Even everybody. If you will begin
turning to Genesis chapter five. Again, I want to thank you for
having me and I've just I've been treated like a VIP the last
few days and I'm thankful. And I'm to send Kimberly's love
to you talking to her she wish she was able to come but she
I think she thanks you for having me away from her for a little
while too. Genesis chapter 5. I want to
ask you a question before we start. And then I want to ask
you the same question at the end when we see a little more
about what this question means. Do you want to walk with God? You want to walk with him? I
do. What what is it to walk with
God? I thought about that a long time
and went to the word of God. He talks a lot about walking.
That's how a lot of people got around back then. And we think
of the rule of first mention. When's the first time it's spoken
that someone walked with God? I've got four short verses here.
We might turn a little bit this evening here in Genesis 5. But
we're going to look at Enoch. Enoch walked with God. He walked
with God. And this may seem too simple
of an illustration, but I hope we can understand it. The other
day, Saturday at the airport, Charlie and Bill come and pick
me up. I walked with them to go to the truck. I didn't know
where they parked. I wasn't sure what vehicle they
had to bring me home in. I didn't know what the vehicle
looked like. But I walked with them. They knew, and we just,
I didn't have a worry. I just followed them. We just
walked together, didn't we? I think in the English language,
you wouldn't accurately say that they walked with me. I didn't
know where I was going. I didn't know what I was looking
for. I walked with them, right? Now, we were together, but I
walked with them. I hope we can learn tonight what walking with
God is. Remember that Enoch, he was the seventh from Adam.
He had Adam live 930 years. This will bear importance here
in a minute. And he begat Seth, and Seth had Enos, and Enos had
Canaan, and Mahaliel, and Jared, and Jared had Enoch. And then
just a couple of generations later, he had Methuselah, Lamech
and Noah. Enoch was Noah's great-grandfather.
But Enoch, it's mentioned in the scripture here that he walked
with God. He walked with God. It's so easy for many people
in this world for that just to roll off people's tongues. Oh,
that person, they walked with God. You know, walking with God
and talking about walking with God are two grossly different
things. Wildly different. Let's look
here in Genesis 5 verse 21. Genesis 5 verse 21. I'll move
this other side. It says here, Enoch lived 60 and
5 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. before God took him. All of Cain's
lineage, if you look through that, it always speaks about
those that were born of Cain as what they did. You know, if
they made brass or they were smiths or something like that.
What their trade was. But here it says this man walked
with God. This man walked with God. What kind of legacy? Lasting words? How do you want
to be remembered? What do you think the greatest
thing that somebody could have said about them in their life
in this world? that you walked with God, that
God was pleased with them. I like to have that on my tombstone.
He walked with God and he was not. That's it. That's it. No thing or nothing
else on this earth matters one bit. Not eternally. It matters to us. We have responsibilities
in this world, but day to day, other than our day-to-day responsibilities.
Eternally, nothing on this earth, no relationship, no anything
matters, but unless we walk with God and He's pleased with us.
That's it, that's eternal life. There's a lot of facts that are
not mentioned here in this short sentence. Enoch walked with God,
but we compare scripture with scripture. My brother just read,
we compare spiritual things with spiritual things, don't we? So
who, I have a real basic question, who walked with God? Who walked
with God? Enoch did. This is wonderful
news. I know something about Enoch.
He's a child of Adam. What's that mean? That means
a sinner, a fallen creature, one of Adam's seed, one that
was conceived in sin, was shaped in iniquity, came forth from
his mother's womb, speaking lies, just like me. He walked with
God. Now that got my attention. Does
that get your attention? There's good news there. It says in verse
21, Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah and Enoch
walked with God after he begat Methuselah. Something happened.
For 65 years on this earth, Enoch did not walk with God. Now he
had heard about it, but he didn't walk with God. Who'd he walk
with? Enoch. He walked with Enoch. He walked
with his thoughts. He walked with his own desires
in mind. He walked with what he was doing,
seemed right to him. Well, if I thought what I was
doing was wrong, I wouldn't do it. There's a way that seems right
to man, but the end thereof is death, isn't there? And then
one day, after 65 years, I'm not 65 yet, but I got a good
guess. I'm almost 45. I pretty well ain't going to
listen to nothing. If you're going to tell me how to change
a tire or drive or how to wash dishes, load a dishwasher, I
probably ain't going to listen to you. I'll be nice about it.
