A Life Approved of God

Well, in Hebrews 10, verse 37 and verse 38, you find Paul quoting the words of Habakkuk.

And what he says, at least in part, in part of Hebrews 10, 37 and 38, is, "...the just shall live by faith." Now, in a sense, that's a very clear statement.

That's surely a statement we're all familiar with. We all perhaps want to do that. We want to live by faith. And I want to cover the topic of living by faith, perhaps in a way that you may not have thought of it as yet. But I hope away that would be helpful for all of us here this afternoon.

In Hebrews 11, following these verses that I just quoted, Hebrews 11, we have an entire chapter.

An entire chapter of people of faith. People in the Old Testament that are listed as individuals who had faith in God. And of course, you know, we're all familiar with this chapter. We often study it. We go over it. And yet I want to focus on just a portion, a portion of this chapter, Hebrews 11, this afternoon. As I said, we see a description of the faith of numerous individuals in the Old Testament. Who is it that stands out in your mind? You can read through the whole account. You know, there's a pretty good section about Abraham, some about Isaac and Jacob, a little bigger statement or several verses about Moses. Noah is mentioned. Who is it that you recall? Again, you know, that could vary for all of us. You know, you have different people that you may have recently studied about or you may have recently been reading about in the Old Testament. But I want to focus on only three of these individuals. But three individuals who, you could say, lived during a difficult time in human history. But individuals that were designated by God to be approved, they lived lives that were approved by God. Now, that's clearly what any of us want. We want to live our life and at the end of that life have the approval of God. We want, as Mr. Barnett was covering, we want to identify with our heavenly Father and be a part of His divine family, and we want to have chosen, voluntarily choose, to be a part of that divine family. There's a way that we can do that. There's a statement here in each one of these folks that I'm going to cover. Let's start in chapter Hebrews 11 verse 1. Of course, you see the definition there. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Again, that can be written in different ways, but you have to think about it to try to figure out what exactly is Paul referring to regarding an understanding of faith. But in verse 2 it says, indeed, by faith the elders, or our ancestors, received the approval of God. It was by living, you know, they were, and as we look back over the last 6,000 years, we have 2,000 years, since the time of Jesus, we have 2,000 years and make up the church age. And we're, what we seem to feel, is at the end of this 2,000 year period of time. 4,000 years before that, you had situations that involved the people of Israel going back to Abraham, and of course you have Noah and the flood, and then pre-flood people, different situations that God was dealing with people in the way that He chose, the way that He determined that He would within His plan. Verse 3 says, by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God so that what is seen was made from things that didn't exist. So it's by faith that we believe that God existed and that He has the ability to be magical. Not magical coffee, but truly magical in that He can make something appear out of nothing, which He can do. He is able to do that, and we have faith in that.

But I want to then drop down, and this is a section that I want to cover today, verse 4, verse 5, and verse 7. It details here in the headings in my Bible that breaks this apart, because you start with Abraham in verse 8. Let's see, who are the people that God apparently chose to deal with before Abraham? There's only three that are listed. And this spans a time from Adam and Eve to the flood, which would be over 1,600 years. 1,656 years is a commonly used number of years. A lot of different people have done genealogical studies or calculations of what's in there in the listings of how long people lived and who begat whom and how old they were and how long they lived after someone was born. You can go through that, and you know, you may come up with different answers, depending on who you are. But one of the most more common year totals is 1,656. It appears that from the time of Adam and Eve to the time of the flood ending the human debacle at that time, what was going on during that time? Well, there weren't very many people obeying God. There weren't very many people that God was even working with. But you do see three that stand out, and I want us to focus on those three. The only three appear to be designated as righteous. And how is it that they are made righteous? Well, was it because they obeyed? Well, not directly. They did obey. They did respect God. But what we're going to find, and we'll read this in verse 4, 5, and 7, they received the approval of God because they lived by faith. Verse 4 is about Abel. Regarding Abel, a son of Adam and Eve, as we all know, he was killed by his brother.

