re called to walk with god. Enoch’s called to walk with god.
You’re called to be looking for the lord’s return in any moment. Enoch was walking around and He gone.
The rapture of the church. Enoch is a picture of the church.
Noah is the picture of Israel. God will keep Israel through the tribulation.
God will remove the church out before that comes and you can look to enoch like that.
And you, you know, you can flirt flirt around with that. It’s it’s kind of fun.
Can’t prove it, but it did happen in their lives that way. Jude, chapter 1. Are you guys okay?
You’re exceptionally quiet tonight? You all right? Would you would you be honest if I asked you? No?
He’s right on. He’s the only guy. The guy, he said, we’re we wouldn’t be honest.
We would keep saying you’re you’re fine. So So listen to Jude, uh, Jude, chapter 1.
This is amazing. Now Enoch, the 7th from Adam, You you should someday do the ages.
You should do the ages of these people and how they overlapped and who knew who.
Who knew who in the Bible? It’d blow your mind.
It, in fact, when when you do that, it’s no wonder you come to Moses who authors Genesis chapter 1.
Moses wasn’t even in Genesis chapter 1.
Everything Moses had heard from eyewitnesses and those that had longevity, he be he’s hearing all of this stuff.
It was passed down so accurately. We forget that. Now Enoch was the 7th from Adam.
Proficite about these men, false prophets and teachers saying behold, the lord comes with 10,000 of his saints.
That’s the second coming. Yes. How do you know? Because of verse 15.
To execute judgment on a field. Oh, to convict a couple people.
Oh, who are what, ungodly, among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed in ungodly way.
And of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Wow. Enoch Enoch.
And now Moses or no, I should say, having prepared this arc in John chapter 6 verse 35, John 635 Jesus said, I’m the bread of life.
We all know this. Watch. He who comes to me shall never hunger. Okay.
Now if you’re not a Christian, I want you to really, really dial down hard on these.
These the church, let’s be honest. If you’re not a Christian, what I’m about to read is insane.
Let’s be honest. If Jesus isn’t god, this sounds nuts.
But if he is god, You had to cash in on this.
Jesus said to them, I’m the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger.
That means you’ll never, never run out of life if you eat the bread.
That is Jesus. He’s the bread of life. Believe in him. Trust him.
Have faith in him. You’ll never hunger again. Be satisfied. He who believes in me shall never thirst.
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe all that the father gives me will come to me And the one who comes to me, I love this.
Will by no means cast out? I will by no means cast out. Come to me.
He says, come to me. All that the father brings they’re gonna come. So he says, come.
That’s why we often on Sunday say, if you feel god’s tug upon your heart, if you feel that finger in the middle of your soul, that’s god calling you.
Come. He wants you to experience his salvation that comes from faith in him, And it’s a public affair.
What Noah did was public. Everything a isn’t amazing here.
We are in in the 21st century, but go back thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago.
We’re talking about Noah tonight. Isn’t that amazing?
James chapter 2 verse 14 says, What does it profit my brethren?
If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can faith save him? Well, apply that to Noah.
Verse 15 goes on in James 2.
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, And if one of you says to them, depart in peace, uh, be warm and filled, but you do not give him the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
In other words, where’s your faith?
Thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead, but someone will say I have faith and I have works.
He says, James, show me your faith without your works. Okay. Listen. That’s impossible.
Did you know you can’t do that? Show me your faith without works.
That’s impossible because faith is an active verb. So you can say you have faith.
James says, I don’t see it. Where? Where? Where’s your faith? He gives you the the answer.
He says, and I will show you my faith by my works. Faith comes first.
Faith is active. Works follow. It’s very important. Noah encountered god. How do we know?
How do we know? No encountered god. How do we know that Noah’s faith was real?
Because on Mount Aero Rat in Turkey today in case in ice is the ark.
Someday god’s gonna cause that mountain to quake and open up that ice is gonna split.
And wouldn’t it be awesome? Can you imagine you woke up tomorrow? And there’s breaking news.
The arc has been spotted in Mount Air Rat in Turkey. That’s where that’s where Mount Airad is in Turkey.
And satellite technology, there’s all kinds of stuff about how they’ve gotten satellite footage, and there’s those that say they even have pieces of it.
I don’t know. Listen. I just know that there’s an arc up there.
And wouldn’t it be amazing because god reveals the arc just before the earth is judged?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if god revealed the arc one more time before the earth is judged?
But it won’t be flooded next time.
You don’t need to, like, put a new outboard motor on the old arc. You want that ain’t gonna work.
You’re gonna need a you’re gonna need some asbestos to wrap that boat in, baby, because it’s gonna fry God says, I’m not gonna flood it again.
Never gonna flood the earth again. I’m gonna burn it next time. Wow.
And he goes on there and he says, in verse 19, you believe watch this, everybody.
You believe that there’s one god? You do well. Even the demons believe And they tremble.
See, the word tremble in Greek? It means goose. It said the the word is goose flesh.
