Audio Sermons

Renewing Our Strength in the Lord:
Faith that Pleases God
Life B-P Church Worship Service, 24th August 2025
Text: Hebrews 11:4-7

• The purpose of this chapter is not to exalt the lives of imperfect people, but to teach us what having faith in God is all about.
• The faith that worked for these people will also work for us, to the glory of God.
• We can learn important lessons of faith from three persons who lived before the Great Flood:

Abel: Faith Seen in the Worship of God (v.4)
• Cain and Abel brought their offerings to God in the very first act of worship recorded in the Bible. (Genesis 4:1-4)
• Abel offered the firstborn lambs from his flock, while Cain offered the fruits he had harvested from his field.
• God accepted Abel’s offering. Cain’s offering was not accepted because he did not offer it by faith. (Cf. Leviticus 2:14; Genesis 4:7)

Application:
- Worship that is without faith in God is offered in vain.

Enoch: Faith Seen in Walking with God (vv.5-6)
• Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying because he walked with God. (Cf. Genesis 5:21-24)
• However, he walked with God only after his first son was born. This son’s name, Methuselah, implies that God revealed to Enoch that He was about to bring great judgment on the world.
• Unlike the people of the world, Enoch believed that God exists, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. (v.6; cf. Genesis 6:5)
• God enabled him to warn them about the coming judgment. (cf. Jude 14,15)
• Enoch’s bold preaching against their sins may have brought such intense persecution that God took him up to heaven without dying.

Application:
- Do not hesitate to have faith to walk with God!
- God is the greatest reward you can ever receive. (Cf. Genesis 15:1; Psalm 73:26; 16:11)

Noah: Faith Responding to the Warning of God (v.7)
• Noah responded to God’s warning of coming destruction by obeying His command to build the Ark. (Genesis 6:13,14)
• Noah also preached to the people around him, persuading them to repent of their sins and trust in God’s provision of salvation by coming into the Ark. (Cf. 1 Peter 3:19,20)
• By not having the same response to God’s warning as Noah, they brought condemnation on themselves.

Application:

- To heed God’s warning, you must accept the fact that He must bring judgment on the world.
- God has given ample warning of another judgment that is coming: The end-time calamities and plagues that will accompany the return of Christ. (Cf. Matthew 24:36-39; Revelation 1:7)
- Building your own righteousness cannot help you. (Cf. Isaiah 64:6)

Questions for Personal Reflection:
1. Do you approach God with worship that is offered by faith in Him?
2. Do you seek God with all your heart? (Cf. Jeremiah 29:13,14)
3. Do you look forward to being taken up by God at the Rapture?
4. Have you trusted in the Ark which God has provided to escape from the final judgment of the world? (Cf. John 10:9; 14:6)
5. Do you have His righteousness or your own righteousness?