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Hebrews 11:5-6 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Please take out your copy of God's Word, which I hope you have with you this morning, and turn to Hebrews chapter 11.
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!
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Our text today is Hebrews chapter 11, verses 5 and 6.
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As we continue our study of the book of Hebrews, be reminded that this is a letter written pastorally to a group of Christians who had suffered much for their faith and were feeling a tug to abandon that faith.
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Its author has been laboring to remind them of the excellencies of Jesus Christ and to encourage them to endure faithfully to the end.
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If you've been with us, I hope that you have been receiving the very same encouragement in our study.
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Recall that at the end of chapter 10, the author says, verse 39,
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But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
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And we have been talking at length about salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
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And the way that having been saved by grace, we persevere faithfully.
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We show ourselves to be followers of Jesus Christ with the way we live.
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We show Him to be loved by us by the way we live.
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So do our works save us?
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No.
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But it is a faith in the person and work of Christ that saves us and produces us in us the desire and the ability to do good work.
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The author of Hebrews went on to describe this faith.
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And it's where we find ourselves in the text developing out this idea found in verse 1 and 2.
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He says,
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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
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For by it, the people of old received their commendation or their approval.
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God was pleased with them because of their faith.
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And he has begun to give a series of examples of these people of old who received their commendation by faith in God and in His promises.
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Last week we looked at Abel, the very first martyr.
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And this week we're going to look at Enoch.
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Now at the very outset of today's sermon, I want you to know that I intend to preach a very short sermon on verses 5 and 6.
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That's the plan anyway.
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It's what I'm purposing to do for two reasons.
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Number one, because the character whose faith we are going to consider is a bit of a mystery.
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Not a whole lot going on in the biblical narrative with Enoch.
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Secondly, and more importantly, because I want to allow some time to share with you some changes that we are going to make to our meeting times.
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And do not have many opportunities to speak to you all at the same time.
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You're here, you're seated.
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This is a good opportunity for this.
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We're going to try to make some space for that to give some explanation to that very end.
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Now, if you were a guest with us this morning, I just want you to know this is not normative.
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15 minute-ish sermon, 20 minutes maybe, we'll see how that goes.
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It's not normally what we do together.
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We really want to work out and develop out a passage very, very clearly.
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But it's going to be important for us, I think, this morning to spend some time considering some potential changes for us.
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And the way that we meet together.
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So that said, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us.
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That it was written for his glory and our good.
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And we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
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Hebrews chapter 11, verse 5 and 6.
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By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death.
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And he was not found because God had taken him.
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Now, before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God.
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And without faith, it is impossible to please him.
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For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
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Now, we can read the original account of Enoch's life of faithful endurance in Genesis chapter 5, verses 21 through 24.
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You don't have to turn there with me, but you can if you would like to.
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I'm going to read it for the sake of time now.
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It reads,
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When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
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Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
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Thus, all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
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Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.
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So, Enoch is barely mentioned in the biblical narrative.
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We have very few facts about his life, but what we do have is significant and, if well considered, will serve our faithful pursuit of God.
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And so, we're going to look.
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This will be the outline for today's text.
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Number one, at Enoch's end.
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Number two, at Enoch's walk.
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And number three, at Enoch's faith.
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So, let's look for a moment at Enoch's end.
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You see this in the first part of verse 5.
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Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him.
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So, he went to go be with God.
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And in Genesis 5, verse 24, Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
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Enoch lived for 365 years, although comparatively a very short time.
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All the contemporaries of his day lived three times-ish longer than he lived.
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I learned a fun new word.
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I'm just going to share it for the joy of sharing it this morning.
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A great word for pre-flood time is antediluvian.
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I think that's really fantastic.
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So, his antediluvian life was a fairly short life in the scope of what was happening in that day.
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For further joy, I just want to point out how very long 365 years is.
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And Kent Hughes, in his commentary, does a neat job of this.
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I'm going to read this to you just in brief.
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He writes,
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When Enoch celebrated his second century in 1827,
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Jedediah Smith blazed the first trail from Southern California to Fort Vancouver,
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and at the other end of the country, New Orleans, would celebrate its first Mardi Gras
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when students from Paris introduced the Shrove Tuesday event.
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In 1927, on his 300th birthday, the cake would have melted from the heat of the candles.
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Charles Lindbergh would pilot the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic to Paris.
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Babe Ruth would hit 60 home runs,
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and the first talkie, which would have been a movie with a soundtrack,
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called The Jazz Singer with Al Johnson, would be produced.
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And finally, in 1992, the whole world would know of his departure in one instant through satellite cable communication.
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It's a long, long time for Enoch to walk with God.
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And I don't know about you, but this life feels long on some days.
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It just seems like it's never going to end.
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I am now, for some of you in the room, I'll say only 39.
