Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today, Stewart Briscoe is going to tell us how the Old Testament figure of Enoch put a smile on God's face and how you can too. But before he begins, if you've ever struggled with the pain of betrayal or the weight of resentment, you're not alone. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we're called to do, but it's also one of the most freeing. That's why we want to send you Freed by Forgiveness, a four-message compilation from Stewart and Jill as our thanks for your gift today. Call now at 282-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org.

Thanks again for listening and for your support today. Now, here's Stewart Briscoe with insight for you about how you can make God smile by living like Enoch.

Stuart Briscoe: I want to talk to you on the subject of making God smile. Did you know you could do that? Now, I know that we do have a fixation on God making us happy and God blessing us and God doing all kinds of good stuff for us. It ever occurred to you that the reverse is highly significant, that it is possible for us to put a smile on the face of God? I know this is true because over and over again in scripture, we are told the things that please God and by the same token, we're told about a lot of things that displease him.

Now, if you have two options, either to put a smile on the face of God or a frown on the space of God, you don't need to be a nuclear physicist to figure out which is the smartest approach. So, I want to talk to you about making God smile or doing the things that please him. You may remember that when Jesus was baptized, that concluded the 30 years of his private life. And at the time of his baptism, there was a great affirmation as a voice from heaven spoke and said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

You remember? And what God the Father was really saying is this, I've watched my son for the last 30 years and his private life pleases me. And you get a sense of the Father sitting in heaven watching his son with great great delight, a proud smile on his face. That's my son. Now, three years later, you remember, the Lord Jesus took three of the disciples up onto the Mount of Transfiguration. And while they were up there, Peter was, you know, shooting his mouth off when he should have been quiet and we've looked into that story quite a bit.

Then the voice from heaven silenced him. That's what it took to silence Peter. And the voice from heaven said, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him. And And the Lord the Father was putting a seal of approval on the public life of the Lord Jesus. His smile of approval rests on his private life. His smile of approval rests on his public life. Can you think of anything that you'd rather do with your life than put a smile on the face of God? You say, well, it's one thing for Jesus to do that, but me?

I mean, I I'm just me. How in the world could could I do anything to affect the attitude of God? Well, I think that's worth looking into. And so, let me read to you from Hebrews chapter 11. In Hebrews chapter 11, we read of a number of characters. As some of the young people have some role models that their parents don't necessarily approve of and and vice vice versa. I want to suggest that you can come to some point of agreement by looking into Hebrews chapter 11, which is really a list of people who God says are role models for young people and old people alike.

And actually, what Hebrews chapter 11 does is give us a brief summary about these people in order to wet our appetite so we can look in other parts of the Bible and find out more about them. Now then, one of those people is a gentleman called Enoch. And Enoch's story is introduced in verse 5 of Hebrews 11. This is what it says. By faith, Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

There you got it. Now you say, okay, I can understand Jesus putting a smile on the face of God, but can an ordinary human being do that? And the answer is yes. Enoch did it. Before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. Now notice the word of explanation immediately after that in verse 6 is what it says. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. So not only do we have an example of somebody who could put a smile on the face of God, we have an explanation of how that person did it.

And what does that all add up to? What it adds up to is this, we should look at the example of Enoch because he is an example of somebody who made God smile and we should recognize that he did it by living a life of faith. For without faith, it is impossible to please God. Now that is a statement that should go deep into our hearts. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Now you may have a problem with that statement. Let's see if we can spend a little time explaining it and perhaps it will not be such a problem after all.

Well now, I mentioned to you a minute ago that Hebrews 11 just gives us an introduction to these people, but there are other statements in other parts of the Bible. So let's turn all the way to the front of the Bible to Genesis chapter 5 for a little more information on this character Enoch. Genesis chapter 5 and verse 21 is what it says about it. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

All together, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God. Then he was no more because God took him away. Now you notice the two expressions that describe this life of faith that Enoch lived, without which of course it's impossible to please God. The two expressions are Enoch walked with God. Enoch walked with God. Now what in the world does that mean? Well, to walk with somebody means that there's fundamental agreement. To walk with somebody means not only is there fundamental agreement, but you enjoy each others company. To walk with somebody means that as you're enjoying each others company, you are sharing your lives with each other.

I mean, that that's a a basic sort of picture of what it means to walk with somebody. Here's a picture of Enoch as he lives by faith. He is somebody who enjoys being in the company of God as God enjoys being in Enoch's company. They share things together and are benefited by the time spent. Enoch walked with God. You'll remember that when God created humanity, he outlined the fact that he wanted to have a relationship with the human beings that he created. And it was to be a relationship predicated on God's loving kindness towards them and humanity's response of gratitude in loving, trusting, obedient.

