The Faith of Enoch

The Bible tells us that, "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God." (Heb. 11:5 NAS) Enoch and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) were the only two men to never die a physical death. Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven after a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated him from Elisha, his traveling companion and the one appointed to take his place as a prophet of God. Of Enoch, we only know that the Bible says he was taken up. How we are not told.

Very little is known about Enoch and his life. We know he was the father of Methuselah (Gen. 5:21), the oldest man to have lived, as far as we know, who died at the age of 969 (Gen. 5:27), and that he was the great-grandfather of Noah (see Gen. 5:21-29). We also know that Enoch was a prophet of God in the seventh generation from Adam (Jude 14) and that he is found in the genealogy of Christ on Joseph's side in Luke 3 (see Luke 3:23-38, especially verse 37). So little is known about Enoch that we can quote all the Bible has to say about him in the short passages that follow, along with the passage quoted above.

"And 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, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." (Gen. 5:21-24 NAS)

"And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, 'Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.'" (Jude 14-15 NAS)

What can we learn from these passages? To be more specific, what can we learn about the faith of Enoch? The answer is more than is first apparent.

The Hebrew writer in Heb. 11:5 tells us, "by faith Enoch was taken up." (NAS) Paul tells us, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. 10:17 NKJV) The NAS (New American Standard) translation has "word of Christ" here rather than "word of God" but it is hard to see that that makes any difference since Jesus is the Word (see John 1:1, 14) and the Word was God (John 1:1). Enoch's faith then had to be, as does that of all men, based on God's word. By that, I mean he had to have heard from God to have faith (Rom. 10:17).

We do not know how much God communicated his will to those of ancient times, pre-flood days in the case of Enoch, but we know enough to know from Rom. 1:18-21 that man was "without excuse" (Rom. 1:20 NAS) as it relates to sin, and we know man was sinning. Man had grown wicked in pre-flood days. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen. 6:5 NAS)

Read in context it is clear that Enoch's prophecy, as recorded in Jude 14 and 15, was applicable not just to the people of his day but for all people from his time forward until Judgment Day. When the Lord comes again he is going to execute judgment "upon all," which is exactly what the text says, and he is going to convict "all the ungodly" regardless of when they lived.

Mankind had enough knowledge of God in Enoch's time, and before and afterwards, to live in a way that would please God. Enoch, being a prophet, was an inspired man. God used prophets in those early days to communicate his will to early man, at least in part. Luke 1:70 and Acts 3:21 both indicate that there have been prophets since the beginning of time (see KJV or NKJV, see also Luke 11:50 in any version). If you read Luke 11:49-51, you see Abel listed as a prophet, which is easily overlooked.

Enoch knew God's will. He heard the words of God and spoke them as a prophet. His faith was in God by means of what God spoke to him which is to say, as Paul said, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. 10:17 NKJV) God spoke, and Enoch believed. Without word from God, Enoch could only have known that God existed, that he had great power, knowledge, and understanding.

But we can learn even more from the few scriptures we have on Enoch. It is said Enoch pleased God (Heb. 11:5) and Enoch "walked with God" (Gen. 5:24 NASU).  To please God, one must walk with God. How does one do that? The Bible tells us that Zacharias and Elizabeth, his wife, the parents of John the Baptist, "were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord." (Luke 1:6 NASU) Zacharias and Elizabeth lived under the Law of Moses, Enoch did not. That aside, how could Enoch please God the way he did and walk with God, which the Bible says he did, unless he obeyed the commands God gave him just as Zacharias and Elizabeth did?

Someone might object and say he walked by faith. Certainly, he did but how does one walk by faith? Is it possible for a man to walk by faith while actively and willfully disobeying God’s word? I cannot walk with God unless I have determined to go down the road he leads me down. If on that road he says stop (gives a command) I must obey. If he says turn right I must turn right. If he says slow down I must slow down. In other words, I cannot walk with God if I do not allow him to lead me and I follow along in accord with his directions, or put another way, in accord with “his commands.”

Faith in God, the Old Testament often calls this trust, manifests itself in obedience. Years after Enoch the children of Israel were given the Promised Land but the generation who were originally set to receive it, those who came out of Egyptian bondage led by Moses, were not able to enter in, and why not? Because they were not willing to obey and enter and fight for the land, even with God assuring them of victory. And why were they not willing? Because of a lack of faith.

