IDEA: God values greatly our faith in Him.
PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate why our faith is valuable to God.

 Listen to this verse in Hebrews 11:5 from the NKJV: "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him,' for before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased God."

I. What is this sentence actually saying about Enoch?

God "took" him.

What do you think that means?

This honor of being taken into God's presence was given to no one in the Old Testament except Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).

God took Enoch because he was very "pleased" with him.

II. What do you think people might guess the next sentence would be that would explain why Enoch pleased God?

One explanation was that he must have lived a totally righteous life.

The Genesis account indicates, however, that for the first 65 years of his life, Enoch did not walk with God. Presumably he went along with the deteriorating morality of his times described in Genesis 6:5.

What apparently changed Enoch's outlook on life and caused him to "walk with God"? Genesis 5:25--It was the birth of his son. From that time on for the following 300 years, Enoch walked with God. He wasn't totally righteous.

Maybe he offered sacrifices every day as Abel did.

Perhaps he lived a very "separated" life.

The Genesis account tells us that he had other sons and daughters. What do you think that might tell you about Enoch?

III. Enoch, in spite of his family responsibilities, was a man of faith. And because of his faith, the writer of Hebrews says that God took him.