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For some of you, I'll go, I'm 39.
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I'll be 40 in just a few short months, and it just doesn't feel like I'm in the middle of this life.
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It seems to have gone on already for so long, and I cry out so many days,
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Come, Lord Jesus.
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Like, today would be a wonderful day for it all to end.
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I'm being asked, right, to faithfully persevere to the end.
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And we find in our text in Hebrews 11 an example of a man who faithfully persevered so much longer than any of us will have to do so.
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I think that's why it's wonderfully placed.
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I think that's why the author of Hebrews, as he's walking through the biblical narrative, uses this example of Enoch.
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We don't know why exactly God spared him from seeing death.
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Why is it that he was taken up early?
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The narrative does not tell us.
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But this is all we know concerning his end.
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He walked with God, and then God took him.
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So that was Enoch's end.
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Secondly, let's take a look at Enoch's walk.
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Hebrews 11, last part of verse 5 says,
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Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God.
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And in Genesis chapter 5, verse 22, we're told that Enoch walked with God.
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Enoch pleased God because he walked with him.
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To walk with someone suggests a mutual agreement,
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and in the case of God, a mutual agreement of the soul.
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Amos chapter 3, in verse 3, we can read,
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Do two walk together unless they have agreed to meet?
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Enoch oriented his life in the way of his God.
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Enoch was heading in God's direction.
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And this was not always pleasant for Enoch.
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Interestingly, in the New Testament, if we read Jude's letter,
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we can read that Enoch was a prophet.
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And he was given words to speak to the people that God's judgment was coming.
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You can find yourself very unpopular very quickly for saying such things.
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Jude writes in verse 14 and 15,
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It was also about these, and he's referencing ungodly people,
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that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying,
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and he here cites Enoch,
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Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones
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to execute judgment on all
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and to convict all the ungodly of their deeds of ungodliness
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that they have committed in such an ungodly way,
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and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
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He was given a message that in his walk with God,
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he was meant to deliver.
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So this was not always an easy task laid before him.
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So we need not think that Enoch, in his antediluvian world,
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lived in a day that wasn't also hostile toward God.
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We can find much relation to him in this time.
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Enoch was willing to prophesy for God
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because he had deep fellowship with God.
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He cared about God and his ways.
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He feared God and he did not fear man.
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So Enoch walked with God.
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And then third, and we'll spend a bit more time here,
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Enoch's faith.
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Enoch's faith.
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Verse 6 says, Hebrews chapter 11,
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And without faith it is impossible to please him,
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for whoever would draw near to God
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must believe that he exists
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and that he rewards those who seek him.
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We must have faith for God to be pleased with us.
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And the object of that faith matters greatly.
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Not willy-nilly faith.
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Not just belief in something,
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but faith in a specific set of things.
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And he gives us two of them
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that are a bit of umbrella statements,
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but faith first that he exists.
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God himself is the beginning point of our faith in him.
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Not a God of our making,
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but God as he is.
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In new measure in our day,
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there are many who do not believe
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that there is a God at all.
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This type of thinking and thought process
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just runs rampant in our day.
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Many ask that question on the college campus.
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Is there a God?
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We must start with that very foundation
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that yes, in fact, there is a God.
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The fact that our culture is rejecting reality
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that there is a God should not surprise us.
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Paul spoke of this very same phenomenon in his day.
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Romans chapter 1, verse 18 and following.
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He says,
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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
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against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
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who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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For what can be known about God is plain to them
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because God has shown it to them.
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For his invisible attributes,
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namely his eternal power and divine nature,
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have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world
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in the things that have been made.
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So they are without excuse.
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The created world cries out that there is a God,
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a creator God who is internal in power
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and has a divine nature.
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This can be perceived clearly,
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but in unrighteousness,
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that truth is suppressed.
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Even the demons are outpacing much of our world.
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James 2.19 we read,
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You believe that God is one you do well.
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Even the demons believe and shudder.
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We must believe that God created the world,
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but further, we must see him as a personal creator God.
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This God made me,
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and this God made you.
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Psalm 139, verse 13.
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You formed my inward parts,
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You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
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God didn't merely spin the world into existence,
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set some things in motion,
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and step back from it,
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but he is a personal creator God.
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My number one go-to apologetic argument
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against the atheist is them.
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I say, you know what's most convincing to me
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that God exists?
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No, the what?
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I'll go, you.
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You are amazing.
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The fact that you have the mental faculty
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to even question the existence of God
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is rather astounding.
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All of those neurons firing off the way they do
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to make you say the things you say
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is pretty incredible.
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We have physical abilities
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that are just, just astounding.
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You're my evidence that a God exists,
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and it usually stops the conversation.
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People don't want to debate that they're amazing.
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You were fearfully and wonderfully made.