"And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief." (Heb. 3:18-19 NAS) If you turn to this passage and read it in context you see clearly that this is a direct reference to the children of Israel and their failure to enter into the Promised Land. The passage teaches us that faith would have led to obedience, just as a lack of faith (unbelief) led to disobedience. So what is the point? It is this--faith and obedience to God's commands cannot be separated.

When one is unwilling to obey God, or just is negligent in doing so, it is a manifestation of a lack of what the Bible calls faith or belief. If we truly believed strongly enough that God said what he meant and meant what he said, we would not be hesitant to obey but would obey readily and promptly. In doing so we would be walking with God and pleasing God as Enoch did.

Much of Christendom is today guilty of disbelief while calling it faith. Faith is more than just what is in your mind. The faith that leads to one's salvation is coupled with obedience and cannot be uncoupled. You obey because you believe, you disobey because you disbelieve, or just do not believe strongly enough to obey.

Now, what is it that must be believed if one is to walk with God? Eve believed the serpent's lie, his deception. One cannot just believe anything and everything. The apostle John, in 2 John 4, tells us what we need to believe. "I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father." (2 John 1:4 NASU) One must believe the truth if one is to walk in the truth, as John says we are commanded to do; thus, what must be believed is the truth.

Why will men perish? The answer is "because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." (2 Thess. 2:10 NASU) Jesus, in his John 17 prayer to the Father, said, "Thy word is truth." (John 17:17 KJV) When the Bible says Enoch walked with God do you think he walked in truth? He walked by God’s word.

John says just a little later, "And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments." (2 John 1:6 NASU) Do you think Enoch walked with God without walking according to the commandments God gave him? Do you think it would even be possible to walk with God without walking according to his commandments? Does not this passage teach that without commandment keeping there is no love? Many complain that strictness in commandment keeping is legalism, an attempt to be saved by works. John teaches that it is love. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” (1 John 5:3 NAS)

The point is not that Enoch was a perfect commandment keeper or law keeper for "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23 NASU) and "there is none righteous, not even one." (Rom. 3:10 NASU) The point is that one cannot walk with God, or walk or live by faith, without believing enough in God to believe he knows best, better than you or me, and thus trust him enough to make a genuine good faith effort to obey him thus manifesting our faith in him. It is simply letting God be God, letting him be the ruler and taking our rightful place as bond servants of his. We obey because our faith leads us to that. Only then has God become in our hearts the God that lives in the heart. Only then does he rule within us.

So the truth is we can know quite a bit more about Enoch and his faith than what first appears to be the case. We too ought to try and please God and walk with God just as Enoch did lest we fall into the camp of those he prophesied against--the ungodly who do ungodly deeds, or put another way, the disobedient.

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Jesus And The Furnace of Fire

Hell is not real for most people. They think little about it and do not believe if there is such a place they will end up there. Hell, if real, would only be reserved for characters like Hitler, Himmler, Stalin, Pol Pot, murderers, child molesters, etc., the very worst society has to offer. It is not a place for the average man or woman is the general thinking.

The Bible teaches no such thing. What it does teach is that it is very possible for you and me, your wife, your husband, your daughter, your son, your mother or dad, your neighbor, your friend, some of the best people you know to end up in what the Bible calls the furnace of fire. And what people cannot comprehend and refuse to believe is that Jesus will put them there.

Hear Jesus, "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Mat 13:41-42 NKJV)

Many people who think they know Jesus would say, "No, he would never do that." Well, if not, he is a liar. If he is a liar you cannot depend on a single word he ever uttered for who would know when he was lying and when he was not, but God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

Let us take a closer look and see who it is that will be cast into this furnace. It is "those who practice lawlessness." (Matt. 13:41 NKJV) I know vast numbers of people, while good in many respects, many proclaiming that they believe in God, who never make any effort to obey Jesus and thus they practice lawlessness. The New Testament is the law of Christ, the law he gave, the law he is talking about in the passage under discussion.

Have they ever been baptized for the remission of sins? (Acts 2:38) No! Do they intend to? No! Do they worship God? No! Do they "forsake the assembling of ourselves together?" (Heb. 10:25 NKJV) Yes! Have they put on "the whole armor of God?" (Eph. 6:11 NKJV) No! And the list could go on and on. Just common ordinary day folks. Where are they headed? You say don't judge. I am just quoting Jesus. He is the one who said that those who practice lawlessness will be cast into the lake of fire. I just happen to know what lawlessness is, it is disregarding his word.