First victim, first victim of a murder on earth that we at least see recorded. And we know the cane rose up and was so angry, so filled with wrath, so filled with rage against his brother, that he said, I can get rid of him. I can use a rock. I can use an arrow. I can whatever, whatever, however he killed him. I don't really know. But then, and I don't know how how old was Abel whenever this happened. Was he a teenager? Was he in his 20s, 30s, 40s?

Was he a hundred or two hundred? I don't think it says. I mean, I don't know. Perhaps there's opinions about what age this might have happened. But we can learn a lot by studying Abel. It says in verse 4 by faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable or an excellent sacrifice, more acceptable than Cain's. And through this sacrifice, he received approval as being righteous.

God himself giving approval to his gifts. And yet it says he died, but through his faith he still speaks. Now that's a summary verse. Now obviously we don't have a lot of information to go on about Abel. We have a little bit, but you can see that Abel was accepted by God. He lived a life that reflected faith in God. And because of that, he was considered righteous.

In verse 5 it says by faith, Enoch. Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death, and he was not found because God had taken him. But it was attested before he was taken away that Enoch had pleased God. Now I don't know exactly where during the 1600 years that we're speaking of before the Flood. You know, Enoch was somewhere in the middle, it looks like, kind of in the middle. I'm not sure of all the year totals, but you see him listed, and you see some information about him there in Genesis 5. And yet what do we see about Enoch here? Well, for some reason God moved him. God transferred him. He translated him. I mean, those are the different words that are used. Now you see the same thing about Elijah just being picked up and put down somewhere else. You see the same thing about Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch. God had brought them together, and yet whenever Philip had preached to him and told him about the fact that he needed to understand that his sins could be forgiven and that Jesus Christ can relieve his sins and his guilt, he wanted to be baptized, so he baptized him, and then Philip disappears. And all of a sudden, he appears somewhere else down the road or another, I'm not sure exactly the location there, as far as how far away it was, but however that happened, that's what it says. And yet that's what we also see happen with Enoch. It wasn't that he was swept off to heaven. That wasn't the case, because we see in Hebrews 11 that all of these, talking about Abel Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, all of these died. We see that in Hebrews 11. All of these died not having received the promises. So Enoch died, and it appears that he did his job, he did his work. But what stands out? How is it that he could please God? Well, verse 5 says it was because of living by faith. By faith.

Enoch was pleasing to God. And then in verse 7, by faith, Noah.

Warm by God about events as yet unseen, he respected the warning and built an ark to save his household. And by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. So again, we see some information. We have a little more information about Noah because we have several chapters to read regarding the flood and his life before and his life after the flood, the universal flood of Genesis. But we don't have too much to go on with Abel or with Enoch. And you don't have a whole lot to go on with Noah.

But see, all of these were accepted by God. They were approved by God because of their faith, because of living by faith. And so, you know, what can we learn from looking at these three individuals, the only three that appear to be worked with by God prior to a flood, you know, that in a sense it reset mankind.

You know, Adam and Eve had begun. They were replenishing the earth, or they were replenishing the earth. They weren't replenishing it. It was going to be populated through Adam and Eve. And then with Noah, it was a reset. Noah, his wife, three sons, three wives, eight people. You know, there was a reset, 1,656 years in. So let's go back to Abel, the son of Adam and Eve.

If we go back to Genesis 4, let's study a little bit about why it was, or how it was that Abel lived by faith. How it was, or what it was that he did that was so pleasing to God. Now, like I said, it would appear that his life was very short-lived, and yet we can see some things even as we begin here in verse 3. Genesis 4, verse 3, in the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.

And so here we're talking about Cain and Abel and their interaction not only with each other or with their parents, but with God. Apparently God had explained to them that you can relate to me through sacrifice. You can relate to me by understanding your flaws and acknowledging your sins. Now, it says in verse 3, that Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And verse 4, Abel, for his part, brought of the firstlings of his flock. Therepath portions, and the Lord, the last part of verse 4, the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering.

He liked what he saw. He liked what Abel did. He liked what Abel brought. He liked the attitude with which Abel approached God. But in verse 5, for Cain and his offering, God had no respect or regard. And so what happened? Cain was very angry. His countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, why are you so angry? Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? In essence, saying, well, you're not doing well, you're doing very poorly. You're bringing an offering that is unacceptable, or you're bringing it in an unacceptable manner, which I think we can very clearly see.

