If you would, open your Bibles
to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4 begins not long
after our Lord was baptized. Verse 1 says, And Jesus, being
full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. Our Lord was tempted, and then
we'll begin reading in verse 14. Luke 4, 14. And Jesus returned in the power
of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of him
through all the region round about. And he taught in their
synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the
captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister
and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto
them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all
bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? These people were gathered together
much as we are tonight. They had come into a place to
worship. for one reason or another. Some
of them probably came out of tradition, some out of loyalty
to their family, some came seeking God. And they heard a man speak,
and they bare him witness, wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. What a preacher they had in their
midst. We've heard some fine preachers
stand up here, but none like the Son of God. Verse 23, And
he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician,
heal thyself, whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also
here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto
you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you
of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But
unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. none of them was
cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose
up and thrust him out of the city, led him under the brow
of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong. And this may be one of the saddest
phrases in Scripture. But he, passing through the midst
of them, went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of
Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished
at his doctrine, for his word was with power. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, Lord, it
is with thanksgiving. Oh, Lord, how thankful we are
for Christ, our Lord, for you sending him into this sinful
world, for those of us who have no right to call upon in Christ
because of what he came and accomplished, we come before your throne and
we say, Father, Lord, have mercy upon us. Forgive us of our sin. Cause us, Lord, to be able to
worship Christ this evening, to see him high and lifted up,
to know he alone is worthy of worship, honor, power, and glory. Lord, we've come here. Our heart's
desire is that we have met together to worship. And Lord, we come
resting in your promise that where two or three are gathered
to worship, you will be with us. But Father, we don't come
in arrogance. We know, Lord, that of ourself,
all we deserve is for you to pass through our midst and go
about your way. But oh, how we pray. You will
meet with us that your doctrine, that your word might go forth
with power. Lord, anoint us this evening
that we might hear, that we might truly worship Christ. Lord, have
mercy on us. Forgive us of our sins. And Lord,
for all those with so many trials, so much heartache, comfort them,
keep them for Christ's sake. It's in his name we pray. We'll open your Bibles with me
to Genesis chapter 5. Genesis chapter 5. Oh, thank
you for that scripture reading. That was so good. So very good. Comments were great. We see here from Genesis chapter
4 verse 25 and 26 that there's two lines throughout the scripture.
Two lines follow throughout the scripture. And Adam knew his
wife again, and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. That's
a line that goes through the scriptures. That's God's line. That's the line of God's elect.
For God said, She hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel,
whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there
was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then men began
to call upon the name of the Lord. The other one that's mentioned
here is Cain. You even find where Simon Peter
says, they have gone in the way of Cain. So Cain was even known
in the scriptures. And Seth was God's promised seed. Through him, Abraham and everybody
else came. When you look through the genealogies
of the scriptures. And it kept the genealogies for
this reason. To show us where Christ came
from after the flesh, after the flesh. And then in the line of
Cain, that's where polygamy started. Look down in verse 19, where
men began to marry more than one wife. And it said here in
verse 19, and this is Cain's son, And Lamech took unto him
two wives, the name of the one is Ada, and the name of the other
is Zillah. So that's where polygamy started. Cain, through the line
of Cain, polygamy started. But also notice there in verse
26 of chapter 4, it was through the line of Seth that men began
to call upon the name of the Lord. There was Seth's line. When Seth was born and Seth grew
up, men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Began to call
themselves by the name of the Lord. Began to call themselves
believers. Began to say, God is my God. That God is who I worship. God
is who I believe. And so they began to call upon
the name of the Lord. But look what it says in Genesis
5-1. This is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day that God created man,
in the likeness of God, made he him. In the likeness of God,
God made Adam in his likeness. Male and female, created he them,
and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day they
were created. And Adam lived a hundred and
thirty years, and begat a son. Now notice the difference here.