That was how we were wired up in the first place. God taking the initiative, creating us, extending loving kindness towards us, the natural response of which would be a a loving, trusting life of obedience. And that was how our forefathers started out. Now in order to give them the opportunity to be obedient, they obviously had to have free choice. And in order to have free choice, they needed options. And so God gave them an optional situation. He gave them the whole world to go out and stuck one tree in the middle of it and said, you've got the whole world to go out, don't touch that tree.

That was it. Pretty reasonable, I would think.

Guest (Male): Don't go anywhere. There's more life-giving truth from the Briscoes headed your way. tellingthetruth.org and the tellingthetruth app are great resources to help you grow in your spiritual life. Packed with videos like Ask the Briscoes, articles from Stewart and Jill, and encouraging audio teaching content, you'll find a treasure trove of resources to encourage you and others in your faith. And while you're there, you can also request this month's featured resource when you give a gift to help more people around the world experience life in Christ. So visit us online or download the app today. We look forward to connecting with you.

We're going to return now to Stewart Briscoe as he continues describing how we can make God smile in his message called By Living Like Enoch.

Stuart Briscoe: He wants them to show that they're obedient. He wants to show that they're loving and trusting. They have to do in order to do that, they have to have a free will. In order to have a free will, they've got to have a choice. So they gives them a choice, but it's a bit loaded, isn't it? On the one hand, he gives them the whole world and all they've got to do is enjoy the whole world and that will be loving, trusting, obedience. But in order that there's a little test there, one little tree. But you know what human beings are like.

If they've got a whole world that they can enjoy on one tree that they're not supposed to enjoy, guess what they do. They're stupid. And this is what happened. We know that our forefathers chose to eat of the tree that they were forbidden to eat. Now here's the interesting thing about this. The story goes on that God used to come down in the evening. It's just figurative language. God used to come down in the evening or walk in the garden with our four parents, our four forefathers. And one evening, he comes down to meet with them and he can't find them.

Adam, he calls. Adam. Eve. Eve. Can't find them. Looks all over for them. And eventually, there's a rustling in the bushes and Adam and Eve stand up there in the bushes. You have all seen pictures of Adam and Eve standing in the bushes with all kinds of leaves strategically placed. And as they're standing there in the bushes, God says to them, what are you doing? What are you doing? I came down for our evening walk together. You remember what they said? They said, we hid. We hid. And he said, why did you hide? He said, we were ashamed.

And he said, what what what what are you ashamed of? What we've done. And we we were afraid. And God said, what in what is going on here? You're hiding from me? You're ashamed? You you you're afraid of me? Listen, our relationship is I created you. I reached out to you in grace. I have given you all that you need. All I've asked for from you is loving, trusting, obedience. I gave you one little test. What have you done? And they said, what we have done is we have disobeyed. And in disobeying you, we have estranged ourselves from you.

We have become alienated from you. We are distant from you. We are consumed with guilt. We know there's something fundamentally wrong in our lives. We've lost touch with you. We don't want to walk with you anymore, God. We want to go our own way. Sound familiar? Sound familiar? This is precisely what's going on in our world today. God, we don't want to obey you. God, we don't want to trust you. God, we don't want to love you. We want to do our own thing. We want to be as Gods ourselves. We don't want you to reign over us.

We want to reign our own lives. We have no objection whatsoever to you being on the periphery and bailing us out occasionally when we mess up, but we will not submit to you. Result is alienation. Result is estrangement. The result is that we hide from God. We do things that we're ashamed of. There are lots and lots of things that we're afraid will be caught out. And in this sad situation which now gets worse and worse and worse for something called the fall has happened and now they've created a fallen culture and a fallen society in a fallen world.

Into this scene comes my man Enoch. And he walks with God. Total contrast to these other guys. They don't want to walk with God. They don't obey God. They don't want to trust God. They don't want to love God. Enoch says, I want to walk with him. I want to obey him. I want to trust him. I want to love him. And he shines like a beacon in the midst of a collapsing, corrupted culture. God looks at him and says, there's my man. There he is. That's Enoch. And Adam put a frown on God's face and Enoch replaced it with a smile.

Which would you rather do? Put a frown on the face of God or put a smile on his face? When you see what Enoch is doing is saying, look, I love you, Lord. I trust you, Lord. I obey you, Lord. And that is the essence of a life of faith and that is the essence of walking in communion with God and enjoying God. Nothing to hide, not running away from him, not hiding from him, but going along step by step through life, making yourself available to him as he makes himself available to you. It's called the life of faith.