And yet, in contrast to that, what did he say about Abel's offering? I accept you. I accept your offering. I accept your recognition that you need me. You need help. You need forgiveness. In a sense, what we find that Abel was offering, it appears that he was offering, as he did this firstlings of his flock, a sin offering. You would see this later described in Leviticus. Now, exactly how God explained all of this to them, I don't know. All we can do is read what we see in Genesis 4.

But you see that it appears what he offered would have been a sin offering. It would have been a recognition of the fact that I've sinned, that I need to be forgiven, that I want to repent, and that I want to have a right relationship with God and live by faith. That's what we see about Abel. Clearly, what we see in verse 5 is that Cain's offering was not accepted by God. And, of course, immediately Cain went into such a fit of rage.

He got so mad, so upset, and God tried to reason with him. Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen? Why do you look crushed? If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you do not do well, then sin is lurking at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. You know, God clearly pointed out to him that his approach to God, his approach to even coming before God was wrong.

He wasn't really acknowledging his sin. He wasn't recognizing his need to be forgiven. He, in essence, was bringing what you might describe as a thank offering, a grain offering.

And see, a thank offering was different than a sin offering as far as what was being acknowledged. See, if you're bringing a sin offering, you say, I sinned. I need God's forgiveness and help. You bring me a thank offering. I thank God for everything he does, not really admitting anything about the way I am or the way that I project myself. What you see is that his attitude was one of hostility toward God. And simply, God refused to accept his offering, and God refused to accept Cain. And of course, we see the line of Cain starting, I guess, in verse 17. You can read more about the people who descended from Cain who would continue to be wicked, unsettled, evil. They would ultimately culminate in the end of the time of 1600-some years in being killed in the flood. That's where Cain's line would go. And yet we see, and this is all I'm pointing out, we see about Abel's attitude was one of respect toward God, one of being repentant, one of being asking for God's help and mercy, forgiveness, and being approved because he was living by faith. Now in Matthew 23, verse 35, Matthew 23, you see a wonderful endorsement for Abel. See, from someone who knew all about it. Matthew 23, verse 34, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees. Of course, Jesus had been in the Garden of Eden. He had been the Lord of the Old Testament. He had dealt with everybody who had been dealt with in the Old Testament. He was clearly familiar with Abel. He was familiar with his offering. And yet here, in talking to the Pharisees, verse 34, he says, I send you prophets, you sages and scribes, and some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. He was telling them, you know, you guys are not obedient, you're not responsive, you don't have an attitude that is able to approach God at all. And he goes on in verse 35, so upon you, so that on you, upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth from the blood of righteous Abel.

See, every one of us want that commendation. See, we all want to be called by God or approved by God by living a life of faith and overcoming and serving God. We want to be called righteous Kurt. We want to become righteous Carol, whichever one. We want to become righteous Max or Jack. We want to become acknowledged by God to, you know, that Jesus said he was righteous, then he was righteous. But he says from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, the son of Baruchah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. He goes ahead and says more about it, but that's all I'm pointing out that Jesus is the one who gives him that commendation. And you also find, if we go back to Hebrews 11 again, we'll read Hebrews 11 verse 4, that it was by faith that Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Canis.

See, whether it had something to do with what it was that was offered, which probably had something to do with it, whether we understand fully what it is, it appears to be a more appropriate offering, understanding your sins than just a thank offering that perhaps, you know, didn't really reflect anything at all. And certainly you could say his attitude was one of wishing to please God as opposed to his brothers who ultimately then, as you read through Genesis 4, he gets him out in the field and decides how he's going to kill him.

You know, that is, you know, an extension of the human heart and anger and rage and strife and violence, which of course Satan loves to exaggerate, and we see that all over our world today. But here, in verse 4, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice and cane, and through this sacrifice he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gift. And so, thankfully, you know, even though we don't have very much information about Abel, we can see that God approved of the way that Abel approached God. In a sense, it seems like Abel was offering his life in sacrifice to God, and he was, you know, it said it was his blood that was shed, and he, you know, perhaps there are many other maybe things that could be learned from that, but he offered an offering in faith, in acknowledgement of his sins.