You say, what? How can the demons get goose goose skin? Goose flesh? Yeah. You listen.
When a demon thinks about god, you ever seen a naked turkey? You know, on Thanksgiving?
You have your naked turkey in the house? Have you ever have you ever rubbed that turkey?
Because you’re gonna put butter on it, right, before you cook that thing? You you ever feel that?
The bio it’s the Bible. Awesome. The Bible says, when demons think about god, they go, tohoof.
They get old bumpily skinned.
I like that, but watch what happens or what doesn’t happen.
But but you want, uh, but do you want to know, oh, foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
What’s amazing to me is Satan freaks about the existence of god when he thinks about god.
Demons’s tremble at the thought of god, but they’re not saved, and they cannot be saved.
Boy, there’s a lot we’re missing. Public witness.
Public witness is native to the believer.
I wrote down in my notes public witness of Jack, the believer, public witness of Pierre, the believer.
I don’t know why I thought these names uh, the a public witness of Monica, the believer, the public witness of George, the believer, put in your name.
The public witness of put in your name, the believer.
That’s the truth about you and I being a Christian. I’m not teaching works salvation.
I’m teaching faith only salvation. Faith alone in Christ Jesus.
But when that happens, a whole new life takes off inside of you, and it affects other people.
Really quick, I’ve gone I’m gonna go fast. You ready? We have to, like, end to 9 minutes.
Here we go. You ready? Luke chapter 12 versus 8 and 9. Also, I say to you.
Whoever confesses me before men, him, the son of man, this is Jesus speaking, also will confess him before the angels of god.
But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of god.
It takes faith to say, I believe in Jesus Christ.
It takes faith to say, I’m gonna follow Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter.
You know, the old saying, you know, going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, like, going to winchills.
Remember winchills? Going to Crispy cream doesn’t make you a doughnut?
I go to I’ve gone to church all my life.
That’s not how you get to heaven. Do you have faith in Christ alone?
It’s gonna manifest in works. Romans chapter 5 verse 1.
Therefore, having been justified by faith. Galatians 3 24. Therefore, the law was our tutor.
The word in Greek is pedagogy. I love this word. Pedagogy. Here here’s what the pedagogy, the tutor looks like.
The law was our the word school master, pedagogy, school master.
You ever think of a school man? What does a school master do?
You’re sitting in class, this is gonna be so foreign to so many young people who might hear this message.
But there used to be a day. I had mister Allen and miss Rons and Miss Dobson.
I don’t know how you who you had, but when I went to school, there was a paddle in the corner of the of the room.
And Mister Allen, he was terrifying because he was in a wheelchair.
That was freaky enough, but he was so mean. And, uh, he he couldn’t hit us very good.
He would hit our knuckles with the wooden ruler.
You put your hands out there and you pull up like that and snap it and you’d smile at you?
Tell you what? We learned a lot in those days, though.
They applied education to the seed of knowledge. Yeah. We got hit. Mister Buranian.
I got hit by him all the time.
I still to this day do not know how I got in the trouble I did, but the the whole thing was that they wanted you to learn.
Now they went around they w they went about it the way that they did in that time.
But what they did was with the intent to learn so that your life might produce something.
Now those are wrong motives.
I’m not it’d be to be better for you and I to love god enough whereby we say I’ll do anything for you, god.
I will risk anything for you, god. Yeah.
When those teachers were the schoolman or driving us to knowledge.
It’s what the law does. The law of the scripture drives you to Jesus Christ.
If you’re here tonight and you’re saying, I’m I’m gonna be saved by keeping the law.
Man, you’re so far from heaven. You’re further than the rest of us.
Because you think you can do it.
Everybody that’s in heaven tonight, they’re just flat out rejoicing because they knew they couldn’t have gotten there on their own.
That even makes heaven sweeter. I mean, how how much do you like gifts?
Oh, I like them a lot. Well, then heaven is he heaven’s the best gift ever.
Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
But after faith has come, We are no longer under a tutor. Why? We don’t need one.
We don’t need one anymore. 1st Corinthians 1 verse 18.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
The cross, crucifixion, Jesus. That’s ridiculous people say.
But to us who are being saved, it is the power of god. Romans 3 verse 28.
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Works and faith perfect harmony.
The transformed heart is the only way it works right.
And so when the Bible tells us this is literally awesome.
Church, please, we’re gonna go out with a bang here.
It says at the end of verse 7, that haven’t prepared the arc for the saving of his household by which look at this.
I’m gonna build the arc. It’s gonna save my household. But look what happens.
But he condemned the world By doing so, are you seeing what I’m seeing?
He builds an art, saves his household, But by building the ark and saving his household, he condemned the world.
Guess what? If you’re going to heaven and if you’re a Christian and if you walk with god like Enoch walked with god, guess what?
You’re not gonna be happy about what I’m gonna tell you.
But it’s exactly what god is expecting out of you and I.
