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The Journey of Faith, Faith and Work

This series of teachings is coming from two sections of scripture: 
Hebrews 11 and the book of Genesis.  
Hebrews 11 is known as the faith chapter…

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)
1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This week I taught on Faith as it relates to WORK. 

Remember, "Faith is"…Faith is, not was.  It is a real active, day by day part of our lives.  We don’t turn Faith on, and then turn it off…it’s the most real thing about knowing God.

As a compass points to true north…always… SO also, Faith is like a compass…it points always to WHO we put our HOPE in and WHO we have CONVICTION about.

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
6  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.

Faith is in a SOMEONE, NOT A SOMETHING.  FAITH is trust in God.

The first two stories I looked at in relation to Faith were not as well known:  Abel’s Worship and Enoch’s Commitment were examples of FAITH as it relates to trusting in God, BUT I realize they are not that well known as stories.

This week I dove into one of the more well-known stories in Genesis, the story of Noah, and the building of the Ark before the Flood.  This work of Noah, demonstrates the faith and the everyday thing we call, WORK:

Hebrews 11:7 (ESV)
7  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.

In relation to this series of the Journey of Faith, Noah demonstrates how FAITH and WORK fit together.

Noah, Faith in the Midst of a Fallen World

We looked at Genealogies last week, and saw how God spoke four generations before Noah to his Great-Great Grandfather, Enoch.

Enoch was seven generations after Adam, and since they all lived to over 900 years old, Enoch was probably around 2000 years from the Garden of Eden.

What we know is that Enoch sounded a warning to the generations that followed about the need for a Commitment to God, and four generations followed: 

Enoch > Methuselah
Methuselah > Lamech
Lamech > Noah

When Noah is born, Lamech makes a Prophetic statement: 
Genesis 5:28-29 (ESV)
28  When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son
29  and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”

Noah is more or less a transliteration of the Hebrew word, “Noach”, pronounced “Noo-Akh”.  Noah means “to Rest, to Quiet, to Relieve”.

He was named Noah by his Father who said he is going to give us RELIEF from the Work which his father describes as “Painful Toil”.

It’s a bit hard to understand the words on their own, but as you know Context always determines interpretation…Lamech looked around and saw a world that was difficult to survive in…and we know why from the beginning of the next chapter.

Genesis 6:1-4 (ESV)
1  When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,
2  the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
3  Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
4  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

After Genesis 3, Satan is not mentioned again in Genesis, but it’s clear that He is at work in this.  What is Satan doing?  
He is trying to destroy the “image of God” in mankind.

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
26  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

When the FALL occurs, God speaks about the nature of Satan’s attack in the Garden.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

It’s important to note, God is the one speaking here.
God speaks of Eve’s descendants…Her “Offspring”…
And, God speaks of Satan’s Offspring too…
NOW, beyond movies that depict Zombies, Devils, and novels from authors like Stephen King and Anne Rice…we don’t have any real understanding of what Satan’s Offspring might be…Until we get to Genesis 6…

Genesis 6:1-2 (ESV)
1  When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,
2  the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.

The two contrasting phrases are “Sons of God” and “Daughters of Man”…and the overriding sense in the context is of their “Sexual Co-habitation”… 

I don’t think we have a problem understanding “Daughters of Man”… It is the phrase “Sons of God” that we need help in understanding.
We get help from a book that was a contemporary of the book of Genesis.

Job 1:1-2 (ESV)
1  There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
2  There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

Job’s story is about suffering and his faith and we’ll get to that much later in our series, but in the early part of Job we’re introduced to TWO REALITIES…
Job’s family, and what is going on in the heaven’s before God.  Job is called blameless and upright, and he raised children to know God, but in the process of a divine "bet" between God and Satan, some really bad, ugly things happen. We only know life from the "underside"...the earthly part; but their is another dimension and it is in the heavenlies.

Job 1:6 (ESV)
6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

Who are these “Sons of God” that come before God?  They are “Angels”.  We see that in the following chapter.

Job 2:1 (NIV)
1  On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.

The idea that Satan lives in Hell and seeks to destroy mankind from there comes mainly from John Milton’s Paradise LostBut here it is clear, Satan is free to roam, including the heavens. 

What happened wasn’t because Satan has the ability to control Humans, but because he is a deceiver, and he deceives people into cooperating with him.

Genesis 6:3-4 (ESV)
3  Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
4  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

The first part of this refers to how long the earth is going to stay this way – another 120 years…and God was going to do something about it…WHY?
Because these Nephilim were the offspring of the Sons of God – the Angels – and the Daughters of Men.
Perplexing?  Perposterous?  Think about it.
Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Norse, Roman, Mayan… ALL of them depicted creatures that were not totally human…but instead were partly human and partly beast, or in some cases, not human at all.  Where’d they get the idea for those things?  We don't know how to understand mythology except as a part of imagination; but it's quite possible that we're dealing with something that once existed. 

 The word “Nephilim” literally means “Fallen Ones”…  these were the offspring of Satan’s attempt to destroy Mankind’s image of God.  
NOW, what happened to them?

2 Peter 2:4-5 (ESV)
4  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

5  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Peter is not saying God sent Satan to Hell…we know from the book of Revelation that this has not happened yet.  
The point in the text is not to raise the issue of WHAT they were, but rather WHAT GOD SAID ABOUT THIS. What this is about is God’s punishment of this group of Angels for the actions that made the situation on earth to deteriorate quickly.

Genesis 6:5-6 (ESV)
5The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6  And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Whatever it was that was occurring, it was described in these verses in alarming ways:
·        Wickedness was great
·        Thoughts of His heart only evil
·         Lord regretted creating mankind
     This action grieved Him to His Heart.
The Lord comes to a conclusion that something has to be done: 

Genesis 6:7 (ESV)
7  So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

It’s not just mankind, but everything…animals, insects, birds…everything is corrupted in this act.  

BUT…and there is always that BUT with God.
Genesis 6:8 (ESV)
8  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

You see the word “Favor”?  The Hebrew word means “Grace”.
Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the Lord.  GRACE IS NOT A REWARD…IT IS A GIFT.  AND IT IS A GIFT THAT IS A RESPONSE TO FAITH.

Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)
8  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,


Our Faith operates in such a way that it stands against Evil, and affirms Grace… Faith is…  Faith is active, action, now oriented… you don’t turn it on or off, it “is”, and it responds in the face of evil.

I'll come back to this and finish it tomorrow.

Peace

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