So let's go secondly then to Enoch. Enoch, Genesis chapter 5, Enoch is a son of Seth. Now Seth is a son of Adam and Eve. We see that here in Genesis chapter 4, verse 25, Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth. She said, God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him. See, in essence, God was, there was to be a line that would follow through Cain, wickedness and disobedience. Abel appears to have been approved by God because of his righteous acts or his faith toward God. But here you see that Adam and Eve were given Seth, in a sense, to replace Abel.

And you find in verse chapter 5, verse 6, you see, you start seeing, well, we could read in verse 3, Adam lived 130 years, and became the father of his son and his likeness, according to his image, named him Seth. And so here we see in chapter 5 the generations from Seth. And if you drop down to verse 18 or verse 20, thus all the days of Jared, well, I guess it better back up, verse 19. Jared, who is in this genealogy, he lived after the birth of Enoch 800 years.

So Jared was the father of Enoch that we're going to discuss here. In verse 21, Enoch had lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. And we all know that Methuselah lived the longest number of years, 969 years. And yet you find his father, Enoch, not living hardly a third of that. Enoch lived 65 years, became the father of Methuselah.

Enoch, in verse 22, walked with God after the birth of Methuselah for 300 years. And he had other sons and daughters, but thus all the days of Enoch were 365. So again, relatively short in comparison to the number of years that others lived at the time. But it says in verse 24, Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more because God took him. Again, a verse that many people assume God took him to heaven, which it doesn't say, it just says that he moved him.

He transferred him, and we can partially see that. If we go back to Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11 you see, and we read this earlier, we see what it says in verse 5. Hebrews 11, 5, it was by faith that Enoch was taken, so that he did not experience death. Now why was it that he was about to be put to death? Why was it that he was about to be crushed or murdered, perhaps? Well, we'll see a little more that we know about Enoch.

But it says by faith, Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death, and he was not found because God had taken him. So God moved him. For it was attested before he was taken that Enoch pleased God. Again, it was by living, by faith, that Enoch was pleasing to God. If we go back to Jude, let's see, we're going to have to go toward the end, closer to the book of Revelation here, but the book of Jude, you see a little reference here about perhaps why God may have needed to remove Enoch and move him to another place. He apparently died, and God either buried him or somehow he was buried. But here in Jude chapter 1, since that's the only chapter there, starting in verse 14 it says, it was also about these, and so here he's talking about evil people, people who are going to receive the judgment from God. It says it was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, you can go back and count some of that up, he prophesied, and so he was a prophet. Enoch, able, was said to be righteous by Jesus. That's good enough. Enoch is listed here as a prophet who said, see, the Lord is coming with 10,000 of His holy ones. He's coming to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and on harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against them. See, what was Enoch prophesying about? What was he teaching about? Why, what was he saying that the line of Cain and others who identified more with Cain and with the devil, he was saying the judgment of God is going to come upon you. God's judgment will come upon you. And so perhaps, even though we don't have direct reference to exactly what happened, it would appear that he may have been needed to be rescued. He may needed to be moved out of an area and placed back in someplace else where he later would die. But he was a prophet. And we also see, as we have read earlier, Hebrews 11 verse 5, that it was by faith that Enoch was pleasing to God.

See, I'm going over this because each one of these individuals, even though they're, you know, they're encapsulated in just a verse each here in Hebrews 11, they all have this in common, that it was living by faith that they received approval from God. Now they were obedient, it would appear, to whatever God had revealed to them, however he had given them, you know, his instruction at that point. But clearly you see the, you know, the degradation that was growing on earth where people were alienated from God, they were in essence cut off from God, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, they were not allowed to approach God easily, but God chose to deal with Abel, he chose to deal with Enoch. And of course, you know, as we read here in Hebrews 11, it says, you know, that Enoch, you know, pleased God. Again, you know, that's a category we want to be in. We want to be in.

We want to be named as an individual who pleased God.