But at 65 years, I'd imagine that'd be a little bit more.
Who's going to tell him something? Who can teach an old dog new
tricks? Well, the Lord makes a new dog,
don't He? One day, the Lord, when He was pleased, He called
Enoch. He had heard for 65 years about the gospel of Christ. He
had heard these things. And then one day, the Lord made
that word effectual. And I got a calendar out so you
didn't have to. I got a timeline out and I did
some math. You know who preached to Enoch? Who preached substitution and
satisfaction to Enoch? Adam's still alive. That was
his great-great-great-great-grandpa. You want to learn about walking
with God? He walked with God in the cool
of the day. And he said, son, I used to walk
with God. And then I fail. I sinned against God. I didn't
believe God. I believe myself over God. And
you know what God did? He was faithful, son. He said
he's going to bring a seed into this world. And he he's going
to do it. He said he gave us that example.
He said we can't satisfy him. We're falling from it. We're
falling from that way. The angels guard it. There's
no way to him. But he provided himself a lamb. And that lamb
was innocent. And it had no spot or blemish.
And he slew that lamb. And he violently, go read Matthew
27 sometime. He ripped the skin off that lamb
and cured it. And he draped it on us and gave
us a covering. We was without cover. We had
no righteousness before God. And He gave us His covering. How can somebody hear it for
65 years and it never get turned on? I heard it for a while too
before it ever got turned on. There was a day at that appointed
time the Holy Spirit moved on Enoch and gave him ears to truly
hear. Not just hear in his head but
to hear in his heart. And He made him spiritually live. Now
he had ears to hear spiritual things, and he has eyes to see,
and he had a heart that loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He did. He was in love. One day he heard,
and you know what he said? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes from the word of God. They didn't have Old Testament
scriptures. Moses hadn't wrote this down yet for them to read.
And he said, the Lord said so. Here's what he said, and I believe
him. I believe him. I no longer believe in him. I
believe him. I believe what he says about
me. I believe what he says about his son. I believe what he said
he's going to do. And I believe he's interceding
for us right now. And that's my only hope. Has anyone ever been saved apart
from the word of God? Has anyone ever been saved apart
from the preaching of Christ and him crucified? How did Enoch
walk? To walk with God, you got to
have spiritual life, don't you? A dead man can't walk. Remember
Nicodemus? Where's that life going to come
from? Man's got to be born again, Nicodemus. How were we born the
first time? Well, the Lord separated me from
my mother's womb. How was I born the second time?
When it pleased God. That's on his timeline, isn't
it? There are two evidences of spiritual life, and that's faith
and repentance. Repentance towards God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it, we walk by faith and
not by sight. Turn over to Hebrews 11. I don't
know if I warned you. We might turn a little bit. If
you're up for it, you turn with me to Hebrews 11. We'll see some
things. Here in Hebrews 11 verse 5. Hebrews 11 5. It says, by faith,
Enoch was translated. That means he was changed. He
was something and now he's different. What is that? He's different. He ain't like
he was. Enoch was translated. He was changed that he should
not see death and he was not found because God had translated
him. For before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. How could he please God? He was in his son. But without
faith, it's impossible to please him. He believed in a person.
His faith was the faith of Christ. And without the faith of Christ,
it's impossible to please God. But that's what he had. He said,
this ain't mine. He's the faithful one. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is. He's everything he says he is.
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
To have faith, saving faith, and to be one that God's pleased
in, you agree with the Lord. Everything he says about man,
everything he says about himself, he is holy, we ain't. And the
only way to him is by one mediator, the God-man, Christ Jesus. And
two cannot walk together except they be agreed. For us to walk
with Him, we're going to agree with Him. That's just so. Well,
now I walk with Him, but there's... We can do that on this earth
with people. Like, I can get along with folks.
And so, well, you know, I can get along with you a little bit.
Well, we don't agree on sports teams or what brand of vehicle you
ought to own, little things like that. No, if we walk with the
Lord, truly walk with Him, be one with Him, we agree with Him. We're in agreement with Him.
Those that walk with God, we believe in God. We believe God. and we agree with Him and His
Word. That's called saving faith. Where does that come from? Where
do we get saving faith? Turn to Ephesians 2. Ephesians
2 verse 1. It says, Hath he quickened, he's
made you alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this world."
