Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20110525.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Hebrews: The Superiority Of Christ To Errant Religions
Part VI: The Response Of Faith To Christ's Superiority, Hebrews 11:1-13:19
C. Examples Of Living By Faith From The Antediluvian World
(Hebrews 11:4-5, 6, 7 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. God calls us to live by faith as believers in Christ, to trust His Person and Word to obey it for blessing.
    2. Lest a question arise as to what that means, the author of Hebrews noted that the Old Testament saints, the "elders" named in Hebrews 11:2, received divine approval for their lives of faith, and since these saints spanned several dispensations of time, we can compare the events of their lives in their unique periods of time with our own experience to understand what it means to "live by faith" today.
    3. One such era was the Dispensation of Conscience, the time between Adam's fall into sin and the Noahic Flood, the "Antediluvian" or the "Pre-Flood" era (as follows):
  2. Examples Of Living By Faith From The Antediluvian World, Hebrews 11:4-5, 6, 7 et al.
    1. Abel lived by faith and was commended by the Lord as righteous, Hebrews 11:4:
      1. Hebrews 11:4 reveals that Abel offered a better sacrifice than did his brother Cain, which offering gave him the commendation of God that he was righteous, cf. Genesis 4:4-7.
      2. Scholars have long mused over whether Abel's sacrifice was righteous because it was an animal blood sacrifice versus Cain's sacrifice of agricultural produce (Genesis 4:3-5a), but God is not dissatisfied with agricultural offerings because He later had Israel bring Him grain offerings, Leviticus 2:1-3 NIV.
      3. All we do know is that, for reasons unknown to us today, but clearly known to Cain and Abel at the time according to Genesis 4:7, Abel followed God's Word relative to what kind of offering he was to bring where Cain did not heed God's Word, and apparently sought to impress God by a means that was independent of the revealed will of God!
    2. Enoch lived by faith and was rewarded by God in being raptured out of the world, Hebrews 11:5:
      1. Hebrews 11:5 refers to the Genesis 5:22 and 5:24 revelation on Enoch, that because he walked in close fellowship with God, the Lord took him to heaven without dying! (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 807)
      2. [Incidentally, this does not promote the Partial Rapture view for today, i. e., that one must live a godly life to qualify for the rapture now, for all believers will be raptured in the Church era, 1 Thess. 5:7-10. However, in Enoch's era, being raptured was his personal reward for close fellowship with God!]
      3. The Epistle of Jude, verse 14-15 reveals this same Enoch prophesied that God would one day come with His holy ones, God's holy angels (Matthew 24:30-31), to execute judgment on the ungodly world! This is an amazing prophecy, one about Christ's Second Coming, made by a saint who lived before the Noahic Flood, implying great insight given to him with his fellowship with God!
    3. Noah lived by faith and was rewarded by being saved from the worldwide Flood via the ark, Heb. 11:7:
      1. The author of Hebrews revealed that when he was warned of God about things not yet seen, in holy reverence for the Lord, Noah built an ark to save his family, Hebrews 11:7a.
      2. These "things not yet seen" is an understatement: there was no rain before the Noahic Flood since God had caused moisture from subterranean waters to irrigate the ground's surface, Genesis 2:5b-6 NIV. For Noah to believe there would be a worldwide flood when there had been no evidence of any kind of such flood disasters as God predicted in Genesis 6:17 took faith in God's Word itself.
      3. In building the ark in faith in God's Word about the coming world Flood, Noah's action condemned his world and he became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith, inheriting life in the Post-Flood world as a reward for his faith in God and His Word, Hebrews 11:7b; Ibid., p. 808.
    4. Indeed, in the cases of Abel, Enoch and Noah, Antediluvians in the Dispensation of Conscience, they each believed in God's existence and trusted His Word on what sacrifice to offer or on fellowship with God or on building the ark to save the family from the worldwide flood, Hebrews 11:6. Each was then rewarded.
Lesson: Godly antediluvians, men of the Pre-Flood Dispensation of Conscience, believed God existed and that He would reward them for obeying His Word, so they obeyed, gaining God's great blessing.

Application: May we likewise believe God exists, and trust His Word for His reward of blessing today!