Paul, for example, gave us a list of sins in Gal. 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (NKJV) Paul says, "and the like" meaning this is only a partial listing of sins. There is another long list that can be found in Rom. 1:24-32 and then we find this in the last verse there, verse 32, "those who practice such things are worthy of death." (NKJV)

Sin is lawlessness, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4 NAS) It is those who practice lawlessness, Jesus says, who will be cast into the furnace of fire.

To be saved a man must love Jesus. "If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed." (1Co 16:22 NKJV) "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me," says Jesus. (John 14:21 NKJV) The apostle John says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:3-4 NKJV) "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" says Jesus. (Luke 6:46 NKJV) If Jesus is not your Lord (he is not if you are not obeying him) how are you going to avoid the furnace of fire?

But people say I know what the word of God says about this or that but I know how I feel in my heart. Thus the standard for being saved and for living a faithful obedient life, for determining what is and is not sin, ceases to be what the book, chapter, and verse of the Bible teaches and becomes instead the feeling in the heart. That feeling becomes the standard for salvation and the word of God is cast aside. Commandments no longer matter, especially if they prove inconvenient or troublesome.

I love God. I will be saved. How do you know? My heart tells me so. Just as long as your heart tells you so it makes it so? Well, Jacob felt Joseph was dead, felt it in his heart, but that did not make it so. "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9 NKJV) People head to death and judgment with faith built on personal feelings (quicksand) rather than on the word of God (a solid rock).

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." (Matt. 7:24-27 NKJV)

There are so many who consider themselves saved that never even enter a church door and many more who enter it only occasionally. They do not know God's commandments and make little or no effort to learn them. They rarely, if ever, read the Bible and have no desire to study it. The Hebrew writer tells us that there is a time when we "ought to be teachers." (Heb. 5:12 NKJV) There is no way most people can obey that directive for they have never studied enough to even think about being a teacher.

They have never made any effort to "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15 KJV) Other versions read a little differently but the same idea is in them all. Their indifference to the word of God is great but they are still going to heaven according to the consensus of the public.

I write this article because I am fearful. I am scared for people I know and love. I am scared for the many who are likable, kind, and caring people -- we would call them good people by our worldly standards. I am scared for they are not scared, not at all. They do not know enough to be scared. Like an infant running toward the busy highway, having no concept of the consequences that await them, they go day by day walking toward the precipice from whence, once the last step is taken, there will be no return, the final step into hell.

I am scared because their indifference is great. I am scared because they presume, just presume. I am scared because they have no interest in searching the scriptures to see what they need to do and how they need to live.

Should a man fear God? They do not. If a man has no fear of God it is not likely he will ever repent. That is one reason so many today can go on day after day, month after month, year after year, living carelessly and indifferently. They believe God will save them the way they are and have no fear that he will not. Hear the Bible on the subject, "By the fear of the Lord one departs from evil." (Prov. 16:6 NKJV) "The fear of the Lord leads to life." (Prov. 19:23 NKJV) When you do not fear God, you do not worry a whole lot about keeping God's commandments.

There is a real furnace of fire, or else Jesus lied about it. It may or may not be like what we would think of as being a furnace of fire but the effect on the soul will be that of extreme pain and suffering such as physical fire brings to the body. There will be little to no difference in the intensity of the suffering else the analogy fails.

In the book of Revelation, in John's vision, he saw the great Day of Judgment. "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books." (Rev 20:12 NKJV)

His vision of judgment day closes with verse 15, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:15 NKJV) I cannot imagine such a horror. That does not mean I do not believe it, but the horror of it is more than the mind can grasp. Can you imagine the fear, the terror, the panic, the hysteria, when one realizes this is his or her fate?

No wonder there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." The phrase "weeping and gnashing of teeth" is used 4 times in the book of Matthew (Matt. 8:12, 22:13, 24:51, and Matt. 25:30 NKJV). In each instance, the phrase is used by the Lord Jesus himself, in red print in your Bible. Does Jesus lie? When was the last time you had pain so bad you had to gnash your teeth? Could you bear that for eternity?

Hell is a place of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48). These are the words of Jesus himself. Paul, in a passage that is talking about hell, speaks of God's "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil." (Rom. 2:8-9 NKJV) Is a man stronger than God who created the millions of stars in the universe? Can a man withstand God's indignation and wrath?