By our obedience to the lord, our day to day walk with Jesus literally winds up in the end condemning the world.
You say, Jack had never heard that before. Listen, yes, you have. Have you read John chapter 3?
John 3 says the world’s already condemned. But god sent his son.
But if you reject his son, you’re still in the state of condemnation.
When you and I live our lives out to those who will never read a Bible, they’ll never go to church, but you and I are their bibles.
They watch us. They watch our faith. They don’t know that, but they’re watching our faith.
They’re watching our works. By you, every day, you and I are obedient to Jesus, we bless him.
And at the exact same time, those who are in our proximity who die without faith, Our obedience has condemned them.
Because how our obedience speaks to them and says, we told you, We showed you.
We cried out to you. Jesus put it this way. I played the flute. You never came and danced.
We sang, but you didn’t join in with us.
We were like children calling out to you in the streets, but you never came.
2nd Corinthians 10 verse 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
That’s a new testament verse church, everybody.
By our obedience to god, we punish disobedience.
This year, you get to punish disobedience if you want to.
Do you know that in a in a in a republic?
No one’s gonna listen. I can figure out how AI is gonna turn this around.
Don’t go get guns and take to the streets because it’s election year.
Let that happen in other countries. We don’t live there. God gave you a republic.
All those other country most countries have violent overturns of government. We don’t.
We punish disobedience. How do you do that? You vote the bum out?
No, seriously. How how do we do this? Jeff, this is the new testament.
How do we do it? Vote the bum out.
Well, I don’t know if we should get involved in that kind of stuff. Is it disobedient?
Are are are they are they killing babies and And all this stuff, is that disobedience to god? Yeah.
The Bible says be obedient to god.
And by you being obedient to god and doing what you’re supposed to do for good, disobedience gets punished by god.
Do you see that? Uh, listen.
We gotta we gotta get as far away as we can from woke Christianity.
Woke Christianity is not only killing itself. It’s killing everybody that that it’s near.
There’s kingdoms and collision. And we’re losing our country.
Why? Because good people have done nothing.
Sir Edmond Burke said in the parliament of England, all evil needs to do to triumph for good men to do nothing.
And then here, in fact, let’s all stand. I’ll read this to you. You can stand.
You’ve been patient. Acts chapter 13.
Paul and Barnabas are called into the ministry.
It says now when they had gone through, the isle of Paphos. That’s in the Greek aisles.
They found a certain sorcerer. The Greek word, uh, form a k.
I A false prophet, a Jew whose name was BAR Jesus, son of Jesus.
Not your Jesus.
Who was with the pro Council, Sergio Polis, an intelligent man, This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of god.
But Elias, the sourcer for so his name is translated, what stood them, seeking to turn the pro Council away from the faith.
Then Saul, which is Paul the Apostle, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, can you imagine this being in a sermon on Sunday?
All full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, with, uh, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the lord?
And now indeed, the hand of the lord is upon you and you shall be blind not seen the sun for a time and immediately a dark mist fell on him and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
Then the pro council believed when he saw what had been done being astonished at the teaching of the lord.
Can you this is new this would this happened at a church.
I mean, this is the 1st century church. Can you imagine?
Can you imagine if some evil demonically possessed person came to church on Sunday?
And god pointed them out to either me or an usher or to you.
And the holy spirit fills you up. And you you say?
Oh, full of deceit and all fraud? You son of the devil?
You enemy of all righteousness? People would say, oh my gosh. That guy’s, well, that’s out of control.
This is the 1st century church. No wonder why it took off and went around the world.
God was moving. Same god. Same book. Same holy spirit. What’s wrong? It’s us.
We need to be more open to him. Yeah. We need to be more obedient.
Lord help us. Oh, lord, church. Can we lift our hands?
Because it’s the right thing to do.
Lord, your Bible tells us that we ought to lift our hands in prayer and praise to you.
Lord, we’re asking you tonight.
Most importantly, right now, for the man, the woman, the boy, or the girl who doesn’t have a saving faith in you, They’ve heard about you.
They know about you. They’re almost a Christian, but they’re not.
They’re about 18 inches from heaven.
The distance between the brain and the heart Lord, I prayed that salvation would possess both the heart and the mind of this young man and this young woman or this man, this woman, this young child, this senior, God that your spirit would draw all within the hearing our voice guide, with the proclamation of the gospel that Jesus died in the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.
Salvation is in Christ alone by faith in him.
And that you are the god who is right now spinning Saturn out there.
And if you can do that, you can transform lives and hallelujah to god be the glory you do transform lives.
I’m thankful. I know G is thankful.
There are many tonight here thankful that we are not the people we used to be. Hallelujah for that.
God, we give you the praise for that. We’re no longer in the gutter throwing up, cheating, stealing, raping, murdering.
We’re we’ve been transformed. We’re no longer proud. We’ve been gutted of ourselves.
Greatest day of freedom is when we got free from us.
Lord, we worship you now in Jesus name, in Jesus name, we praise you.