Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, we'll be looking at verses four through seven. For this morning, we started with the first three verses last time. And if you're using the Pew Bible, you can find that on page 947, page 947. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 4 through 7. Let's hear God's Word together. In fact, let's start with verse 1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God, and without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Let's pray. Father, as we look to you this morning in this list of faithful fathers and brethren of old, we do ask that you would be pleased to meet with us and help us to see what drove each of these individuals to live as they lived, to see the common faith that brought about different actions that affirmed each one concerning their faith. We pray that you would be gracious to us again, Father, forgive us for our sins and give us an understanding of faith and what it looks like in the lives of these men so that we might look into our own hearts and see that such a faith rests within each and every one of us. Lord, we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit to understand these truths. and that you would be glorified this morning as we look into your word together, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old receive their commendation. The author has been exhorting his readers to cling firmly to their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, warning them of the great danger of apostasy along the way. In many ways, we can say that he has been charging them to keep the faith. Well now in chapter 11 he takes the time to define exactly what faith is and he follows this up with a checklist of illustrations taken from several Old Covenant men and women of God who have by their actions exhibited such a saving faith. And as we've considered last time, while it is the inner faith, while it is the inner genuine trust in God that leads individuals to obtain justification in the free and perfect righteousness of God, that inner faith will always be manifested outwardly in the form of obedience to God's commands. To be sure, keeping the commands do not justify the sinner, but it is the necessary outworking of a genuine and true faith which does bring about the justification of the sinner. And that is why the author will now move on to show the justifying faith of several Old Covenant men and women of God by pointing to the visible manifestations of their faith in the actions that affirm their belief in God and his promises. And so his goal is not to say that we will all have the same actions, but what he will say is we all need the same faith that brought those kinds of actions in different ways by these different individuals. In each instance, the author will say, by faith. And he will say, so and so did such and such, indicating that their faithful actions began with and were drawn out of their faith. And so this morning then we begin by considering the faith of three of the earliest biblical examples, Abel, Enoch, and Noah. So we begin first looking at Abel. We're told in verse 4, by faith, that is digging out of the treasury of his firm conviction and assurance of God's promises. Remember we saw that in the definition of faith. By that faith, Abel offered to God, right, actively offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. And so we begin by recognizing that Abel's inner faith, his inner trust in God and conviction of those things yet unseen concerning the promises of God, by that faith, his faith was affirmed then, outwardly we find, by a particular sacrifice that he had made. And it is the quality of this sacrifice that highlighted the genuineness of Abel's faith, especially in comparison to the quality of his brother Cain's sacrifice. Now the author here is assuming, remember, we have to remember that he is writing to Jews, and so he's assuming that his Jewish readers understood some significant things about the sacrifice of Cain and Abel, which they would have recalled from Genesis 4. He's writing to those who would have been familiar with the Old Testament, of course, and the things written about these individuals. And so in Genesis 4, We read these words in verses 2 to the beginning of verse 5. We're told, and again, Eve bore Cain's brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. The Apostle John comments on this event in 1 John 3, verse 12, when he says these words. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one, and murdered his brother. And why did he murder Abel? Because his own deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous. And so what then was the issue with Cain's sacrifice, which affirmed his unbelief, and Abel's, which affirmed his faith? Some think it has something to do with the substance of the sacrifice, since Abel offered a blood offering from his flock, and Cain offered a grain offering from the ground. I don't believe personally that that is the main issue. I get that, and I'm not saying that that's definitely wrong, but I don't think that's the main issue. Both offerings, animal and grain offerings, were acceptable offerings to God. They were acceptable. The real issue, I believe, had to do with the quality of the offerings, which