Jude speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah and says that they were "set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jud v. 7 NKJV) The Hebrew writer spoke on the topic saying, "For we know Him who said, 'vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb 10:30-31 NKJV)

Peter says, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now 'if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?'" (1Peter 4:17-18 NKJV)

We have become so accustomed to talking only about the love of God, of his mercy and grace, of his forgiveness and salvation that we scarcely can comprehend anything else from him. However, God is also a God of justice, holiness, and righteousness.

What kind of a Father would God be if he said, "Okay, so I sent my son into the world to suffer and die for you and you rejected him and made his commandments of no account, paying no attention to them and caring less? You did your own will rather than mine; it is okay, you come on up into heaven with us anyway and we will forget all about it. What is a little spilled blood even if it was my son’s?"

If God were to say a thing of that kind what kind of God would he be? Would he be good? God cannot be a good and just God and let man get by with man despising his son. Jesus cannot be Lord of our life if we are the Lord of our life. God cannot be God if we are going to play God ourselves.

Paul wrote in language so fearful I find it hard to read when he wrote in 2 Thess. 1:8-9 of Jesus' second coming and said of it that his return would be "in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." The phrase "in flaming fire" catches my attention every time I read the passage. Terror will be a mild word to use when that day comes. Are you prepared?

Can you see in your mind's eye that day coming and perhaps for the first time in their life your son or daughter, your husband or wife, your mother or your dad, realizing the horror that is about to befall them? Can you see in your mind's eye the hysteria, the panic, the terror that will be on their faces? Can you see them weeping and sobbing uncontrollably and you are unable to do a thing about it? As I said earlier we ought to be scared as we see how people are living so indifferently to God. Are you one of them? Is one of your family one of them?

Many are lukewarm, maybe a step up from indifference. Is that a big enough step to avoid the furnace of fire? Hear Jesus in the book of Revelation speaking to the church of the Laodiceans remembering that the church is the people who make it up. He says, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." (Rev 3:15-17 NKJV) What kind of a Christian are you?

The only good thing that can be said for the Christians in the church at Laodicea was that God was going to allow them a little more time to repent. He says, in verse 18, "Be zealous and repent." If you are reading this today it means you are being granted some time to repent if you need to do so. You have now, today, with no promise of a tomorrow.

If you have family who are still alive as you read this, it means they still have time, "if" they will use it, time to bring their life into accord with God's will to avoid the furnace of fire. Maybe you can help them. You can pray for them and ought to do so earnestly time and time again.

It distresses me to write an article like this for I know few listen. As I said earlier, the assumption is that all is well, everything is fine, it is okay, and we are all saved. Jeremiah wrote words that I fear are going to end up applying to our generation as well as to his, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" (Jer. 8:20 NKJV) Is God first in your life or is he thirty-first, forty-first, fifty-first, or just not there at all? Is he just a Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and Easter Day God in your life? If so, it is time to make some changes. There is a furnace of fire.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Prov. 1:7 NKJV)

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Peter's Preaching and the Apostle's Preaching

It is not uncommon to hear people express doubts about the harmony of the preaching and teaching found in the New Testament often doing so by making the claim that the various writers of the New Testament differed in what they taught.  Often those who make such claims will pit Paul against James or Peter against Paul.

The truth is the scriptures do not belong to Paul, or James, or Peter, or any other writer even if their name happens to be attached to a letter.  "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." (2 Tim. 3:16 NKJV)  The scriptures came by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  God used men's tongues and pens to give us the message of inspiration.  To say that one New Testament preacher/writer contradicted another is to say that God himself is inconsistent and says and teaches one thing at one time and another thing at another time.  It is to say there is more than one gospel which is the very thing scripture denies.

One can "pervert the gospel of Christ" (Gal. 1:7 NKJV) but you cannot make two gospels out of one.  Paul says, by inspiration, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." (Gal. 1:8 NKJV)  One gospel was preached by inspiration.

Jesus commanded the apostles, "But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit." (Mark 13:11 NKJV)  I quote that passage as I want you the reader to have it in mind for I want to take a look at a specific instance of just such an occasion and the preaching that was done on that occasion.  I want to examine the sermon Peter and the apostles gave in Acts 5 with a view of showing its harmony with Peter's first gospel sermon in Acts 2 and thus the agreement in preaching the gospel among all the apostles including one yet to come--the apostle Paul--who will not be converted until chapter 9 in the book of Acts.

In Acts 5 we have the apostles arrested and imprisoned (Acts 5:17-18).  That night while in prison an angel came to their rescue releasing them and instructing them to go to the temple and resume their teaching (Acts 5:19-20).  This they did but once again were rearrested and brought before the high priest and the Jewish council (Acts 5:27). 

