Sanctification Through Faith

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death . . . for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him.
–Hebrews 11:5-6

Faith is necessary for our salvation–we are saved by God’s grace, and we receive that grace through faith.

But faith is also necessary for our sanctification, for becoming more like Christ. That is demonstrated in the life of Enoch, whose story we find in Genesis 5. The Bible says, “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah” (vv. 21-22).

I find it interesting that Enoch is known for walking with God even though he spent the first sixty-five years of his life apart from God. He made a change in his life. Perhaps the birth of his son made him realize he needed to start walking with God. He thought, “I need to be an example to my child.”

Isn’t it good to know that it is not how you start in life but how you finish that counts? Maybe you are living far away from God, or you have just recently come back to God. God does not care about your past; He cares about your future. He does not care about where you have been; He cares about the direction you are going. That is what makes a difference to God.

Enoch spent the rest of his life serving God, and then “by faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up” (Hebrews 11:5). In other words, God raptured him.

Why did God take Enoch straight to heaven? Because he walked with God. That does not mean he and God took a stroll together every Sunday afternoon. To walk with God means to please God. In fact, Hebrews 11:5 says, “[Enoch] obtained the witness that . . . he was pleasing to God.” What gave him that desire to please God? It was faith. According to verse 6, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Friend, without faith you will never consistently read your Bible or tithe or go to church or share the gospel with other people. Without faith, you cannot please God, you cannot walk with God, and you cannot obey God. In order to become more like God’s Son, Jesus Christ, you have to have faith.

***

Today’s devotion is excerpted from “The Necessary Ingredient” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2020.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org