in turn revealed the quality of their worship and the genuineness, or lack thereof, of their faith. Abel, we're told, had offered his best. He offered the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. However, Cain had offered of the fruit of the ground. And the assumption, I believe, is that he did not offer the best of what he had. Cain was merely going through the motions of trying to do the bare minimum of observing a ceremonial ritual rather than genuinely giving out of a sincere and loyal heart. His worship was insincere. The quality of his offering revealed this. There was no faith involved in his offering. And that is why Cain's offering was not only unacceptable to God, but furthermore we're told that it was considered evil, while Abel's was considered righteous. Abel's offering was truly sacrificial in nature, costing him his best because he genuinely desired to worship and please God. And so Abel's offering, being an expression of genuine faith, was an offering that enabled him to access the righteousness of God that comes by faith. This is why the author of Hebrews says here in our text, by faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. In verse two, we saw that the people of old received their commendation, and we talked about how that word commendation is the same word. It's the Greek word for martyr or martyrdom. They received their witness. Again, we think of the word martyr as somebody who dies for their faith, but the actual biblical understanding of the word martyr is someone who simply has a genuine testimony to their faith. Anyone who does that is a martyr in that sense, But it's okay to refer to those who have died as martyrs. I'm just saying we don't want to lose sight of the understanding of that term and its true meaning. And so in verse 2 we saw that the people of God received their commendation, that is their martyrdom, their testimony, or their witness, by their faith. And here, the same term for commendation, the same word is used to describe how Abel, we're not talking about his death even yet, he was a martyr in that sense as well, but by his offering, it describes Abel through his faithful sacrifice, we're told, that he was commended, that is, he was testified to as being righteous. He was affirmed to be a martyr in that sense by the faithfulness of his genuine offering. His sacrifice affirmed the authenticity of his justifying faith in God and his promises. And how was his faith affirmed? We're told that God commended him. Again, that same word, same word commended is used twice when referencing Abel. God commended him, that is God bore witness to the valid testimony of his faith by accepting his gifts. somehow God had conveyed to both Abel and Cain his acceptance in Abel's case of his gift and his unwillingness to accept Cain's gift that was conveyed to them. God received Abel's offering because it was done in faith and thereby Abel was justified. Now I want you to remember something significant about Abel's sacrificial offering here. Cain's for that matter as well. I want you to remember something significant. we find no recording of God asking for or requiring sacrifices from mankind up to that point, right? You get to Genesis chapter one, you get creation, Genesis two, more defined with what happens with Adam and Eve and also about the Sabbath rest, chapter three, man falls into sin, and then chapter four, there's these offerings going on as we learn about Cable and Able, but there's no instructions at that point given to us about the offerings. The closest we come to this reality is when we are told that God himself had provided animal skins to cover Adam and Eve's shame after the fall. So you get kind of a hint there that when Adam and Eve cover themselves with fig leaves and God gives them animal skins that this concept of offering is beginning to take place there as God covers them with animal skins implying that debts had taken place. But there are no instructions for sacrifices given immediately at this point in the Scriptures. They're not given immediately. Now, to be sure, such instructions were given, right? Just because it's not written in Scripture doesn't mean it wasn't given. In fact, that's implied by the fact that Cain and Abel provided offerings. They must have been given instructions to do this from somewhere. And we can kind of get an idea of what some of those instructions were by looking later on into Moses' books in Leviticus and so on about the different kinds of offerings. Certainly that would have had something to do with the instructions God had given. It may be less detailed, not as much, but something along those lines. But we have to fill in the gap and assume what is not clearly written at this point in biblical history. That said, the assumption is that both Cain and Abel, along with Adam and Eve, of course, would have been taught, then, of the atoning relevance and necessity of such sacrifices as a means of covering the sins of now fallen mankind. They didn't get creative and say, hey, let's offer up sacrifices to God. Just sounds like a good idea, right? They would have been taught, it says, over the course of time, they offered these sacrifices. Well, in the course of that time, somehow, even through Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, they