Ewan pleases God. See, Lorraine pleases God. Karen pleases God. See, that's where I want to be named. Let's go on then to the third one, Noah. Now, we know a little more about Noah because we're familiar with the Genesis flood. We're familiar with Genesis 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 and even 10 because you see some life about Noah after the flood. And yet, we see here in Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11 verse 7, by faith Noah. See, here we see we're going to see several things about Noah because Noah, you know, we know the time frame a little bit more. We've got 120 years that we know he was building an ark, a boat that I imagine everybody thought he was crazy. Everyone thought, you know, what is he building this huge boat for? And, you know, why is he building it the way he is?

But it says in verse 7, by faith Noah, when he was warned by God about events as yet unseen, he respected the warning. It wasn't just that God gave him the warning and that was it. He respected the warning and he built an ark to save his household. And by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is according with faith. And so again, we see something about Noah that he respected God's warning. He did God's work. See, what was the work of God in that 120 years prior to the flood? It was proclaiming the judgment of God is coming, but it was also building a boat so that he would be spared. He and his family and there would be human life that God would transfer to be replenishing the earth on the other side of the flood.

So we see in a sense in this description in verse 7 that what Noah did was he believed God and he did what he said. See, he believed God. He believed God existed. He believed God's warning and he simply did what he said. In 2 Peter, we back up a few pages here.

2 Peter 2, you see a little more about Noah. At least you have a couple of references to Noah. In 2 Peter 2, where Peter is stating very clearly here in chapter 2 that in verse 9, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial. He knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. That's what this is talking about. And he says, he knows how in verse 4, God didn't spare the angels when they sinned. He cast them into Tartarou and to hell and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept into the judgment. See, that is what God did with those angels who followed Lucifer. He's now contained them.

And in verse 5, if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he did save Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness. With seven others, he saved Noah and seven others when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly. See, again, it doesn't tell us a whole lot about what it was that Noah preached, except I think we surely would know that, well, he probably was preaching. People need to turn to God. People need to change their lives. People need to realize what time we live in. Even as the church today tries to proclaim a message that should be an alarm, people keep hitting the snooze button. They're not really that interested. And even as our Beyond Today program, and even as we try to reach out in certain of those locations where we hold presentations or seminars with that message, we don't always find that a great many people want to know it. And of course, we send to multiple thousands our magazine, Beyond Today now. Those of you who have gotten it, you see the new descriptor and the new name and the new kind of, some of the things are changed, but most of them are very similar. There's a little different formatting and I think a little different font used in some ways. A lot of perhaps things that I wouldn't be aware of, but we are trying to proclaim a message about what God is going to do. He's going to bring judgment on the earth. He's going to bring a new kingdom that's going to be wonderful, but in the meantime, he's going to bring judgment upon the earth. In Matthew 24, we see Jesus again verifying Noah. Matthew 24, verse 36, he says, But about that day an hour no one knows, neither the angels, nor of heaven, nor the Son, nor the Father. For as in the days of Noah, so will it be, so will it be the coming of the Son of Man, for as in those days, the days of Noah, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. And they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

So even though Noah was a preacher of righteousness, it says that he proclaimed God's judgment to the wicked civilizations around him. See, clearly the people who surely came and scoffed and made fun of and ridiculed the fact that the crazy old man is making a big boat. You know, they probably didn't think that was quite so crazy when the animals started lining up to get on. Although I don't know how many people would have been watching that, or even, you know, I'm not sure exactly how God brought all that about, but that's what it says that he did. And he did it in, you know, a particular manner. And yet what I point out to you is simply what we read there in Hebrews 11, verse 7.

That not only did Noah believe God, he believed that God existed, he believed that God was going to bring judgment on the earth, he obeyed by building the ark, and because of his faith in God, he received God's approval.