We used to walk serving ourselves. We used to walk all alone. We
had company, me, myself, and I. That's who we was walking
with. We thought we was fine. In time past, you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air. and the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation,
our citizenship in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as others. That's a low stake. That's a
pit. We ain't climbed out of that pit. Verse four, but God,
who's rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, that everlasting love. He loved us first. Even when
we were dead in sin, a rotting corpse, hath he quickened us
together with Christ. I'm going to take a time out
and put a parathetical notation. Brethren, this is called grace.
For by grace are ye saved. And that not of, and he's raised
us up together and made us He's quicken us, gave life in Christ.
He's raised us up together and made us set together in heavenly
places in Christ. We're just going to sit there
all day and hum and have little harps or something. No, that,
verse 7, in ages to come throughout eternity, he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ. We're
going to hear this. Somebody don't like the gospel
now, you ain't going to like it in eternity. If somebody can't be with the
brethren of the saints of God now, won't have nothing to do
with them, you ain't going to want nothing to do with them in eternity.
That's all we're going to hear. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself. It's a gift of God. He's the
gift giver. I'm thankful for that gift, but
it makes me look to the gift giver. Not of works, lest any
man should boast. For we're his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, that God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. That's what we're gonna do while
we're walking. We're gonna walk in. The Lord gives poor, dead,
wretched sinners life. the incorruptible seed of Christ.
And then in his infinite grace, he gives us faith to trust him,
to love him, to walk with him. And this walking in good works,
that's walking in righteousness. Another place it says doing righteousness.
Well, what's that? That's holy living. No, that's
believing Christ and loving the brethren. And that's instinctive is what
we would say is instinctive. Quit loving your children. I
mean, I can act like it. That'd probably break my heart,
too. I could act like I don't love them, but I love them. And quit believing Christ. Well,
sometimes we act like we don't, don't we? But you can't keep
from it. Do righteousness. Believe Christ
and love your brethren. There's no law to that. Do it
all you want. Forgive all you want. Be merciful
all you want. Knock yourself out. Enoch walked
in humility. He was given life, he was given
faith, and he was given repentance, too. He declared the word of
God, not what his words were. He just said what God said. God
taught him something. He taught him of his need of
saving. He taught him who the Savior
was, and he taught him he's coming again. He looked for him. Just
like Paul told them at Thessalonica, he said, I know you're God's
elect. I know you call on brethren. And one of those proofs was you
look for his coming. You look for the Lord to come.
Enoch looked for the Lord to come. And he told others, he's
coming. Can you believe that? How did I get that from four
verses? Turn over to Jude. Get to Revelation, turn left
one page. Jude 14. Jude verse 14, and Enoch also. seventh from Adam. Why was he
the seventh? This is completion. We have a
complete example of how God saves sinners right here. The seventh
from Adam. He prophesied of these. He was
preaching. He said, Behold, the Lord cometh
with ten thousand of his saints. He's coming. He's coming to this
earth again 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 hard
speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These
are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts. In their
mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in
admiration because of advantage." That's a twofold, same message,
twofold outcome, isn't it? Somebody asked one time, do you
think preachers in this day have a message of reconciliation or
a message of condemnation? Eric, how would you preach? It's
the same message. One to one, it's a savor of life
unto life. Somebody says, amen, that's wonderful.
Yes, I'm the ungodly one. And he told me, before I met
him in judgment, he showed me my need of that lamb. And the
same message, somebody else would say, I don't want that man to
reign over me. Don't you tell me that's what
I am. Who's sufficient for these things, Paul said. That was a
message that he not preached. He said he's going to come and
he's coming again. That's so ungodly, ungodly. That's what we are, all flesh
is grass. Those angels, they didn't, them seraphims didn't
cover their face and say, love, love, love. They covered their
face and said, holy, holy, holy. God's holy. We're the ungodly
ones. What do you think the Lord taught
Enoch? Same thing he teaches all his
people in due time, doesn't it? Christ died for the ungodly.
That's good news to somebody that's broken a contrite heart.
If there's somebody that's ungodly, I got good news for them. If
there's somebody that's a real sinner, he came to save sinners. That's good news. And that's
better to those who do not think they're ungodly. Those that stand
in their own righteousness. Well, where did God, where did
Enoch walk with God? Where was Enoch whenever he was
walking? He was in this wicked world the same as you and the
same as me. That's an amazing thing, isn't
it? He walked in his community. He's out in town. There's somebody
he's preaching to. And people all around him, they said, that
man believes God. He's peculiar. He's just different. He ain't right. Something's wrong
with him. My friends tell me over the years,
they say, if I was going to believe in a God, I'd believe in the
God that you believe in. They were meaning a compliment,
but boy, my heart hurt for him. You probably had that happen
to you. He walked in his community as a man that walked with God.