were taught about how to offer sacrifices to atone for sin, being that man is now a fallen creature. So such instructions had to be taught Adam and Eve following the fall. And we know this because Cain and Abel are offering sacrifices in chapter 4. Right? Just common sense. Now why do I say all that? Why am I making that point? Because clearly, Abel, being aware of the gravity of his sinful nature, that's assumed that they're offering these offerings. Abel knew he was a sinner, otherwise he wouldn't have to offer anything. When offering the best of his flock, and their fatty portions, you get a picture of that later on, again, Leviticus, what that all entails. He had exhibited faith in the gospel of God, anticipating the promise of the coming seed of the woman that is revealed in Genesis chapter three. They understood what God had said about the seed of the woman and the Messiah to come from Genesis three. They understood much more than we think. hoping to be forgiven and cleansed by God's free grace, and because Abel offered his sacrifice with that understanding, by that means we're told that he was received by God. God had received his sacrifice. And because he believed in the truth of the gospel as to what he had at that point in time, he offered his sacrifice in faith, and by that means, we're told, he was justified and declared righteous in God's sight because of his faith, we're told that. Not the sacrifice, but because of his faith. And so the author continues then, to the end of verse four, declaring, we see it here in Hebrews, and that's the whole point of these examples. And through his, that is through Abel's what? Faith, though he died, he was murdered after that, being in fact murdered, why? Because of his jealous brother, in regard to that very sacrifice, which God had accepted, though he died, we're told he, Abel, still speaks. This man speaks to us not as some ancient caveman who is ignorant, but as a man who is an example of faith for us today. Abel's voice of faith, expressed through his sincere and genuine sacrifice, which ultimately led to his murder, still speaks throughout all ages of history, affirming the reality of a faith that truly justifies. Not awesomely, Abel presents that to us. Right from the beginning, immediately after the fall of man, in Abel, we find the blueprint for the type of genuine faith that leads to justification and salvation. We see that in Abel right from the beginning. Otherwise, the author would have just jumped right to Noah, or maybe Abraham, or maybe Enoch, who's next. And so we come then to Enoch. That's Abel, first example we're given. Enoch in verses five and six, starting with verse five. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. And he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended, right? Does that ring a bell, that word? There it is again. As having pleased God. Enoch is an amazing and early testimony of the faith. So little is told about him in the scriptures, but so much is implied by what we are told about him. Following the sin of Adam and Eve, We know, as we've just seen, we're immediately led to witness the first murder, physical murder, we can say the first spiritual murder took place in chapter 3, but the first murder when Cain murdered his brother Abel in a fit of rage and jealousy. And while we're given hope through the line of Seth, where we find people beginning to call upon the name of the Lord, we move into chapter 5 only to be bombarded by a lengthy genealogy where the reality of physical death becomes pronounced in the passing of one individual after the other. See, you come to Genesis 5, I come to Genesis 5, and we read this genealogy about people living, having children, and dying, and for us it's normal because we know that's normal. But think about what it meant at that time, when God had said, and the day you eat of it, you will die. And you come to chapter five of Genesis, and you read about that, and you hear about that, and death becomes something pronounced, because everybody is dying, as God had said. What happened? So-and-so lived for so many years, and fathered children. And after living for X amount of years, he died. He suffered the consequence of Adam's sin. And so the reality of death smacks you right in the face as the fulfillment of Adam's curse is witnessed through that genealogy from one generation to the next. Died, died, died, died. Everybody dies. That is everybody except one. That hits you between the eyes. We move down into the later part of that genealogy, and as we scroll through and see this death in Genesis 5 from generation to generation, you come to this one figure as you're reading, just like the rest, and his name is Enoch. And we expect the pattern to continue. We find him fathering children like everyone else, and then moving on. And we anticipate his certain death, but we read something profoundly and unusual and shocking. It stops you right in your tracks in Genesis chapter five, verses 21 through 24. And it's meant to hit you like that. We read these words. When Enoch had lived 65 years, so far the same, he fathered Methuselah, right? It's all going the same with everything else. