Turn with me to the eleventh
chapter of the book of Hebrews, and we'll consider what's said
in that fifth verse of the eleventh chapter. I read unto you from the book
of Jude, where it says, that Enoch is called the seventh from
Adam. That is to distinguish him from
the other Enoch who was in the line of Cain. Now, these men in particular, these men in the
eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrew, These men of olden
days, olden times, times that have passed, they were not only
taught of God, but they were teachers of others. I just noticed in the fourth
verse, he talks about Abel. Abel was taught by God. And Abel taught others. He taught
others that a man could approach God by way of a perfect sacrifice. That's what Abel taught him. Abel insisted in his teachings
by way of his testimony And he had brought a more excellent
gift than his brother unto God. And he insisted that
God, the awesome God, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, Creator
of all things and the Preserver of all things, that he could
be approached, that a man, sinful, sinful, Man could approach the
majestic glory in the face of God by way of a sacrifice, a
blood sacrifice. God can only be approached by
a perfect, spotless sacrifice without blemish. He taught that God could be approached
on a life laid down. The Lord Jesus Christ, that's
what he taught. Enoch, it says in verse 5, by
faith Enoch, by faith, by faith. Enoch had the same faith. that Abel had. Abel's brother
had faith in himself, but not faith in God. Abel's faith was produced by
God. The result of Abel's faith which
was given to him by God, the precious faith, like precious
faith. The consequence of God giving
him this faith, he brought the right sacrifice.
Cain did not have faith. The Holy Ghost did not produce
faith to connect him with God. He had confidence in himself
and brought the best that he had. His person wasn't accepted
and neither was his sacrifice. And he went out into the world
and built another world to get away from God Almighty. Well, Enoch had the same faith. Anytime there's true faith, true
faith is produced by the Holy Spirit. It's a gift of God. If you have it, the evidence
of it is that you cast yourself unreservedly at the feet of mercy. That's the result of true faith,
that you trust in the true and the living God. You don't trust
in yourself. True faith does not partly trust
in you and partly trust in God. True faith trusts in God and
God alone as He reveals Himself in the face of Jesus Christ. True faith does. And we all have,
if we are the children of God, we are by faith in Jesus Christ. God-given faith. We don't have
faith naturally. He's got to give it to us. If
He gives it to us, we'll trust in the Son, Him and Him alone,
confessing unto God our sins, our needs, and acknowledging
unto God that they're all met. They're all met. Our needs as
sinners is all met in Him you sent. Bob, what He done. He represented us. And we trust
Him. We look to Him and we say, He
only is my rock and my salvation. By faith. Enoch had the same
faith that Abel had. Same faith that Abraham had.
Same faith that Noah had. Same faith. By faith. Enoch was translated. that he should not see death.
Seventh from Adam. That he should not see death,
and he was not found because God had translated him. Before his translation, for 365 years, or we can be sure for 300 years. You see, he was 300 years old
after he begat Methuselah. In other words, Abraham, I mean,
any was 65 years old, I believe,
65 years old, when he begat Methuselah. And from the time he begat Methuselah,
he walked with God for the next 300 years. And he died when he
was 365 years old. Well, what is meant? That's what I
want to know. What's meant by Enoch walking
with God? Enoch was translated that he
should not see death. He was not found because God
had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony
that he pleased God. Now, if you'll turn with me back
there to the fourth chapter, I think it is, of the book of
Genesis. I think. Let me look. Chapter five of the book of Genesis. 21. It says, and Enoch lived 65 years old,
and he begat Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years. The next verse says, And Enoch
walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years,
and he begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were
three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with
God. and was not, and was not, for
God took him." What is meant by Enoch walking with God? Well, right off in this eleventh
chapter of the book of Hebrews, in chapter five, and
in the last expression of the fifth chapter, it says, according
to the apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of God,
says that he was pleasing to God, and he pleased God. He walked with God. For before his translation, this
is his testimony. This is what his life spoke. Not so much the words of a man,
but his whole life. They looked at his whole life,
300 years or 365 years, and the Bible says that he pleased God. Now, I'll tell you this right
off. that God will not walk with a man in whom he has no pleasure. How can two walk together if
they be not agreed? Listen, can two walk together
except they be agreed? If men walk contrary to God,
He will walk contrary with them. Walking implies a deep-rooted friendship. It implies intimacy. It certainly implies love. Now, this deep-seated fellowship
Friendship, kinship, intimacy, love cannot exist between God
and the soul unless the man is acceptable with God. It just cannot be. There cannot be this friendship,
fellowship, intimacy, love and closeness unless That man is
acceptable and accepted by God. Now, understand that Enoch was
a man like ourselves. He had fallen with the rest of
the human race in Adam. When Adam fell, All of us, not yet born, and
all those that are not yet born yet, will have Adam's nature. Enoch, like ourselves, had Adam's
nature. He had gone astray. Remember
Isaiah 53, it says they've all gone astray. went their own ways. Enoch was
no different. He'd gone astray in his acts
and in his deeds. Like us, all we like sheep have
gone astray. Therefore, he needs what we need. He needed pardon. He needed the
forgiveness of his sins. He needed cleansing. And he needed
imputed righteousness, and so do we. So does every man, jack
among us, man, woman, boy or girl, understand my voice, gathered