It's called walking with God. It's called putting a smile on the face of God. Let's now look at an explanation of what it takes to get to that stage. And Hebrews chapter 11 will tell us. In introducing all these role models of which Enoch is one, of course, it tells us that they all lived by faith, but it explains what it means by this. Hebrews 11 verse 1. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Okay, just a couple of things here. We're talking now about an explanation of the faith that makes God smile. The first thing to notice is this, this kind of faith has a strong conviction that the things that we hope for really exist and it has an equally strong conviction that there are things that are real that we do not see. F. F. Bruce, the Scottish theologian writing about this passage of scripture, says this, physical eyesight produces conviction or evidence of visible things. We all know that's true. I know, we say, I know such and such a thing happened.

I saw it with my own two eyes. All right. If you're a theologian, you don't say, I know it happened to my own two eyes. You say, physical eyesight produces conviction or evidence of visible things. Then he says, faith is the organ which enables people to see the invisible order. So I asked myself a very simple question. As God looks down from heaven into my life today, do I generate a smile or do I create a frown? And the simple fact of the matter is this, without faith, it is impossible to put a smile on the face of God.

But faith simply says this, I believe that God exists. I believe that he cares. I believe that I can come to him seeking humbly for grace and mercy. And if I do this in the name of Jesus, he says under no circumstances will I reject you. And he will give me grace and mercy in time of need. And I will begin to discover a heart of gratitude to him and I'll be surprised at how much now I want to honor him and to love him and to trust him and obey him. And I'll say to myself, something happened to me and God will smile from heaven and say, you got in touch with the work of grace.

Now walk with me one step at a time. And let's go through life together. And that's what makes God smile. Let's pray together. Lord, we would like seriously to consider the possibility that we can displease you. Or to use our terminology, we could put a frown on your face. And then we considered this wonderful possibility that we could bring you pleasure. Like old Enoch, living in tough times when everybody was getting born and dying, instead of being born and dying like the rest of them, Enoch, instead of collecting the wages of sin, received the gift of life.

It was translated into your presence because before he left, he had this testimony. He pleased God. That's what we want to be. That's who we want to be. That's what we'd like to do. Be gracious to us, dear Lord. Be merciful to us.

Guest (Male): Now Stewart, you used the example of a loving and grateful child as someone who can make God smile. Is it really that simple?

Stuart Briscoe: Uh no, I didn't say anything was particularly simple. In In fact, nothing is simple in this complex world. The illustration I was trying to give you was this, that there is no question about it. If a grandmother has the opportunity to talk about her grandchildren, she will do it with a smile. Or if a mother sees a child succeeding in something, there's no question about it. It will bring a smile to her face. In the same way, I am saying that the God himself is so intimately interested and concerned with the way that we are conducting ourselves and that when he sees us living in loving, trusting, obedience to him, I would say that puts a smile on his face.

Now I know that this is an anthropomorphism. And if you're not familiar with that word, I thought I'd use it so that you know I know it. But what it actually means is we attribute to God human characteristics. He doesn't have a face. He doesn't have a smile, but he does he is pleased with our behavior, whether it is behavior of loving obedience.

Guest (Male): And so you would say that pleasing God can't be accomplished by lots of good works. Why not?

Stuart Briscoe: No, I'm not saying that pleasing God cannot be accomplished by lots of good works. What I'm saying is is this, that the Bible is very very clear. First of all, that by our own efforts, we are incapable of arriving at a position of being justified by God. By grace, we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But it then goes on to say in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

In other words, the place of good works in the spiritual experience is not that good works are the means of meriting salvation, but that good works are the evidence that salvation has been received by faith, prompted by the grace of God that makes it available. So our good works do not please him so that he rewards us with salvation. When we've accepted his gift of salvation, we demonstrate our appreciation in our good works.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to telling the truth today. We're so glad you've joined us and want to encourage you further with a powerful resource from Telling the Truth with Stewart Briscoe. If you've ever struggled with the pain of betrayal or the weight of resentment, you're not alone. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we're called to do, but it also one of the most freeing. That 's why we want to send you Freed by Forgiveness, a four-message compilation from Stewart and Jill as our thanks for your gift today. In it, you'll discover how you can break free from bitterness and step into the healing and freedom Jesus offers.

So request your copy of Freed by Forgiveness when you give today, knowing your support helps more people around the world experience freedom in Christ, many for the very first time as they hear God's truth thanks to you. Call now at 282-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks again for listening and for your support today. We're so glad you've joined us today. Come back again as the Briscoes share more powerful truth from God's word. Listen in and experience life next time on Telling the Truth.