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Okay, there's this walk with God in there. That's a little unusual, but he had other sons and daughters, so far the same. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. That's a little short compared to the rest. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. Whoa, you put the brakes on there, right? What is this that we learn about Enoch? First we're told that he walked with God, and then that statement is repeated for the second time, Enoch walked with God, and then it's followed by the words, and he was not, for God took him. You want to intrude upon a genealogy? That does a pretty good job of it, doesn't it? And so one minute, Enoch is there, that's what we see, like everyone else, still relatively young for that matter, for those of you who think you're old in here, he was 365 years and he was still relatively young. But then we're told that he wasn't. like an ancient version of the Left Behind series. We find Enoch just disappearing from the world without warning. There's no body there, maybe all the things that were set up and where he lived, whatever his location was, his tent, right, are there, and this is in this place, and everything looks like it was just lived in as usual, but then there's no body, there's no sign of any change, he's just gone. He was not. Why? where God took him. Here the author of Hebrews connects this divine evacuation to Enoch's faith, implied by the repeated phrase, such a significant phrase for us, that Enoch walked with God. Notice again verse five, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. And so here we find that Enoch had an inner faith that was exhibited by a consistent faithful walk with God, at least from the time that he had Methuselah onward, He lived his life evidencing the fact that he believed God's promises. Now, we don't have the details. We don't have the biography. We just can unravel a bit, in a general sense, what walking with God means. And we can understand that it meant that he believed God's promises concerning a better life in glory, all secured in the gospel promises. And by this means, he was taken up by God into that eternal inheritance, never even experiencing death. Indeed, his departure, in itself we're told, was a testimony of the genuine nature of his faith. The departure. God was pleased with him. And so he took him. And he was not. We have that word commended again, given here again, right? Same word, back from the beginning of the definition of faith. Enoch was martyred. Now, again, we know he wasn't killed, but he was martyred. He had a witness, he had a testimony. That's the word commended. He obtained a witness by his faithful living. He obtained a martyrdom, his consistent walking with God and obedience. And because of that, in this case, God took him home. His assurance and conviction of things unseen, Enoch, drove him to live a life of diligent and faithful service to God. And God witnessed, provided a martyrdom, as it were, to the authenticity of his great faith, how? By causing him to pass over death, bringing him right into his eternal inheritance in heaven. This unique event, brethren, is inserted right there at the beginning of a very troubling and tragic history of mankind as a testimony to the glorious hope of the gospel for fallen sinners who seek Christ and walk with Him. What are our examples so far of the faith? Abel and Enoch. The oldest of the Old Testament examples are who we draw from in our legacy or their legacy to provide us with a pattern that we're to follow, not necessarily in the same exact actions, but with the same faith that produced those actions. Now before moving on, The author inserts a very important declaration here into his checklist of the faithful. Further highlighting not only the profound fruit of a genuine faith, but the absolute necessity of such a faith who would all desire to please God. This is important because we're gonna see this. He wants us to see that this is not a list of the superstars. of the people that we're not meant to reach, which is to admire them from afar. No, he wants to bring us to them and say, this is what's required of you. Not the same exact actions, but the same exact faith. And so what does he say here? When we look at this text, he says in verse six, he just talked about Enoch pleasing God, being commended as having pleasing God. And verse six, and without faith, See, that's the key. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. What a critical statement of importance, following the example of Enoch, directed toward his readers in Hebrews here, and all who read this letter, including us today. The author is here putting forth a valuable piece of commentary as he goes through this checklist, meant to accompany his slideshow of the faithful as it were. It's like he's going through the slides, and then he gets to Enoch, and he stops, and he turns, and he makes some comment, some application as it were, so that his wavering readers do not fail to take these examples personally and to heart. He wants us to identify with these men, not to see them as distanced from us. Yes, both Abel and Enoch, and all who follow on this list, exhibited a genuine faith, but not simply for us to admire at a distance, as if to say, well, these individuals really excelled, but we can just settle