A son in his own likeness, after his own image, and called his
name Seth. Now there's two books, two books
in the Bible that tells the story on everybody in the world. Tells
the story of everybody in the world. And you go down through
here and you find everyone in this book of the generation of
Adam. After he fell, he begat a son
in his own likeness. But everybody in this book of
the generation of Adam, every single one of them is said, and
he died, and he died, and he died. But there's another book
where no one ever dies. And that's the book in Matthew
1.1. You can look at it later at your
own leisure. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And no one
dies in that book. Everybody's alive. Everybody
lives. And we're in the book of the
generation, the book of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God did that. And oh listen, Adam was created
in God's likeness, he lost it. And then he begat a son in his
own likeness, in his own image. So how can a clean thing come
from an unclean thing? And this is one thing that after
Adam begat his first son in his own likeness, His own likeness. We've all been begotten sons
and daughters in our own likeness ever since. And sin and depravity
and uncleanness. We cannot do nothing but produce
people like ourselves. And if Christ don't save them,
they'll be like Adam. They'll live in Adam's likeness
and they'll die in Adam's likeness. But now I want you to notice
down here in verse 21 through 24 of Genesis 5. Eight times in Genesis 5 it says,
and he died, eight times, and he died, and he died, until you
get to verse 21. And Enoch lived 65 years and
begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after
he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters.
And all the days of Enoch were 365 years, and Enoch walked with
God, and he was not, for God took him. Now here's one of two
men that walked with God. Only two men in the scriptures,
other than our Lord Jesus Christ, was called walking with God.
And oh, listen, you know who it was that walked with God?
But I want to show you this in Genesis 17, one. Two men walked
with God, and that walking with God, look in Genesis 17, one.
and he walked with God. That means he lived in the presence
of God. He lived knowing that God knew
him and he knew God. And then he talks about walking
with God and walking in the presence of God. This is what God said
to Abraham. And when Abraham was 90 years
old and nine, the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto him,
I am the almighty God, walk before me, walk before me. Understand that every day you
get up and you go on about your life and do whatever you do during
that day, you're walking before me. God, you're walking in my
sight. Every step you take, I see it.
Every thing you do, I see. Every move you make, I see. And
he says, you walk before me, and listen to this, and be thou
perfect, be thou upright. And so it says over here that
Enoch walked with God. And that means he lived in the
presence of God, conscious of God, conscious of walking in
the presence of God. And it says he walked with God.
Didn't say just walked in the presence of God, but he walked
with God. Now Enoch, his name means this,
dedicated. His name Enoch means dedicated. One yielded up to God. One yielded
up to be conformed to God's mind and to God's will. And that's
what Enoch means. But beloved, here's how he says,
he said, Enoch walked with God. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? Amos 3.3 asks that question.
How can two walk together except they be agreed? And that's true. There has to be something in
common for people to become friends and walk together and enjoy one
another's company and one another's fellowship and enjoy being with
one another. So how in the world are you going
to walk with somebody if you don't agree with them? Well,
what tells me that Nenek agreed with whatever God said, and whatever
God made him to understand, and all the light that God gave him.
Enoch believed that. But now let me tell you something,
before you can walk with God, before anybody can walk with
God, There has to be a reconciliation because He was made, ain t that
what it says there in verse 5, And the days of Adam, after he
begot Seth, were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and
daughters. Seth was his fourth, third son, as far as we can tell
in the scriptures, Cain, Abel, and Seth. And there has to be
a reconciliation. There has to be an agreement.
And Enoch, like everybody else that's born in this world, was
at enmity against God. It'd be impossible for a man
to be born in the Adam's likeness and not be at enmity against
God. He was born against God. He was the son of Adam, and the
carnal mind is enmity against God. Everybody, when they're
born and as they grow up and as they live, their mind is enmity
against God. That means that they're furious
at God when God makes demands upon them. And so what happens
was a man can't walk with God till he has been reconciled to
God. And reconciliation cannot be done on the man's part. Reconciliation
has to be done on God's part because man can't reconcile himself
to God because you got to have a nature for you can reconcile
yourself to God. And what, you know, it's like,
you know, if you find two brothers, if you find two brothers, or
people in the church that they're not getting along. People say
listen you all sit them down said you all need to reconcile,
you need to reconcile. Well Enoch can't reconcile with
God so God has to come to where Enoch is and God's got to slay
that enmity that's in Enoch and God's got to reconcile himself
to Enoch. here's this man at enmity God's
going to slay that enmity and God's going to come and be in
harmony with Enoch because Enoch can't be in harmony with God
God has to do the reconciling that's what the scripture says
God hath reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. People
say, Well, you need to reconcile with God. God reconciles with
us. That's how gracious God is and
how loving and kind and merciful God is that God, we were enemies
of God, enemies of God in our minds and by wicked works and
God comes to us. And in His blessed Son, He slew
that enmity. He destroyed that heart that
was against Him. And He comes and reconciles Himself
to us, and we become in harmony. Now, every single one of us as
believers here, we, since we've been reconciled to God, we agree
with God. Whatever He says, we agree with
it. Whatever His mind is in the Bible, we say, yes, right. Whatever
His will is, we say, yes, that's what we want to do. Listen, God
has to be reconciled to him. God's not going to conform to
Enoch. He's going to conform Enoch to
him. And not only was this reconciliation,
but I'll tell you something else before Enoch can walk with God
or anybody else can. He's got to have a new nature.
