Today's lesson is part 5 in our faith series. Last week, we instructed you on what was "Living Faith?" Now, we look at what we mean by the phrase, "Walking by Faith"? This is important as you don't want to be deceived about your faith. You want a faith that is alive and operational in your life. You want to walk by faith. Thank God, we have His Word, and He will guide us. We can know the truth and that truth will set us free. Prayerfully read this lesson and ask yourself, "Am I "Walking by Faith"?
Introduction
We want to start by looking at two passages of Scripture:
1. Genesis 5: 22-24: "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
Right in the middle of a worldwide apostasy Enoch walked with God. How did he walk with God? He walked with God BY FAITH.
2. Hebrews 11: 5-6: "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 rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
Let us begin this study focusing on God's order.
Section 1: God's Order
God has order. Heaven has an order. God governs His people by order. It is not necessarily a historical order, or a chronological order. In verse nine, you read that Isaac and Jacob are mentioned before Sarah. If you read verse thirty, you will find that the walls of Jericho fell before the faith of Rahab is mentioned in verse thirty-one. In verse thirty-two, we find that Gideon is mentioned before Barak, and David before Samuel. The Holy Spirit has a purpose in this.
What is God's order in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews? We call it "EXPERIMENTAL ORDER." By experiential order, I refer to actually experiencing Christ. You can look at a table of tasty food, but until you sample it, you will not the taste experientially. The Bible says, "Taste and see the LORD is gracious." (Psalm 34:8) We see the EXPERIMENTAL ORDER in the first seven verses of chapter eleven:
1. FAITH'S WORSHIP.
2. FAITH'S WALK.
3. FAITH'S WITNESS.
In Abel we see faith's worship, in Enoch we see faith's walk, and in Noah we see faith's witness. WORSHIPING BY FAITH COMES BEFORE WALKING BY FAITH, AND WALKING BY FAITH COMES BEFORE WITNESSING BY FAITH. That is the order: first, worshiping by faith; second, walking by faith, and third, serving or witnessing by faith. Do you see it? Now here you have the experimental order of the Christian life. But man has reversed the order, today. As soon as a person makes a profession of faith, that individual is pushed into some form of Christian service. The emphasis today is on service, and service is put ahead of worshiping and walking, when worshiping and walking come before witnessing.
We need to stop and think about how we treat new converts. If they had been truly saved, they would have spent some time under Holy Spirit conviction. The hardness of their heart would have been broken up. The best approach is to tell the new convert to rest, read their Bible and pray. No, the modern church wants to get them "plugged in" to a program or service so the person will not wander off to a new church. They want that new convert plugged in to all the social calendar events. They want him "working for the Lord."
I want you to get this order. We need God's order not man's order. You come by faith in the blood of the Son of God, fall down and worship Him, the Christ. Then you walk by faith. You may have to crawl a little before you can walk; with all your doubts and fears and attacks of Satan, how you will have to crawl back to the cross. Yes, you will be a crawling child for a while. Look at what Christ has done for you. Lok anew at the power of God that changed you from a child of Satan to a child of God. Be amazed all over again at the grace and mercy of our LORD. Look anew at the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that washed you whiter than snow. The Lord Jesus Christ has delivered you from the penalty and power of sin. Then when you are able, stand up and begin your walk with God. As you begin to walk you will begin to serve our LORD. This wil be your pattern of serving: you worship, you walk, you serve. Before you know it, you will be sharing how God saved you to a lost person, or maybe helping a backslidden believer back to the cross.
Section 2: Walking with God
Let me repeat, there Enoch's walk by faith must be preceded by Abel's worship by faith. This leads us to the thought: there must first be obedience to Christ, then walking with Christ, then witnessing for Christ. This is heaven's unchanging order.
In the life of Abel, we see where the life of faith begins. Where does it begin? Where God calls a sinner. When God called Abel, that was when the life of faith began. In the life of Enoch, we see what the life of faith consists of. Genesis 5: 24, "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." In these few words we have set forth the new life of the believer--WALKING WITH GOD. How did Enoch walk before he was saved. Read Ephesians 2: 2. He walked "according to the course of this world." Enoch had gone "his own way" of self-will (Isaiah 53:6). Every man turned to his own way and so did Enoch. He lived a life of self-pleasing as all people do before they are saved. He lived only for the present. I don't care who you are, or how religious you are, or if you have a Rev before your name or a DD after, if you don't know Christ, you are lost and live for the present.