He walked in his own home, in his own home. It's a great privilege. I tell my children this all the
time. They don't know. I'll pray they understand when
they're older. It's a great privilege to have believing parents. It
just is. You're going to have a better
life carnally anyway. You just are. Especially nowadays. But it's a great privilege to
have believing parents. Parents that believe God. That
walk with God. That God's pleased with them.
That's a privilege. And he walked with God in his
heart. Even if he was all by himself on a deserted island.
Didn't have no community to be a light in. Didn't have no family
to tell him about God. Tell him at the dinner table.
He walked in his heart with God. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. That's not just an outward walk
of righteousness or outward words. That's believing in the heart.
When you're all by yourself in your closet. And he walked with
other children of God. How do you walk with other believers?
What's the attitude? What's the spirit? We walk in
fear. Honor in Christ. First and foremost. He has the
preeminence. Knowing he's with us. There in
Acts 9 it says, Then had the churches rest throughout all
Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified and they were
walking in fear of the Lord. What happens when you walk in
fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost? There's comfort
in walking with him, honoring him. And the Holy Ghost was with
them and they were multiplied. That walk is not walking in a
lie. It's walking in truth. It's not
walking in what we think. Well, this is what I think. Well,
what I think don't matter. It's walking in the truth of
the light that we're given. You walk in truth. 2 John, if
you'd like. A few pages over. 2 John verse 4. Says, I rejoice
greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth. as we have
received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee,
lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that
which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. What
is it to walk in truth? Loving one another. Believe in
Christ, love one another. And this is love, that we walk
after his commandments. Believing on Christ. Believe
in the Son. Kiss the Son. This is the commandment. that, as ye have heard from the
beginning, ye should walk in it." We walk in the light that
the Lord is pleased to give us. Look at 1 John 1, back a few
pages, 1 John 1, 7. I said, in a walking dart, in
a stumbling and bumbling around, the Lord gives us some light.
And you know, if you ever, I was down Mammoth Caves one time,
and I had one of them watches that glowed, had that iridium on it. And they turned, we got way down
in Mammoth Caves, and they turned the lights off and hit us. pitch
black. They ain't a little bit of amulet.
They ain't no lot. And just after a couple seconds,
Cameron said, cover you watch up. He looked like I had a lightsaber
coming out of my wrist. When you're in complete darkness,
that's how we're born. You get a little bit of light,
boy, it shines a bright, it'll light up the whole place, won't
it? It will. Lord gives us light. We ought
to thank him for that. Look here, 1 John 1, 7, but 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 what does this walk like well it ain't all peaches
and cream and cartwheels and ice cream i can tell you that
it's a hard walk it's a hard walk that's what david told us
he's talking about his shepherd he said yea though i walk through
the valley the shadow of death i fear no evil I wouldn't, I
wouldn't, David, fear evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. They do. And in that walk, we're
just like Paul in Romans 7, ain't we? While we're walking, we have
some light. Boy, that's what I want to be. I want to honor God. And right
when I'm doing that, I'm doing what I know better than to do.
And it seems like everything good I want to do, I do it wrong.
And everything wrong I'm doing, I can't do good. And I just feel
like I'm trapped in the body of this death. And who's going
to save me from it? I thank God. I don't thank my
confession. I don't thank my baptism. I'll
thank the preacher once we get out of that, everything else
out of the way. I thank God. He's the one that did all that.
Every believer that's called of God walks with Him, and they're
going to have a bunch of troubles. They're going to have trials.
They're going to have afflictions. They're going to have family
and friends and loved ones say, I love you. And they'll turn
against you. You've had it happen. I've had it happen. And they
struggle in this walk. And you get tired in this walk.
And you stumble. And you get thirsty. And sometimes,
you kind of stray off to this side. And sometimes, you stray
off to that side. And sometimes, you just slow down. It looks
like you stopped. But we're walking with God. We're walking with
God. He ain't walking with us. I told
you to come play. We're walking with him. He's
got us by the hand. We ain't holding on to his hand.