He's got to have a new nature. Light has no communion with darkness. No, no, no. No way in the world. Light, you know, light has no
communion with darkness. And here's Enoch being a son
of Adam, he's in darkness. So what has to happen? God has
to come and do for him like He does anybody else. He's got to
give him a new nature. He has to give him a new nature.
And I mean, look over in 1 John. We've preached on this a lot,
but keep Genesis 5. And look over here with me in
1 John 1. 1 John 1. You know, the scripture
says we're made new creatures in Christ. Old things are passed
away. Old things, old relationships,
old feelings, old enmities, old nature, all the things that's
against God. And God comes and makes us new
creatures, and the old things pass away. Our old thoughts about
God, our old thoughts about sin, our old thoughts about how God
saves a sinner, our old thoughts about what the Bible said, and
our old thoughts about our old false Sorry professions that
we made back years ago that ain't worth the paper they printed
on if they gave you a baptismal certificate. Ain't worth the
papers printed on. And we're made new creatures
in Christ. And them all things has passed
away. And things become new. God's new to us. The Bible's
new to us. Sin is something we didn't know
about and it was something that just absolutely slew us when
we found out what it was about. The Bible became a new book to
us. I didn't tell you how many people told me over the years.
And I did myself. I said, it's like I got a new
Bible when God showed me his free and sovereign grace and
that salvation's all together of Christ and God does what he
does on purpose. I got a new Bible. It just opened
up to me. I saw things that I didn't even
know was in there before. And I thought everybody would
be as happy about it as I was, but they wasn't. But He gives
you a new nature. You know, you ain't going to
walk with God without a new nature. And look what He said here in
John chapter 1 and verse 6. This is exactly what we're talking
about. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him, with God, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin. And oh, you see, beloved, God
took this carnal mind, this old man and new man, He took this
old man and He gave us, made a new man, made a new man. You see, if a man's going to
walk with God, there's got to be a fitness. There has to be
a moral fitness by very nature given him. You know, you can't
walk with God. You got to have a nature that
can enjoy God. You got to have a nature that
can enjoy and love God and enjoy Him and delight in Him. No, God
had a fitness of very nature given. God doesn't walk out of
the way of holiness and righteousness. He's not going to come down to
us. He's got to bring us up to Him. He ain't going to walk the
way we do. He's going to make us walk the
way He does. He ain't going to come and say, now I'm going to
come down there just because you've got good intentions and
because you would like to do this or you'd like to do that
and I'm going to come down on your level. No, no. God comes
down and has to lift us up and give us a nature fit enough and
a new nature, a nature that can actually believe God and understand
God and delight in God and enjoy God. And where do you get a nature
like that? You're not born with it. Anybody
here born with the nature to love God like that? No. Huh? And oh, that's why God said,
that's why God told Moses. You know why he told Moses, take
off his shoes? Because I'm here. I'm here. And wherever I'm at,
that's holy ground. Get them shoes off. Get them
shoes off. In other words, God was in a
burning bush and he is talking to God out of a burning bush.