The Scripture says, "BY FAITH ENOCH WAS TRANSLATED." The word "translate means to carry across or remove or to change from one place to another. Enoch's translation meant, first, his removal from earth to heaven, which is a prophetic statement, and a type of the believer who will be taken in the Rapture when Christ returns for His church. Read 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18. But "translate" has a deeper meaning. We find in Colossians 1: 13 these words, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." The word "translated" which is the same word used to describe Enoch's departure, speaks to the power over death. When Enoch was reconciled to God, he was translated from death unto life, from Satan's family to God's family. This is the believer's standing and state before God.
The true born-again new creation believer has been translated from the power of sin and the penalty of sin and one day will be translated from the presence of sin! Further, the power of death over the believer has been annulled--TRANSLATED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE. In Abel we see a sinner saved through the blood of the Lamb; in Enoch we see a saved sinner removed from earth to Heaven, and there is nothing that stands between that saved sinner and the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven--he has passed from death unto life. The new birth is a supernatural event; it is a miracle of God's grace. Let that set in your mind and heart.
It is one thing to believe that I have judicially passed from death unto life, but it is quite another thing to live in the realm of life and to know the life of the Son of God. Paul said: "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Galatians 2: 20) "Christ ...is our life." (Colossians 3:4) There is a vast difference in believing you have life and living in the realm of life and knowing the life of Christ, which is by faith. Read Jude 14, 15: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment (now get this) upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
The times we live in are no more perilous than those that Enoch lived. Divine grace made Enoch's experience one that pleased God. The life of the believer is one that pleases God. The question I have for you is, are you walking with God? If you are not walking with God, you do not know Him. To know Him is to walk with Him.
If you gratify the flesh, the blessings of the Spirit will be withheld. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS--EVERY BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER WALKS WITH GOD, AND GOD IS REAL TO HIM.
Section 3: Faith that Walks
Faith that walks with God comes by Divine revelation, and faith must have a firm foundation to rest upon; that foundation must be and is the Word of Him that cannot lie. God spoke and Enoch believed. THAT IS THE TESTING OF YOUR FAITH. Are you willing to have your life conform to the Word of God or be molded by the Word of God. If you aren't, you are not saved! Listen my friend, YOU'LL OBEY GOD'S WORD OR GO TO HELL FOR YOUR TROUBLE! Every new creation in Christ Jesus wants his life conformed to the Word of God. It may not be conformed as much as you long it to be, but your desire and longing and prayer is, "Lord, oh that my life may be sweetened and molded like the life of my Master, my Lord!"
When did Enoch begin walking with God? Genesis 5: 21-24 tells us it was at the birth of Methuselah. He was 65 years old when Methuselah was born. By Divine revelation, when the baby was born, God made known to Enoch that the world was under judgment, and that at the death of this child it would be destroyed. When God reveals Himself to the human heart, He brings a message of judgment--everything is under judgment. Enoch believed God and named the child "Methuselah, which means DESTRUCTION. From that day on, Enoch walked with God.
Listening friend, this world is under judgment; if you believed that, you would walk with God. Psalm 7:11 states that "God is angry with the wicked every day." The earth will one day be destroyed. If you believed that you would "walk with God." I am going to walk with Him. I want my life to be pleasing to Him. WHAT ABOUT YOU?
How did Enoch please God? He believed His Word, by taking Him at His Word. The only way you can please God in a world under judgment is to believe Him and His Word. YES, YOU PLEASE GOD BY BELIEVING HIM. No amount of service without belief in God's Word will cause God to be pleased with you.
Section 4: A Call to Self-Examination
Let us examine ourselves and see if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). It is by faith the convicted and repentant sinner is saved: "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16: 31) It is by by faith that Christ dwells in the heart: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love...." (Ephesians 3: 17) It is by faith that we live: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) It is by faith that we stand: "Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear." (Romans 11: 20) It is by faith we walk: "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Are you walking by faith?
Let's look a little closer. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." (1 Peter 5; 8,9) Stand fast in the faith. What faith? Looking to God faith. Look to Christ. Have faith in Him. It is by faith we fight the good fight: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6: 12)
Examine yourself. Do you have a faith that walks?
Conclusion
It is by faith that the world is overcome. You can overcome the problems in your lives, overcome the problems of the flesh, overcome the attacks from Satan, overcome your enemies. Remember this, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." The FOUNDATION of your faith is the WORD OF GOD; the OBJECT of your faith is the LORD JESUS CHRIST. There you are. 'WALKING BY FAITH."
Next week: Worshiping by Faith.
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