So how far are we going to walk? All the way to the end. If we're
truly walking with God, if he's truly given us life and light
and ears and eyes and a heart, he's going to keep us to the
end. He's going to walk with us to
the end. 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 4 verse 6. I think Paul was a man that liked
sports. He talked about fighting and
running and racing and wrestling. He might have been a proponent
for the Olympics. I don't know. 2 Timothy 4 verse 6. For I am now ready
to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought
a good fight. I finished my course, I've kept
the faith. And henceforth, there is laid
up for me a crown of righteousness, which is the Lord. The righteous
judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing. Which keeps us all the way to
the end, all the way to the end of the race. Not to my responsibility
to run to the end of the race. If you tell me I gotta run five
miles, I run about four and a half and then I'm pretty sure I'm
going to die. I ain't going to make it. If I have the option
of quitting, I'm quitting. I know that. And that's just in a foot
race. In this race of life, in this walk with God through this
valley of the shadow of death, if he don't keep us, we ain't
going to make it. He said, I'll keep you to the
end. I'm with you always. What happens at the end of that
walk? I ain't afraid of dying, but I ain't real tickled about
the means. I'd prefer it be something nice and easy. We all do, don't
we? But I tell you what, after that physical death is over,
you know what we're going to say? We were not. I was there,
and then I wasn't. We walked to the end, and at
the end of this life, we're not. We're with him. We're with him.
We go from walking by faith to walking by sight, because we
see. We go from walking with that hope, that expected end,
to being with him. We'll see him as he is. We'll
be translated. We'll be changed. How are we
going to be changed? We're going to be conformed to
the image of Christ. Be made like, I asked you this
the other day, don't you want to be made like Christ? You that
know him? I do. I do. I think I still got a few
miles left in this race I'm running. I got some responsibilities here
the Lord has for me. But when that day comes, I'm tired of
this earth now. If I hit 75, I can just imagine,
I'll be ready to go. And then I won't be. I'll be
with him. It'll be over. Just like laying down and taking
a nap. I ain't afraid to take a nap. Why in the world would I be afraid
to go to glory? He was not. That means he was not found.
When Enoch, Lord took him. People looked for him. Did you
know that? Where did he not go? He might have been going down
to the hardware store or something. He had a life. He lived for 300 years
having children. If he had a child every three
years, that's a hundred children. And they're having children.
There's a thousand people that's looking to him. He's probably
raising crops and doing all kinds of things. He had a busy day.
He didn't just sit around and was spiritual all day. God gave
him some responsibilities on this earth. Somebody looked for
him. They loved him. He knew God. He was good to them. And
they looked for him. And they couldn't find him. He
was missed. But the children of God, he just took him. He said, he's not here. I ask
that question. I'll ask you a question about
Enoch, and I ask a question about me. Who gave Enoch life? Who gave me life? The Lord did. Who gave me faith? The Lord did. Who gave me repentance? Turn
from me and turn to him. Quit agreeing with Kevin, start
agreeing with the Lord. The Lord did that. He gave that to him.
Who's going to keep me walking with God to the end. I'm prone
to wonder. I'm prone to lead to God I love. Who's going to
keep me? He's going to keep me. I ain't going to keep myself. Now with that, what's that lead
to? Who gets all the praise and all
the honor and all the glory for absolutely every bit of a sinner's
salvation and a sinner's walk? The Lord does, don't he? The
Lord does. This has been in my way all evening. I almost forgot
it, too. 2 Corinthians 6. This has been precious to me
for a long time. You ain't got to turn there.
2 Corinthians 6, 16. At the end of that, the Lord said, I will
dwell in them and walk in them. And I'll be their God, and they
shall be my people. Who did my walking in the Christian life?
The Lord did. It's his walk. He gets all the
praise and all the glory, don't he? It's my prayer that we can
wake up every morning, me and you, and walk with the Lord.
And with that in our hearts and our minds and knowing who he
is and knowing what he did and knowing where he is now and knowing
he ain't gonna leave us to ourselves, he's coming again. Either I'm
gonna go to him, he's gonna come to me, but I'm gonna be with
him and you're gonna be with him. I wanna remember that every day. That's
how I wanna walk in this world. Now, I ask you in the beginning,
I'll ask you here at the end. I wanna walk with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't you? Don't you? I pray
he's with us. Thank y'all for having me. I
appreciate you and I'm thankful for you. My family's thankful
for you and we just always enjoy being here and I guess this commonwealth's
okay. Thank you. We'll be with y'all.