And he says, no, listen, Moses stood back and God said, listen,
you're standing on holy ground and wherever God's at, there's
holiness and God's got to give us a nature, a holy nature. And this is what we're talking
about. Enoch abandoned his way, he abandoned
the world's way, and he agreed with God's way. Why? Because
God gave him a nature to believe in and agree with him. And you
can't agree with God until you get a new nature. Can't be done. And so to walk with God, there's
something else he did. He surrendered his will. He surrendered
his will. You know, a man can't, you know,
man ain't gonna stand against God's will and be saved. I forget
what preacher said it, but we was talking about it the other
day. Somebody in here was that said, God will meet you at your
point of rebellion. God in the gospel, he'll meet
you at your point of rebellion and he'll break you at your point
of rebellion, or he'll leave you in your sin. And everybody's
got a point, everybody's got a place, a soft spot, some part
in them that they don't want to give up. But God says, I'm
going to have you all, I'm going to have all of you, and you're
going to have all of me. There ain't going to be none
of this middle ground, there ain't going to be no walking between
the fences, ain't going to be no straddling the fences, there
ain't going to be no walking no tightrope. You're either going
to come my way, because I'm not coming your way. And so I tell
you what, beloved, and then God meets a man, and this is the
thing about it, once God breaks you, you know what you do? You
give yourself over to Him, lock, stock, and barrel, and you say,
Oh God, please, if there's anything about me, anything in me that's
deceiving me, that's keeping me from believing you, trust
you, and I might end up being lost, God, show it to me now
and save me from it now. If there's anything in me that's
wrong and that's deceiving me and would keep me from trusting
you and believing you and being lost, show it to me. Please don't
let me be deceived in myself. And that's what Enoch done. He
couldn't help but do that. Oh, look over in Psalm 40 with
me a minute. A moment, Psalm 40. Let's look
at what he says. What David says here in Psalm
40 in verse 8. Oh my, a hypocrite can't do that. A lost man can't do that. The
only people worries about being a hypocrite and having some part
in them that's got hid in them and that they don't want it to
be hid is the believers. They don't want nothing hid.
And they're scared to death that if there's a little spot in me
anywhere, Lord, that's not yours, please, please, please show it
to me and save me from it. But look what he said in Psalm
40 in verse 8. This is what Christ said now,
and this is what we say. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. And oh, how we delight to do
the will of God. And we do it, and we did do it
perfectly and completely in our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord said it like this. Take
my yoke upon you. Take my yoke upon you. And what? learn of me. We sang that song
more more about Jesus would I know more of his saving fullness know
more of his saving I don't know all of it but more about Jesus
I want to know more of his love to others show more of his saving
fullness see more of his love who died for me oh my You know,
a man's going to walk with God, he's going to surrender his will
up to God. He's going to surrender his will up, he said, and he's
going to walk with God. And then it's a spiritual communion. If
you're going to walk together, you're going to be a reconciliation. God's got to reconcile you. He's
got to give you a new nature. You've got to be born again.
He's got to give you a nature that can enjoy him and delight
in him and understand the scriptures and the things of God. And to
walk with God, you surrender your will. And that's what Enoch
did. And spiritual communion. Spiritual communion. And the
scripture said Enoch walked with God. Enoch walked with God. Walked with God after he'd be
at Methuselah. Walking together. And when you
walk together like this, it's opening up one to another. Opening
up one to another. I was talking to a dear brother
the other day. And they were off camping together. And he says, Me and the other
brother said, boy, we headed off through the woods walking
and talking and said, boy, said, that was one of the most wonderfulest
times I've ever had was two brothers walking through the woods and
they's walking together and opening themselves up to one another,
opening themselves up their hearts to one another, their beliefs
to one another, and their troubles to one another, their fears to
one another, their anxieties to one another, their worries
to one another. And oh my, And it's a spiritual
communion. You walk with somebody like that,
you open yourselves up to it. And walking with God, walking
with God, there is necessarily a growth in grace. You can't
walk with God and not grow. A growth in grace. You know,
he didn't stay a baby from the time he believed God, he didn't
stay a baby. The scripture says you walk with God, and when you
walk with God, you gotta go forward. You don't stay in one spot, you
know, you're going forward. Being a believer, being a Christian
is not a static thing. It don't stay the same. People
say, listen, I think it'd be one of the most boring things
to go to church, sit in a church, and listen to somebody preach.