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You have a God that knit you together
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in your mother's womb,
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and he loves you immensely.
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Further, we must believe that God revealed himself
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in the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
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We want to know who this God is.
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We are to look at Christ.
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We can't pick one of the many gods of the world,
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pick our favorite adaptation,
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and go with that.
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We must worship God by worshiping Christ.
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Remember at the very beginning of our letter,
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the opening statement of Hebrews chapter 1,
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1 and 2, long ago,
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at many times and in many ways,
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God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
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But in these last days,
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he has spoken to us by his Son.
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We must believe that God revealed himself.
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He exists and that he revealed himself
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in the person and in the work of Jesus Christ.
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If we are to behold God,
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we are to do so by beholding Jesus.
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In Colossians chapter 1,
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there's a wonderful church hymn.
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It's largely believed that this was a song
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that was being sung in the early church.
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And it makes it so clear that Jesus himself
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is God made flesh.
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That's the astounding thing
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that we're going to celebrate here in just a month.
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We begin thinking about God incarnate,
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coming to earth,
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humbling himself to become a man
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that we might know him.
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We might know that he exists
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and know him personally.
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So Colossians chapter 1,
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beginning in verse 15 and following reads,
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He, being Jesus,
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is the image of the invisible God,
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the firstborn of all creation.
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For by him,
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all things were created in heaven and on earth,
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visible and invisible,
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whether thrones or dominions
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or rulers or authorities.
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All things were created through him
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and for him.
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And he is before all things,
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and in him,
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all things hold together.
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And he is the head of the body,
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the church.
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He is the beginning,
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the firstborn from the dead,
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that in everything he might be preeminent.
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For in him,
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all the fullness of God
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was pleased to dwell,
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and through him,
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to reconcile to himself all things,
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whether on earth or in heaven,
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making peace by the blood of his cross.
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This is packed full of realities
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about who Jesus is.
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As we are a people
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meant to have a faith
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that God exists, right?
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We see in this text,
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Jesus Christ,
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our God,
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as the creator.
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He made all things.
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We see him as the sustainer.
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He holds all things together.
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He is the goal of all of that, right?
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That praise would be offered up to him.
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He is the king ruling over the world
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and specifically the church.
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And he is the reconciler, right?
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Bringing people who are enemies of God
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to a peaceful relationship with him.
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Astounding, astounding truths.
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We must believe that God exists,
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and we must have faith
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that he has revealed himself
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in the person and the work
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of Jesus Christ.
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We also must have faith,
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the author of Hebrew tells us,
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that he rewards those who seek him.
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Right?
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The world of Enoch's day
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was horribly wicked.
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Genesis chapter 6, 11 through 13
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says,
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Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight,
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and the earth was filled with violence.
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And God saw the earth,
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and behold, it was corrupt,
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for all flesh had corrupted their way
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on the earth.
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And God said to Noah,
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I have determined to make an end
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of all flesh,
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for the earth is filled
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with violence through them.
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Behold, I will destroy them
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with the earth.
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So now this was past Enoch's day.
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Enoch had already been taken
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when this event took place.
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But we saw in his prophecy
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found in Jude, right,
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that the world was already corrupted.
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He did not live in an easy day
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in which to be a faithful follower of God.
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But Enoch, by faith,
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resisted the corruption of his day
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and was rewarded for it.
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So what was his reward?
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If we're to have faith
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that God rewards those who seek him,
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what is that reward?
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I think it comes in many forms,
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with comfort and peace and joy.
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But ultimately and finally,
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the greatest and highest reward
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is God himself.
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Enoch walked with God
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and then was taken up.
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To where?
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To be with God.
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God was his reward forevermore.
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Christian people,
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we must have as our highest love
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our God.
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You can imagine
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heaven
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filled with all the pleasures
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that we imagine heaven has
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and God's not there
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and you would be content
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with such a place.
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You may not
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be a Christian.
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The worship of heaven,
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the joy of heaven
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is centered on
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the presence
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of God.
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That he is there,
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that he exists
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and that he
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is for us.
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Right?
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He is our God
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and we are his people.
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The bulletin
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has a quote on it
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as it does every week.
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This week's from Richard Sibbes,
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Puritan preacher who said,
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when we come to be religious,
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we lose not our pleasure,
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but translate it.
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Before we fed
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on common notions,
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but now we live
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on holy truths.
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So Enoch
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is another
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in a series
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of examples
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of people
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who endured
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faithfully
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to the end.
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Right?
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He endured
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much beyond
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what we are going
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to endure.
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365 years
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he walked
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with God.
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May we be
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a persevering people
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who,
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by our faith
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in the existence
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of God
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as revealed
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in the person
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and work
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of Jesus Christ
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and in the reward
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of God
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himself,
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preserve our souls.
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Let's pray together.