Hebrews 11:5 – It Pleases God – Bible study

Hebrews 11:5 It Pleases God The Bible does not give us much information about Enoch, only a few verses. Genesis 5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Yet, the New Testament offers commentary on Enochs life. In those 365 years, Enoch learned how to please God in such a way that he did not see death. God simply called Enoch directly to heaven. We do not know what things Enoch did to so please the Lord for it is not given, but I will offer some suggestions on what we might do to please the Lord. I. It pleases God for us to be saved. A. Nothing you can do pleases God more than for you to be saved. B. It would please God if all the world were saved and all hell could be emptied of its human inhabitants! 1. Your salvation would justify His Sons substitution for you. a. Contrary to what many think, God takes no pleasure in anyones punishment. b. Yet, God punished Jesus something awful. Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him STRICKEN, SMITTEN OF GOD, and AFFLICTED. 5 But HE WAS WOUNDED for our transgressions, HE WAS BRUISED for our iniquities: the CHASTISEMENT of our peace was upon Him; and with his STRIPES we are healed. c. Notice the terms that are used: 7 HE WAS OPPRESSED, and HE WAS AFFLICTED, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 10 YET IT PLEASED THE LORD TO BRUISE HIM; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt MAKE HIS SOUL AN OFFERING FOR SIN, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. d. \#Is 53:10\ It pleased the Father to do this to His Son! e. Why? He was making Jesus an OFFERING FOR YOUR SIN. f. When you accept the death of Jesus as payment for you sins, you justify God putting Jesus to death. God heaped judgment upon His Son but it was not in vain. It redeemed your soul. g. The extreme judgment of God will either purchase your freedom or seal your doom. h. The punishment that Jesus bore on the cross will justify God letting you go if you trust Christ, but it will also demand that God exact as much from you if you reject Him. 2. Your salvation would satisfy the Fathers desire. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 3. Your salvation would defeat Satans goal. a. Satans goal has always been to usurp Gods authority. Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. b. To accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you must surrender yourself to Jesus to be your Lord and Master; thus, you derail the plan that Satan has! II. It pleases God for us to have the assurance of our salvation; that is, for us to know that our sins have been forgiven. 1John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. A. \#1John 5:11\ This is the record. That means that this is the story, the account, the chronicle, the history, the facts. 1. If you can comprehend the details of this, you can have the knowledge that you are saved. 2. What is the story? The story is that God has given us eternal life. a. In the story, there is a GIVER. It is God. (1) When someone is talking about a gift, you must look at the giver to see if he is able to give what he has promised. (2) I received an email the other day. Someone died in some foreign country and wanted to transfer a few million dollars into my checking account. For doing that, they were going to give me a slice of it. (3) I did not respond. (4) Why? Because I cant verify the giver. (5) I may be wrong but until I know who the giver is, Im going to suppose it is scam. (6) However, the giver in this verse is God. I know some things about Him. (a) I know God holds the keys of life and death. If He says He will give me eternal life, I know He can do it. Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (b) I know God cannot lie. If God makes me a promise, He will do what He has said. Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; b. In the story, there is a GIFT. (1) What is a gift? (a) A gift is something that is free, something I dont have to work to pay. (b) People on TV often offer a gift that they say is free, but then they charge you five times the cost of shipping and handling to get it to you. (c) That’s not free. That’s fraud. (2) What is THE gift? (a) It is eternal life. (b) The gift is not temporary life. You already have that. (c) Eternal life is forever life. (d) Once begun, it wont run out. c. In the story, there is a PAST. (1) Giving this gift is not something God IS GOING to do. (2) The verse says God HAS ALREADY DONE it. (3) This verse doesnt say, but the giving happened when Jesus died on the cross. (4) When Jesus Christ died on the cross, God made a deposit into the Eternal Life Bank of heaven large enough to cover everyone who would trust Him. (5) The eternal life is all ready there. You and I just have to claim it. 3. \#1John 5:12\ In this story, if you get Jesus, you get the eternal life. B. \#1John 5:13\ John wrote these things that you might believe. 1. That is interesting. a. John is writing this story so you will believe. b. But it took believing to get you into this story in the first place. 2. God not only wants you to have enough faith to get this process started, He wants you to know Him so well that you will believe this process is already completely finished! a. If you have believed on Jesus, you have already started living your eternal life. b. It would please God for you to have that assurance. III. It pleases God for us to have victory over sin. Psalm 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. A. I say again, it pleases God for us to have victory over sin. B. Many Christians do not, especially in the area of lusts. In a survey, 60% of Christian men have sought out some form of pornography. At one Promise Keepers event, 50% of those in attendance said they had checked out pornographic material within the past week. In a survey (1992) of 800 active church members and leaders, 15% of the men and 11% of the women admit to having been unfaithful to their spouses, and 49% had viewed pornography in the past year. 51% of pastors admit that pornography is a possible temptation, 37% say that pornography is a struggle, and 33% have viewed Internet pornography at least once a year. In a survey (2002) of 6,000 pastors, 30% admitted viewing Internet pornography in the last 30 days. http://www.provenmen.org/framework/index.php?page=need That means in a room with 10 men, as many as 5 have deliberately viewed pornography in the last week. It also means in a room with 10 pastors, as many as 3 have deliberately viewed pornography in the last month. C. How do we overcome this kind of sin? 1. We must amputate it. 2. Why would I use a term like that? a. Because our sins are attached to us like our body limbs are. They are attached to our heart. b. We love them like we love our own body. 3. The downfall many have in overcoming sin is that they dont think of it as something they love. a. They look at sin as an option, an object they can take or leave. b. Sin is not! The reason some drink, some look at pornography, some do drugs, some take the Lords name in vain, some lie, commit adultery, and steal is because they LOVE doing it. 4. Hence Jesus tells us to amputate our sins! Matthew 18:8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. a. The Lord did not mean that if we are looking at pornography, we need to gouge out our eyes. b. That would be amputating the INSTRUMENT of the SIN. c. If that is all you did, you would simply find another way to commit the sin. d. What Jesus meant was we need to amputate the SOURCE of the SIN. 5. To do that you must quit loving it and start hating it. a. You must see what it is doing to you and hate it. b. You must see what how it is separating you from God and hate it. c. You must see how offensive it is to God and hate it. d. When you quit loving your sins and start hating them, you will find the power to amputate that sin. 6. However, it is not just a matter of removing the sin it is also a matter of putting something better in its place. a. Here is where a believer needs to fall in love with Jesus and the things of God. b. It is a shame that the things we love tend to be worldly and destructive while the things of God tend to be, in our mind, laborious and dull. c. Knowing God, His power, His freedom, His Word, His riches, His ways is the most thrilling and life-changing event you will ever experience. d. It would please God if you and I would find that out. IV. It pleases God for us to share Him with others. V. It pleases God for us to look for Jesus return. VI. It pleases God for us to deny self.