Oh, listen, I tell you what, I love doing it, and people say,
well, believers don't have no fun. There's nobody that laughs
more than we do. We had the biggest laugh back
there in the office tonight. We did it at lunch today. I mean,
we laugh and enjoy one another. Life is good for me and life
is good for you. We enjoy living. Why? Because we're walking with God. And it says he went forth, no
doubt, as he grew in grace. And this is how you know you're
growing in grace. He hated sin more than he ever did as he got
older. He had a greater estimate of
himself, caused him to be more humble and throw himself more
on Christ. As he got older, he seen more
and more of his helplessness and his inabilities. As he grew older and walked in
Christ and growed in grace, he saw his need and dependency upon
the Lord. More and more, he said, he showed
note his dependency upon the Lord. And as he grew older in
Christ and in the Lord, the world, he would enjoy God that much
more. He went from strength, God's
strength, to God's strength. Stronger and stronger. Glory
to glory. And that's what growing in grace
is. Oh my. Let me tell you something else
about walking with God. You know. He had a growth, not
only did he grow in grace, hated sin more. Your daddy told me
after he hadn't been converted very long, couple of years maybe,
and he came over to the old, old building, come over there
in my office one day and he sat down and he said, Brother Donnie,
he says, You just don't believe how, what an awful, awful sinner
I am. He said, sin's worse more to
me now than it's ever been. Said it troubles me now more
than it ever has. How's that happen? You'd think
you'd get over it after a while. No, no, no. The older you get,
the worse it becomes. You'd hate it more. You'd despise
it more. You want to be done with it sooner.
Oh, how you want to be done with this awful thing called sin.
I want to be done with my nature. And he went on from strength
to strength and glory to glory. And then he had a growth as he
walked with God. He had a growth in the knowledge
of the Lord. Look what it says here in verse
21. You see, he knew God and he grew
in his knowledge of God. And Enoch lived 65 years and
begat Methuselah. Now watch this. He's 65 years
old when Methuselah was born. And Enoch walked with God after
he begat Methuselah 300 years. And he died when he was 365 years
old. So he walked with God for 300 years. 300 years. 300 years. And oh, I tell you what, he grew
in his knowledge of God after 300 years. Oh, how he had such
a great, great appreciation for God, for God's character, for
God's nature. And as he grew older and older
and grew greater in the knowledge of God, he had such a greater
concern for God's glory and to honor God. and to bless God,
and no doubt, no doubt in those 300 years, he experienced joy
and peace in believing. And oh my, how could he be miserable
with God as his companion? He said, yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. Why? For thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Look
at Psalm 91. This is one of my favorite scriptures. Psalm 91. I love this verse of
scripture. I could quote it to you, but
this is just such a delightful, delightful verse of scripture
right here. Oh my. Oh, he experienced trials. He experienced trials. Oh, how
he experienced trials. Of course he did. You walk with
God 3,500 years, 300 years. But look what he said here, talking
about growth in the knowledge of the Lord. He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High. Well, how do you know where
the secret place is? That's where we all go. We all
got a place. And we know God's secret and
God knows us. And he that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. And then look what he says, I
say of the Lord, this is what I'm gonna say about him. He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Oh, my, my, my. Oh, what a growth
he grew in grace. necessarily for he went forward
didn't go back he went forward walk with God 300 years and then
he was a faithful witness. Everybody knows where Jude is
that's the that's that little bitty one chapter right before
the book of revelations look what a witness that Jude was
I don't know where this was found at I don't know how they come
to know it I don't have to know but I know this is what God said
about it Enoch not only was he reconciled and given a new nature
and grew in grace, surrendered his will and had spiritual communion
with God and grew in grace and grew in a knowledge of the Lord.
But look what he said here at verse 14 and 15 of Jude. And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam, the seventh person born from Adam, prophesied of these
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints
to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their harsh speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against Him, against God. Now, where did Enoch
say that at? Don't tell us where he said it.
But Jude said he said it. He prophesied of it. And so he
did. What a faithful witness. He's
going to convince men who denied God, who denied God and spoke
against God. Spoke against God. And then he
had, I'll tell you back over in Genesis 5, he had unfailing
perseverance. Do you know, you know it, I ain't
been a believer all that many years. I don't know how long
it has been. And it don't make any difference.
I'm a believer now. I'm a believer right now. Right
this moment in time. I trust Christ right this minute.
God lets me live tomorrow. I'll get up and I'll trust him
again. Unfailing perseverance. You know to walk with God for
300 years. Do you know what kind of perseverance
it take to walk with God? How much perseverance have we
had in what short time we've been with God? All the things
we've had to persevere through. He was 65 years old after he
had his first son, Methuselah. And then it says he begat sons
and daughters and lived 365 years old. And oh, listen, he had sons
and daughters, he had a house full of kids, and he had to get
up, and I mean, beloved, he didn't get in an automobile and go to
the job. He didn't come to an air-conditioned
home. He lived, and I don't know how he lived, but he got up,
and everywhere he went, he had to walk. Everything he did, he
had to do with his hands. And every bit of work he'd done,
it was hard labor, because if you're gonna raise a family,
Those days or any other days you're going to work and he persevered
and he and he walked with God For 300 years and he had sons
and daughters Raised a family and walked with God Worked and
walked with God made a living and walked with God Didn't make
excuses and walked with God. He said I don't feel good today.