Which of the apostles was the spokesperson for the group in Acts 5 we are not told but the text says "then Peter and the other apostles answered" (Acts 5:29 NKJV) so we can be certain that all the apostles were in agreement for the answer made is attributed to all of them.

The entire discourse as recorded follows:  "But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: 'We ought to obey God rather than men.  The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.  Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.  And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.'" (Acts 5:29-32 NKJV)

Let us examine this sermon starting by talking about "obedience."  As it relates to the gospel being preached it is the last use of the word "obey" in this discourse that is of greatest interest in determining the gospel being preached.  Who receives the Holy Spirit?  It is "those who obey Him"--obey God, obey Jesus--as clearly stated in the text.  The Hebrew writer says of Jesus, “He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Heb. 5:9 NKJV)

Is obedience a part of the gospel?  Did Peter preach obedience in his first gospel sermon, the first such sermon ever preached to mankind, in Acts 2?  He commanded those that day to, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38 NKJV)  This statement was made after the Holy Spirit had fallen on Peter (see Acts 2:4) and he was thus speaking by means of the Holy Spirit.  Could you do what Peter asked those in that audience to do that day without being obedient?  Of course not!  Yes, Peter preached obedience on the Day of Pentecost just as he and the other apostles are doing this day in Acts 5.

They say the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God (Acts 5:32).  One must obey God to have the Spirit.  When Jesus returns it will be "in flaming fire taking vengeance…on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess. 1:8 NKJV)  All the apostles were thus in agreement on the need for obedience and this would include Paul when he later became an apostle.

This was what Peter preached in his second gospel sermon recorded in Acts 3 as well when he quoted Moses, "For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren.  Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.  And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'" (Acts 3:22-23 NKJV)  To "hear" does not just mean the physical act of hearing but rather means to obey.

To obey meant to obey what?  Well, it meant to obey all things the apostles spoke by the Holy Spirit.  What was that as it related to gospel obedience, to making one a Christian?  It included what Peter commanded in his Day of Pentecost sermon in Acts 2 preached by means of the Holy Spirit.  "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'" (Acts 2:38 NKJV) 

Some may be troubled by the fact that faith is not mentioned in that sermon (the Day of Pentecost sermon in Acts 2).  My question is does it have to be when it is clearly implied?  For that matter, no mention of faith is made in this Acts 5 sermon either but it is implied.  Where is the man to be found capable of scriptural repentance who does not first believe?  Where is the man who is willing to be obedient to baptism who does not first believe?  Can a man be scripturally baptized who does not believe?  No!  When a thing is clearly implied in scripture it does not need to be mentioned.

It is said that the Catholics baptize babies who cannot believe.  Do they?  Where does the Bible teach that sprinkling is baptism?  Men made sprinkling baptism, not God.  It became a tradition of men.  In the New Testament a man was baptized when he was buried in water.  There was no other way to be baptized.  Secondly, the Bible teaches, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16 NKJV) and not "he who is incapable of believing and is baptized will be saved."  One comes from God; the other is a man-made doctrine.  Besides, babies are pure in God's sight, sinless, and have no need of baptism. 

In Acts 5:31 the apostles state that Jesus is the Savior who gives repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.  How does he do that?  Peter has preached this before, saying basically the same thing simply phrasing it differently, in the Acts 2:38 passage.  God gives man repentance by giving him motives to lead him to repent.  One must first see his need for repentance, see his own sins so he will feel them in his heart, before he is capable of repenting of them.

In both the sermon in Acts 2 and this one in Acts 5 sin is pointed out--there is need of repentance.  In Acts 2 Peter says, "you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death" Jesus. (Acts 2:23 NKJV)  In Acts 5 the apostles refer to those whom they are addressing as murders (see Acts 5:30).  In Acts 3:15 Peter says to the crowd gathered there that they "killed the Prince of life." (NKJV)

The point is that apostolic preaching preached about sin and the need to repent.  So, we see repentance was preached by the apostles.  It was preached in Acts 5:31; it was preached in Acts 2:38; it was preached in Acts 3:19.  Preaching the gospel always involved the subject of repentance from sin and always will for that is a part of gospel obedience.

How did and how does Jesus give to man forgiveness of sins?  We could say salvation is the gift of God and is by grace and that would be true.  But is there anything God has asked man to do before he will extend that grace to man and grant him forgiveness?