in this place at this time on Sunday morning. Every one of
us needs pardon. cleansing and the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must have that or we will never walk with God in
this life or in the life to come. So to be pleasing to God, it
is needful that we should be forgiven and justified. If Enoch is to walk with God,
he must be cleansed, pardoned, and justified. If we are to walk
with God and bear this testimony that we please God, we too must
have our sins blotted out, they must be forgiven. We must be
justified and appear before God as though we had never sinned
without guilt or without shame and be like Him who died in our
stead, in our place, in our room. We must be cleansed by His blood. We must have His righteousness. Oh, for a man cannot be pleasing
to God till sin is pardoned and Righteousness is imputed. And to this end, my brethren
and sisters this morning, to this end there must be faith! For he says, for without faith
it's impossible to please God. It's impossible to please God
without faith. Faith cometh from God. God is sovereign in His disposal
and the giving of man. We must have it. What must I
do to get it? You can't do anything to get
it by way of merit, because you have no merit, but you can do
this. You can seek Him. You can cry out, God, I have
not faith. Give me faith. You can do that. Every man can do that. He can
cry out for mercy, for mercy, for mercy every hour of every
day if he really wants it. And if a man really wants mercy,
God will give it to him. God will show him mercy. God
will give him faith if he really wants it. Forget about the predestination
and all those things. Forget about that. You'll find
out about that soon enough. What you need is faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. There can be no justification
without faith. You cannot have this arrangement
to be before God without guilt, without sin, without shame, and
to be as His Son, apart from justification. And there can
be no forgiveness, cleansing, reconciliation, righteousness,
justification without faith. There can be no pleasing God
except our persons are justified and without faith. It's impossible
to please God. And by faith, Enoch was made
pleasing, even as we are made pleasing today by faith. If Enoch had been pleasing to
God by virtue of some great gift or great talent, or by reason
of some extraordinary achievement, then we'd all be despaired, because
none of us has any great gift or great talent, or none of us
have achieved any extraordinary or miraculous works. If it would
have been on the account of that, we would be all men most miserable,
and we might despair. But if he was pleasing to God
through faith, this faith that connects him with the sacrifice,
and the sacrifice is what pleases God, not us. It's the sacrifice. It's Him
whom we are connected to, joined to, cemented to. It is this vital connection. Faith connects us to Him. And Enoch was pleasing to God
through faith, the same faith that the dying thief had. There
was that dying thief who lived a life of debauchery, blasphemies of character, mind
and heart and soul. A thief who took what did not
belong to him. It was a lifetime obsession with
him. It was his occupation, by the
way. in all probability, done a day's
work in his life, stole from the time he was old enough to
get his hands on something that didn't belong to him and belonged
to someone else. They came to that place on that
tree. And finally, I don't know what
the testimony was, but there was something about the Lord
Jesus Christ that he believed. And no one else believed it that
day, but he did. Another thief just like him.
He said to our Lord, he said, save thyself and save us. But this dying thief, he said,
Lord, I know you're a king. You have a king. And it's an
everlasting kingdom. And he said, Remember me! And
thou comest into thy kingdom. And the Lord said, Today shalt
thou be with me. Enoch had that same kind of faith.
I want to know here this morning, have you got that same kind of
faith that that dying thief had? Lord, remember me! Don't mull over in your mind
this morning, well, I don't feel as bad as that thief. I don't
feel this. Quit worrying about your feelings. Your feelings don't save you.
Christ saves you. He saves you. Come to Him. Lord, remember me. Me. When thou comest into your kingdom.
Today! Verily I say unto thee, today! My God! His last days upon earth were
spent with the dying thief. The dying thief's last days on
earth were spent with the king of the world. The same faith that that dying
thief had, So I come to this consequence or result that if
you want to walk with God as a man of God, then you must begin
by believing on God and in God as He hath revealed Himself in
Jesus Christ. That's how you begin, isn't it,
Pat? That's where you start. in trusting His Son. Now, nobody is saved who did
not experience the convicting work of the Spirit. Let me read
that, if I can find it here, in the book of John, chapter
16. And I think beginning in verse
3, And these things will they do unto you, because they have
not known the Father or Me. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told
you of them. And these things I said unto
you at the beginning, because I was with you. Now I go my way. They'll put you out of the synagogue,
the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think he's doing
God a favor. I've lost the place there that
I was reading. John chapter 16. Nevertheless,
listen, I go my way, but because I have said these things unto
you, sir, I have filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you
the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. If I go not
away, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will not come unto you. And if I depart, if I go, it
is expedient that I go, I will send him unto you. And when he
has come, what will he do? He will reprove the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. He will convict
the world. The world sometimes in the Bible
does not mean every man, woman, boy and girl that makes up Adam's
fallen race. That same world is God's soul
of the world. The world of what? The world
of them that God set apart, sanctified, preserved unto Himself, called
chosen in Christ before the world ever was. And when He's come,
He'll reprove the world of convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
of judgment, of sin, of sin, because they believe not on me.