He walked with God Well, I believe I'll go to church this week if
I feel all right. No, he walked with God. It wasn't
once a week with him. He didn't walk with God only
in the morning or didn't walk with him in the evening. He walked
with God through his trials, through his temptations, through
the cares of an ordinary family every day. He had to live every
day. And beloved, he walked Every day. And now, people got
too many places to go, too many other fish to fry. And look at
his testimony. Look at Hebrews 11. Look at his
testimony. Look at Abel's testimony. Hebrews
11, 5 and 6. Hebrews 11, 5 and 6. Look at his testimony here. He
was a faithful witness of God, but look at his testimony. And
you know, this is what's so wonderful about it. There's people doing
this today. They're raising families. They have to go to work. They
have to make a living. They have to pay bills. They
got to keep a house going. They got to keep kids in school.
They got to take kids to the doctor. Themselves to the doctor
then they have ever they have an a and then he had all those
problems and everybody else's God He buried no doubt no doubt
how many people he buried in his lifetime, but he walked with
God And that's what people do that know God they walk with
God They walk with him by faith, and they walk with him and raise
families. They walk with him and keep a house They walk with
him and raise children. They walk with him and and and
even in sickness they walk with God and But look what he said
here in Hebrews 11.5. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found. One day they
went out looking for him and he's gone. that he should not see death,
and he was not found because God had translated him. Before
his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. Well, how did he please him?
But without faith, it is impossible to please him. He believed God. He believed God. And the scripture
says he was not. How are you there? One day you
was, and the next day you was not. He was not. And you know
what the scripture says? God took him. And you know what
our Lord said about us? He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe God, believe also me. For in my Father's house
are many mansions. If it were not so, I'd have told
you. But I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again. And I will take, take
you to be where I am. to be with me." And here was
Enoch, out walking with God, and one day he went out. and
he never went home. Why not? God come and took him
straight to glory. He didn't go by way of death.
There's two people in the scriptures that didn't die, and God himself
took them straight to heaven, took them straight to glory.
Enoch was one of them. He was not, and you know, no
doubt, his children, grandchildren went out and said, where's Pop?
Where's Dad? Couldn't find him. He was not found. That means
somebody looked for Him. You know why? God took Him, translated
Him. That translation means that He
took Him from one place, had to translate His body and make
Him a new body. Had to translate Him from earth
to heaven. had translating from from this
sinful body to a new body. I mean he didn't take him up
there in that old body as he took him up there. He had to
transform that body because you know flesh and blood is not going
to go into the kingdom of God. Oh my God himself carried him
over. He came down to Death's River
and God himself carried him across. And you know, and Elijah done
the same thing. God sent a chariot down to take
Elijah and carry him back to glory. And I tell you, that's
what's going to happen to us one of these days. We're going
to be translated, be transformed. In a moment, in the twinkle of
an eye, we'll be caught up just like Enoch was, caught up! Meet
the Lord in there, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Oh. And a simple, simple faith. Oh,
what a simple faith he had. By faith, Enoch was translated. By faith, he believed God. And
God took him. And he believed that God would
take him without testing death, a tasting death, and he did.
And he did. Oh my, wouldn't that be something
if the Lord come in our lifetime? Oh my. And I tell you, Enoch
walked with God, and I've already said it. There are people here
and men and women that I know that walk with God today just
like Enoch did. How did Enoch walk with God?
He walked by faith. He didn't walk beside, he walked
by faith. And there are men and women today
that still walk with God like Enoch did by faith. They believe
him. They believe him. Our Father, in the precious,
precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your abundant
mercies and grace given us in Christ. Thank you for allowing
us to believe your word, to believe you. Lord, what a miracle, what
a miracle, what a miracle of grace, what a miracle of power,
what a miracle of God that we believe you, we believe you,
we enjoy you, we believe your word, and we enjoy your What
a miracle. And oh God, what a miracle it
is that we have done it, and by your blessed grace, we'll
continue to do it. To believe. To believe you. Not
believe on you, believe you. Believe your promises. Believe
your blessed word. God, bring glory to yourself
through this body of believers. Save your people in this place.
We ask in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.