down back here, as such an expectation is not directed toward us little guys. We might look at it in the way If we think of these baseball games, we talk about Jeff, right? I look at a man like Aaron Judge and I say this guy, when it comes to baseball, excels in a way that most human beings cannot excel to. He's a profoundly amazing baseball player. keeps his composure, hits well, hits consistently, hits a lot of home runs, is really an excellent fielder. And if I was showing you him and some of the other folks who are great baseball players, I would say we can admire these people, but we don't need to necessarily think that we're going to be like them in that sense. See, the author wants to make sure that we're not seeing it like that. We are to be like the men that he's presenting. And they are men like us, and women like us, as we will see. These are blueprints that are given not simply for our admiration, but for our great benefit, so that we can recognize that such a living faith, that's the emphasis, is what God is after in all, all, all of his people. All of his people. You see, without such a living, genuine, active faith, without a faith that produces such consistent loyalty and commitment, it doesn't have to be the literal, exact way that these men lived, but without that kind of a faith that produces that kind of a consistent loyalty and commitment, in our context, we are incapable of pleasing God without that same faith. We can also say it this way. God has designed us to walk and live by faith. And we cannot live in keeping with his will. We cannot glorify our God and Creator without exercising and exhibiting such an authentic, life-directing faith, that when we're presented with our context, which may be different than theirs, that same risk-taking, same active, obedient faith is what's in us. without faith. It's not simply unlikely, but rather it is absolutely impossible to please God. It's impossible to please God without that faith. The same faith. Whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. If one wishes to draw near to, isn't that what all of our worship is about? To relate to God, he must believe that He exists, not merely with a cerebral nod, because that's not what these men had, but with an absolute assurance and certainty that drives the whole life toward diligent obedience to his invisible essence, confident that God is able to and will reward those who seek him, the kind of faith that has an assurance of things unseen, a conviction that these things are true about this God who we cannot see and the promises that this invisible God has given us. Genuine faith lives in light of, and with the assurance of obtaining the promises that God has made in his word. In this respect, Abel offered his best to God, and Enoch walked consistently with God, neither treating their faith in some aloof fashion, but rather diligently, we're told, seeking God, with their whole hearts, directing the whole of their lives toward pursuing and grasping what is invisible to the eyes, but tangible to the heart, to the soul, to the faith. They genuinely pushed beyond the limitation of their physical senses and laid hold of the invisible God who created and designed all that was accessible to their physical senses. And by faith, an act of life-directing faith, They pleased God and were martyred in their witness, right? They were witnessed to, they were commended by Him, by God. Well, this then brings us to our last example, Noah. Noah, in verse 7. By faith, it's always important to have that by faith, not by the actions. By faith, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, does that sound familiar? Unseen, in reverent fear, Noah constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Recalling again the author's definition of faith as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, we find Noah's faith specifically connected to a warning that God had given concerning events yet unseen. God had warned Noah about a coming worldwide flood, something that had never happened since the beginning of time. which would destroy every living thing on earth. That sounds like an exaggeration. That sounds like something that would not be expected scientifically. And God commanded him to build a large ark, a ship, on the land. to carry him, his family, and two of every kind of animal on board once the water would fill the earth. This was a large task which would take Noah several years to complete. And we're told that Noah, drawing out of his inner faith in God, Right? Out of what's inside of him. His genuine conviction of things unseen. His genuine conviction in the reality of God and his ability to do what he promises. He drew out of that inner faith, out of a reverent fear for God, and he took up the weighty project actively and constructed the very large vessel on dry land. Noah acted out of his reverent faith. He didn't give mere lip service to God, even considering the fact that everything was dry up to this point. And life continued to move on as usual. During the time that he built that ship, everything seemed like it was normal. Didn't seem like there was a cloud in the sky, if I can say that in some sense. He was convinced of the coming flood as if he could reach it with his senses, even though