If you say no then you have immediately rejected the need for both faith and repentance.  If we believe faith is essential and if we believe repentance is essential then we must admit man plays a role in his salvation despite it being a gift and we admit there are things man must do.  In Acts 2 Peter said one of the things a man must do was be baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." (Acts 2:38 NKJV) 

Does Jesus give forgiveness of sins?  Yes, but it is conditional.  Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." (Mark 16:16 NKJV)  Most people want to make that read "he who believes and is baptized or is not baptized will be saved" but that is adding to the scripture and is not what Jesus taught but what man desires to teach.

Peter, by the Holy Spirit, speaking on the day of Pentecost told penitent believers, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38 NKJV) 

Some say yes that is what the text says but it is not what it means.  Evidently, Peter did not know that for years later he was still saying, "There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism." (1 Peter 3:21 NKJV)  If a man is saved he is saved from sin and the only way that is accomplished is through God's forgiveness.  Peter says baptism saves.  He does not say baptism alone without faith or repentance. 

There was no disagreement among the apostles when Peter first preached baptism for the remission of sins on the Day of Pentecost.  All the apostles were in agreement with Peter's preaching.  Jesus himself had taught them while still on earth that "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (John 3:5 NKJV)  They had been commanded at the time Jesus ascended back into heaven to go make disciples and do what?  Baptize them! (Matt. 28:19 NKJV)  Which ones?  Every single one of them with no exceptions.  If you say no then you are under obligation to tell us which ones were not to be baptized.

Just by coincidence, I am now reading a book entitled A History of Christianity, Vol. 1, Beginnings to 1500 by Kenneth Scott Latourette, copyright 1953, Revised Edition.  (That was years ago when this article was first written.)  This is a large book of nearly 700 pages by Mr. Latourette who was Director of Graduate Studies at the Yale Divinity School at the time of his retirement in 1953.  I want to quote from that book for it bears directly on the subject at hand.  "In its earlier days the Church maintained rigorous standards for its membership.  As we have seen, baptism was believed to wash away all sins committed before it was administered." (Page 138)  He says of the Emperor Constantine that he "did not receive baptism until the latter part of his life…from the conviction, then general, that it washed away all previous sins." (Page 93) 

People today do not want to believe that anyone at anytime ever believed that baptism was God's means of washing away (spiritually speaking) the sins of man but that will not change history or the teaching of the New Testament on the subject.  The modern-day idea of salvation by faith alone came from the Middle Ages and not from the first, second, third, or fourth centuries or from the Bible.

In the same book, I quote again only this time of Augustine.  "As a youth Augustine was given Christian instruction.  His mother did not have him baptized because, accepting the belief that baptism washed away sins committed before it was administered, she wished him to defer it until after the heat of youth was passed and with it the excesses of that ardent age." (Page 96)  Born in 354 AD he was baptized on April 25, 387 AD.

In closing, I want to point out that thousands of people were saved by obeying the gospel before Paul ever became an apostle.  Some would like to claim that Paul preached a grace that Peter did not.  They desire two different gospels.  Paul himself denied, as pointed out earlier in this piece, that there were two or more gospels.  When one understands Paul's preaching correctly he will find Peter's preaching for both taught and preached the same gospel and that gospel had baptism in it for the remission of sins.  It was the same gospel the 12 apostles put their stamp of approval on the Day of Pentecost.  They put their stamp of approval on it for the Holy Spirit gave it and who were they to dispute the Spirit of God.  Who are you and I to do so today?

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The Failure of Faith—Lessons Learned from Solomon—Part II

The loss of faith begins with being drawn away by one's desires.  We know Solomon was led into sin by the influence of his wives but they were women he had no right to.  "But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites--from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.' Solomon clung to these in love." (1 Kings 11:1-2 NKJV) 

Solomon's first sin was not idolatry.  It was marrying foreign wives of the nationalities mentioned.  His desire for these women led him into sin.  "Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.  Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?" (Neh. 13:26-27 NKJV)

I would like to list here some things we can learn from Solomon about how to maintain our own faith and guard against losing that faith.

(1) Beware of the company you keep for it will influence you despite yourself.  The New Testament teaches this principle.  "Do not be deceived:  "Evil company corrupts good habits" (1 Cor. 15:33 NKJV) or as the NIV phrases it, “Bad company corrupts good character.”  Even Solomon, speaking by the Holy Spirit, confessed this earlier in his life when he said, "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray." (Prov. 12:26 NKJV)  I might add the closer a person becomes to you the greater their influence will be.  We can develop a love or fondness for people who can turn us from God.