Now, was Noah perfect? No. We read about other incidents that were not perfect in Noah's life, but that, you know, having God's approval, having lived by faith, you know, that's what is recorded and reported to us in Hebrews chapter 11. So these three individuals, and it appears only three prior to the flood, had a commendation from God. Abel, Enoch, and Noah, they each lived by faith in a lengthy time of human wickedness and disobedience and sin. See, that's all you could say about not only the day of Noah, but clearly what Abel ran into with his brother and what Enoch having to be moved about because of the wickedness, perhaps, of the people who didn't like what he was saying. So I point this out to have all of us think, how can we, as well, live by faith? I think all of us want to do that. I want to be able to read a little bit of an excerpt out of one of the ministerial forum things that the elders receive. And this, I thought, was a remarkably good summary of how it is that the ministry ought to live, but it's really how it is that all of us should learn to live by faith. This was written by Bill Bradford, I believe, Jr. And it was written in response to a question of, well, you know, what can we collect? What kind of wisdom can we collect from the older ministry, many, some of which, are dying? How can we collect some information from them that would be helpful to any of us who were younger in the ministry and that we could, you know, try to function a little better? Or that we could function well going forward? And Bill wrote this back. It's pretty simple. It has six points, and they're easy to write down. He wrote it back, saying, well, I've watched my dad and I've watched my father-in-law, his dad being Bill Bradford and his father-in-law being Bob Faye, who, you know, recently died in Chicago during the feast, I believe, this past year. So he said, this is what I saw for about 50 years. And so perhaps this would be helpful. This is actually a way to live by faith. He says, being able to observe both of these men in a way that most wouldn't be able to observe, here's what I can pass on in their behalf for others, including myself. Number one way to live by faith? Study, study, study, and study the Bible.

You know, we all agree with that. You know, how well do we do it? Number two, pray, pray, and pray. Again, nobody can dispute that. Number three, fast, fast, and fast some more.

So study, pray, fast. Number four, do God's will, not your own. It's real easy to do our own will, real easy to follow what seems right to us. But as he points out, do God's will, not your own.

Number five, be prepared to take a wrong that was not deserved and leave it in God's hands.

Be prepared to take a wrong that was not deserved and yet just leave it in God's hands. And finally, number six, never, never, never cause division in the church.

See, these are classic items of collective wisdom that surely could easily have been written 100 years ago, 75 years ago, 50 years, 25 years, 5 years. They are always applicable on how to live by faith. And so as we see, you know, Abel and Enoch and Noah were all approved by God.

And as we live our lives, we want to do the things that will also show they were approved by God because they live lives of faith. And we want to live lives of faith. Each of us, you know, need to desire to live by faith. We need to desire to repent of our sins because without that, we're not going to draw close to our Heavenly Father. We've got to be able to recognize our sins. We've got to be sensitive to sin. And I know, you know, we all observe the Holy Days, and certainly the Spring Holy Days focus on recognizing sin or seeing that in ourselves. But we need to see that throughout the year. We need to live by faith. We need to repent of our sins. If we do, then we can be accepted by God. We can be given approval from God as, you know, these men of Hebrews 11 were because of what we read here in Hebrews 11 verse 6.

Hebrews 11 verse 6 is kind of in the middle here of these verses we've been reading.

Verse 4 was about Abel. Verse 5 was about Enoch. Verse 7 was about Noah. Verse 6 is about us. Verse 6 says, Hebrews 11 verse 6, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

For whoever would approach God must believe that God exists.

This is what Abel did. This is what Enoch did. This is what Noah did. This is what we must do.

We must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

See, we believe God. In the case of Noah, he believed the warning that God was giving. We believe that God is going to bring a judgment upon the earth in our lifetime. We believe that. Now, if it ends up not being in our lifetime, we still need to have that urgency. But we need to not only believe, but we need to repent and we need to obey in doing the work and will of God.

And then we know that God will reward those who diligently seek Him.

That's how I see these few individuals that God dealt with before the Flood. That's how they were acceptable to God. And that's how we can be acceptable to God. So as we see with Righteous Abel and as we see with Enoch who pleased God and walked with God and as we see with Noah who also walked with God and it says that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, you see that he was a preacher of righteousness and that he preached the coming judgment of God. You know, as we see their examples, we can all do the same thing because we realize that God requires each of us to live by faith. That's what he wants. That's what he is desiring. And I believe that as we continue to look to him in faith, that he truly will, as it says there in Hebrews 11.6, diligently those who diligently seek him will be rewarded and be a part of the divine family and live with the Father and his Son forever.