it was yet unseen. And how do we know this? How do we know that Noah believed? We're told that he condemned, I'm sorry, he poured his life, labor, and materials into constructing an ark, to constructing this ship. And by doing this, we're told, Noah condemned the unbelieving world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Same justification for all people, generations, covenants by faith in the promises of God and in God. Both brought condemnation to the world and laid hold of God's glorious free righteousness by his faith. He was an aroma of condemnation to those who did not believe and the flood of judgment came upon the whole world when he had finished building the ark and his family was safely at rest inside of it and God closed the door. And by this means, Noah and his family were spared from judgment, and Noah's faith was commended by God. In fact, in 2 Peter 2.5, we're told Noah was a herald, a preacher, a proclaimer of righteousness, certainly by those actions, maybe verbally as well, but he was a proclaimer of righteousness by faith. Well, brethren, We conclude this morning then in consideration of these first three men of faith, Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Next time, Lord willing, we'll spend some time with Abraham, who was often called the father of the faith because of what we see happening to him. But faith preceded Abraham. In summary for now then, What we do find to be the common link, and this is what we're looking for, between our first three examples, what we find to be the common link between our first three examples is this. All three men had exhibited the fact that they had a genuine faith in God and his promises. That's the emphasis. The curtain covering their hearts, because you can't see the inner man, right? The curtain covering their hearts was pulled back, as it were, by the risks and actions that they took, and an authentic faith was exposed. What was unseen in them was seen by their actions. Abel gave his best. Abel evidenced the fact that the best of what he possessed in this life was not more important than his relationship with God. Can we not take that general principle from Abel without just getting caught up in the actual sacrifice itself? He gave his best of what he possessed and didn't consider anything that he had as more important than his relationship with God. It's not that God needed the best of the flock, is it? It's not like the Greek gods and the Roman gods or the gods throughout history who have distorted these sacrifices and made it as if God depends on these physical things, as if God needs lamb blood and bull blood of goats and so on and birds. God doesn't need any of that. God doesn't need anything. In fact, it was just burned up. But it was a means of commending the faith of Abel, which is more precious than silver and gold that perishes. Affirming his trust in God's providential care and his sincere love for the creator over and above the creation. You and I will be tested in that way. Is our love for the Creator over and above for what we have and value in this creation? That takes faith. That's what God was after. He didn't care about the lambs and the bulls and the goats and all that in that sense. Certainly there was symbolism there and it was important, but it was the faith that generated those things. that meant something to God. Enoch. I'm sorry, Abel gave his best. Enoch walked with God consistently. He stood out as one who genuinely feared God and lived before the face of God, putting the interest of God and others before himself. That's what that means. And in doing so, his faith, the genuineness of that which was inside of him, not merely the profession that came out of his lips, but the genuineness of that which was inside of him was exposed, and he was commended by God when he was taken up, not experiencing the death that everyone else had experienced. He served as an example of hope. not as an example of escaping the first death. Let's not get that confused, right? We're not having this hope that God is gonna take us up like Enoch. That's not the point. That's not, the example is not there. He served as an example of hope, not of escaping the first death, but of the hope of eternal life offered to broken sinners through Christ. And he was received, and God brought him up And He did not face death to show us that such a true hope will bring all of us into that eternal state, even through the first death. And Noah Noah was a faithful man during his generation, and that faith was manifested at a time when we're told that virtually the whole world was lost, and in a sea of utter wickedness and rebellion, every thought of the heart of man was evil continually, we're told. And his faith was commended. When heeding God's warning, he spent years building a large ship, in anticipation of a worldwide flood that had never taken place before. All of these men were declared just and righteous in the sight of God, not because of their works or actions, but because of the genuine faith that they had in God and his promises, which in turn was made known by their actions. That difference is so critical for us to understand. You can't begin with the actions. It's the faith that justified and produced the actions. These three examples and