The loss of faith is a gradual process.  It takes time to lose one's faith, it doesn't happen overnight, and it often takes outside help which the Bible clearly teaches that Solomon got from his pagan wives.

Here is the problem, the wicked do not at first appear to be wicked.  The women Solomon married did not appear to him to be wicked, not at all.  I would say the chances were great that they treated him with all respect, honor, and kindness, and chances are many of them truly loved him.  Most certainly Solomon did not go out looking for wicked women to marry.  They were most likely the class of their cultures.  There was only one problem with them—they were wicked by God's standards, they were idolaters.

We have the same problem today.  The world is full of good people, good to us, we consider them good, but with God they are wicked.  They may be the most outstanding people you would ever meet but outstanding by the measures used by one human being to measure other human beings.  They may be very likable, have great personalities, are friendly, kind, considerate, thoughtful, helpful, compassionate, honest, hard working, the kind that would not mistreat a mouse, and some of them may even be religious folks and yet in God's eyes, by his standard, they are wicked.  All it takes to fit into that category is to reject God's word.   

These are the kinds of people that destroy, even if unknowingly, those who could otherwise have been saved had they not fallen under their influence.  These are people who themselves either do not have faith or if they do have faith it is not a faith based on the truth of God's word.  Their faith is in what they believe, not in what God’s word says. 

We become close friends with people like this, grow fond of them, and get to thinking so highly of them that we get to the point where we cannot allow ourselves to see anything but good in them whether they have any religion about them or not.  We get to seeing them as so good that a just God could not possibly condemn them.  If they are lost we want to be lost too.  Man thus becomes the standard of what a man ought to be, forget what the Bible says for we consider them to be too good to be lost.  Unfortunately, often such people are family members.

The most dangerous people in the world are not those that appear wicked to us.  We run from them.  They are no danger to us.  Those of the kind I have described above are the ones who take us down for they often appear to us as ministers of righteousness of a sort, the righteousness this world has to offer, the self-made righteousness of man. 

Again, some of these may even be quite religious people but they hold to false doctrine with the thinking often being that the Bible just cannot be interpreted for our generation the way the word of God was for the first generation of Christians.  It is a liberal Christianity they hold to that will not allow the Bible to mean what it says.  They lead well-meaning people astray by what appears to most men to be righteous lives.

 (2) A second lesson we can learn from Solomon’s experience is to obey God whether you want to or not, whether you can see the reasoning behind his commands or not, whether you think his commands are wise or not.  We are not told Solomon's reasoning process that led him to disobey God and marry these pagan women but disobedience always leads to trouble with God.  One problem with sin is that it is likely to lead to even more sin.  It is likely to compound and even multiply once it gets started in one’s life.  Sin repeated time and again eventually leads to the hardening of one's heart.  We get to the point that our desire for the sin outweighs our desire to do what is right which is to say we cannot repent because we do not want to repent and that is a sad state to get in.

Faith does not grow by being disobedient.  Sin will lead one to flee from God as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they tried to hide from God.  We know God does not approve of sin thus when we commit sin we prefer not to be in God's presence (say worship services, prayer, Bible reading, etc.), we begin the process of withdrawal, unfaithfulness, and of losing our faith.  Faith in such circumstances torments us rather than comforts us.  We feel better without it.  We become more comfortable away from God rather than with him.

We may attempt to justify our sin, our unfaithfulness.  Solomon found new religions that would allow for what he was doing although I cannot say that was his motivation for turning to them but only that it had that effect.  Certainly, his new religions did not condemn him for marrying the pagan wives or worshiping multiple gods.

With men today it is often that way.  It is not hard to find a body of religious people who will not only not condemn your sins but justify them and make the claim that no sin is involved at all.  Just change your religious affiliation.  You can always find someone more liberal than you who will accept more departure from God's word than you without calling it sin.  They will not condemn your sin and in fact will declare it to be no sin at all.  Churches today, for example, are full of people involved in adulterous marriages.  I know of one that has a lesbian couple and a transsexual man who I am told came to services around Veterans Day with his old army jacket on while wearing high heels and a skirt.

There is no indication from the Bible that Solomon ceased his idolatry even after God spoke to him the last time.  We can get to the point, evidently, that even God talking directly to us would no longer turn us away from our evil passion.  But I ask the question, what if Solomon had just obeyed God and never started down the path of marrying pagan women?  Would it have made a difference in his faith in his old age? 

There is a lot to be said for just obeying whether you want to or not.  Obey and in time you will find you are obeying not because you have to but because you want to.  It has become your life, who you are. 

(3) A third lesson one can learn from Solomon is to beware of religions that are based on appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life for they will lead you from the faith of God's word.  Solomon may have been drawn to one or more of these idolatrous religions because some of them enticed by the nature of their worship.  In at least some of them sexual activities were involved as a part of their worship.  It was an appeal to the lust of man’s flesh.  I do not accuse Solomon of being guilty for I cannot know.  I can only know there was an appeal to the lust of the flesh in many pagan religions of that era. 

A lot of religious bodies today appeal to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life in one way or another and it has its appeal to the fleshly man, not the spiritual man, and is certainly capable of drawing people away from biblical faith into false doctrine and away from God.  Something drew Solomon into idolatry and we know with certainty that it was not logical argument or miracles or signs or wonders.  The appeal was, without doubt, an appeal to the flesh, to the lusts of man.

In our own time, there are some religious bodies calling themselves Christian whose drawing card is an appeal to wealth.  God wants you to be materially wealthy is the claim.  Clearly, the appeal is to the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.  It is all about the contribution.  The more you give the more wealth God will give you in return and in the meantime the finer home the evangelist can live in and the more expensive the car he can drive.  

Big costly buildings, robes, rituals, choirs, drama performances, musical entertainment, trips to amusement parks, ball teams, golf outings, and other such outings, etc. are not found in the pages of your New Testament in the first-century church but they have an appeal to modern man.  Some groups have built worship facilities that include gymnasiums for basketball, snack bars, rooms for pool and/or badminton, choir and band rooms, etc.  Were these things built to appeal to the spirit or the flesh?  One can be drawn away from the things of the spirit by the things that appeal to the flesh.  Can you imagine the apostle Paul soliciting funds from the brethren to build and provide for such things?  Was his interest in athletics, entertainment, and food and drink?

(4) A final thing I would list for our consideration as a lesson we can learn from Solomon's unfaithfulness and loss of faith is that one must beware of our human tendency to desire peace rather than war.  I speak here of arguments and debates and all the unpleasantness that goes with that.  Solomon should have been at war against these idols.  As it was he had peace but not a peace pleasing to God.

I am far from certain that Solomon ever gave up his original religion fully.  There is some indication he did not based on 1 Kings 11:6, "Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David." (NKJV)  I emphasize the word "fully" in that passage which makes it sound as though he did follow the Lord but only up to a point.  It could be he simply added these idolatrous gods to the Lord God he worshipped becoming a polytheist.

If that is the case is that not also what the denominational world today has done as well?  They have said one religion (denomination) is as good as another, it makes no difference.  And, yet, they each consider the other to be teaching some error they do not hold to in their own denomination.  But does error really matter at all if you can be saved practicing the error?  To ask is to answer.  Of course, error does not matter in the denominational world if you can be saved in any denomination despite the error they hold to in that denomination.

So, did Solomon get to where we are in America today where one religion is as good as another?  But you say wait a minute.  All denominations believe in the same God and the same Savior.  Solomon was worshiping multiple gods.  That argument sounds good until you examine it.  What is wrong with it?  Just this much—is the God of denomination A the same God as the God of denomination B if he is teaching one thing in one place and another in another place?  It sounds like two different Gods.

Solomon did not wage war with the other religions or other gods.  He sought peace with them all.  In doing so God was not pleased.  We ought to learn from that.  God is never pleased with a departure from his word, never.  Our job is to seek out the truth and hold to it.  If the rest of the world wants to believe and practice error so be it but we do not have to run after those gods.

A slow continual drip of water will eventually erode rock.  A steady diet of withdrawal from the things that make up the Christian life will eventually erode and destroy faith.  We may not do like Solomon and change religions or as his case may have been just add other religions to his Jewish religion.  We may simply cease to have any religion at all. 

Some think faith can be turned back on at will.  It didn't work with Solomon so why should we think it would work with us and bear in mind God even spoke to Solomon concerning his unfaithfulness, whether directly or through a prophet, but it did not cause him to repent and turn back to God.  We can get to the point where we just cease to care.  When we reach that point it is all over.  We are done.  We need to nurture faith and keep it.  Let us learn from Solomon and move toward God and not away from him.  Let us learn from his mistakes.

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