the rest, which we will consider in the weeks ahead, are given, again, brethren, this is so important, not as a list of unreachable all-stars, but rather as a pattern of the common, the same faith that exists in all of God's true children. The same faith. To be sure, their actions looked very different. but it was the faith that lie beneath their actions which was the same and which was commended by God who declared them righteous in his sight in accordance with the grace that he freely gives to all who truly believe the gospel of Christ. If you have a genuine faith, if you have genuine faith like these men, it will be affirmed by your actions and a consistent daily life of walking with God. If you have genuine faith like these men, it will be affirmed by your actions and a consistent life of walking with God. God will be on your mind daily and you will be shaking to live before His face. Not perfectly, you will seek to live before his face faithfully. And though you are imperfect, that will be your drive. Remember, walking with God, the whole concept of walking with God, is a lifelong activity that makes up the whole of your life. Your daily grind, how you conduct yourself at work, how you conduct yourself in the home, how you relate to others outside in your community, how you conduct yourself in the church, living in fellowship with and in the fear of God. It makes up the whole of your life. You don't have to have the same exact actions as these men. but you have to have the same faith. And that faith will make its way out in your context and within the testing ground that God sets out before each and every one of us. God will affirm or disprove the reality of your faith throughout the course of your life. And only those who persevere and remain steadfast in Christ to the end will be commended, will be considered modest as these men were. The same faith justifies for all of God's people. The same genuine hope in Christ, the same confidence and assurance of things unseen, the same inner trust in the God who is presently beyond the reach of our physical senses must be found, that same trust in each and every one of us if we are truly in the faith. For some, all of this that we see in this word is real. The whole of what is given in this book impacts your life. For others, it is a mere cerebral nod. Where do you stand this morning? Can you identify with the faith of Abel, Enoch, and Noah? Or are they just too radical for you? It's so easy to sit in the common ground of the popular evangelical aroma of our day, which considers faith just saying a prayer, walking an aisle, saying that you believed, even if it was 20 years ago, and then continuing to live however you lived before. That's not the faith of the Bible. Genuine faith that believes. will then evidence that faith by moving forward in the actions. If you're outside of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, that faith begins with recognizing certainly that God is, that He exists, that this is not a mistake, that this glorious and profoundly amazing creation was designed by God and for a purpose, but to recognize that you are separated from this God. You don't have a relationship with this God. You walk through life as if He doesn't exist and sin against His laws because you do not believe in Him. You're in your sin. But God has sent His Son into the world to lay down His life on behalf of sinners on the cross so that He died in the stead of sinners and took their place so that what is justly deserved of us is placed on Him and that He was raised from the dead three days later unto the justification of all who believe in Him. If you are outside of Christ Your faith must begin there. He must be the object of your faith. Don't try to turn over a new leaf. Don't try to do the actions that are the outward expressions of a faith. That's empty. That's legalism. That will never work. You must have faith in Christ. And then, by the grace of God and by the work of His Spirit, you will begin to live consistently, seeking to be obedient to the will and design and laws of God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these examples of the faith. We thank you that we can identify the common thread in all of these individuals and see that it's the simple, yet impossible to reach on our own. Apart from the work of your spirit, it's the simple faith. trust in you that they had that then led to those actions. Father, we ask that you would be gracious and that those who do not know you today, that you would rescue them from the power of the devil, from the power of their own sin, from the power of unbelief, and that you would create in their hearts a faith, even a spark of faith, even a mustard seed of faith that will grow. as they relate to you through Christ. And Lord, for those who do know you today, we ask that you would help us to live out of our faith, to walk by faith, and as you place us into all of the different circumstances that we face each day, just the mundane activities of life, that we would consider you and that we would look to respond to others as a light to the gospel of Christ, showing others by our actions, and our words, and our love, that we believe the gospel. Lord, put these truths into our hearts, we pray. In Christ's name, Amen.