Not on your feelings. Worry about your feelings. Don't
worry about how you feel and how you don't feel. You're a
sinner. You're a sinner. You don't feel
like a sinner? It doesn't make any difference
whether you feel like a sinner or not. That doesn't alter the
fact that you are a sinner. And He said of sin, because they
believe not on Me. Well, what's the connection between
sin and believing on Him? It is because if they are convinced
of their sin, they'll also be convinced that their sins were
laid on their substitute, that He bore them of righteousness
because I go to my Father and ye see me no more of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged." He's got a lot of
things to say unto you. He said, I'll forgo them at this
particular time. But listen to me now. Conviction,
conviction. Everybody who's ever saved is
going to be convicted and convinced by the Holy Spirit of their sins. But conviction is not conversion. You remember old Felix? It says Paul preached there to
Agrippa and to Felix and Eunice, several of them there. And Felix trembled. He literally
shook his feet and his head and his hands. He couldn't hold them
still. He trembled. But he quickly silenced
his fears. He said, I'll hear of you. I'll
hear what you've got to say another day. Almost, you persuade me. And he silenced his fears and
he went to hell. Many people give thought about
their souls for a time, yet die in their sins. I doubt if there
is one man living right now, regardless of his age, if there
is not some time in his life he hasn't been concerned about
his soul. Where will I go? When I go down the last mile
of the way, is the grave all they are to it? Or is there something
else? And they're concerned, but they
soon silence their concerns and die in their sins. I read here recently of a man
who said, to a friend. He said, I was doing
something there this morning before I came to meet you. And he said, I had a terrible
pain in my chest, and my heartbeat seemed to be unusual, and I know something's wrong.
And a friend said unto him, he said, friend, Why don't you check
in at the emergency room? Why don't you call your doctor?
And if you can't get a hold of your doctor, go down to the hospital
and find out what's going on." Yes, he said, that's what I ought
to do, and that's what I think I'll do, but he said, I have
some pressing business to take care of first. And while taking
care of this pressing business, you know what that pressing business
was? It was going to be the umpire
at a Little League baseball game. And while he was taking care
of this pressing business, he fell dead of a heart attack. It won't do you any good to know
you are a sinner. You must be washed in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be robed in His righteousness. And unless you, by faith, actually
come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll never walk with God. and you'll never be pleasing
to God. Don't be deceived by the devil
like Felix was and like this fellow that I'm telling you about
that was concerned because he had this awful pain in his chest.
He's got more better things to do. Other things that engage
my attention that I got to do that are a must with me." Well,
look about this some other times, what Felix said, and that's what
the devil tells people. Don't worry about it. You're
only fifteen years old, sixty, you've got a whole life to live,
have you? Have you? God's the giver of life, and
when He says, you come home, you will go home. Enoch walked with God. And after day in and day out of walking with God, God finally looked over at Enoch
and said, Come on home. God is the one who calls us. whether it be to his home or
to the home of God's biggest enemy, the devil. Don't be deceived by the devil. Salvation of God is at hand. It's closer to you than the air
that you breathe. Don't say you've got to go up
to heaven and bring God down. It's here right now. Salvation
is that hand. Believe Him. Believe on Him. Trust Him. It's not the way you
feel that saves. It's the way He feels that saves. It's not what you endured, but
it's what He endured that saves. Salvation now, listen to me closely,
Salvation is not knowing that you are lost. It's knowing Jesus
Christ. That's what salvation is. Let
me read something to you. You're familiar with this? Far
better than I am. John chapter 17. Our Lord Jesus Christ, before
God His Father, He lifted up his eyes to heaven, and he said,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh. There is something in this business
of salvation that has to do with authority. It has to do with
authority. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. He has been authorized. All flesh has been given into
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this now, and this
is life eternal, that they might know thee. the only true God. So, salvation is not knowing that
you're lost, it's knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe
on the Son, salvation is yours, and it begins by confessing your
sinnership, confessing your need unto God. and that your need
is fully met in God's Son. Well, listen now. Enoch walked
with God. You cannot conscientiously walk
with a person whose existence is not known. When we walk with
a man, We know that He's there. We may not see His face, but
we know that He's there. We can feel His presence. Somebody
behind me? We can feel His presence. And
if we can't feel His presence, if you're listening real close,
you can hear His footsteps. But you can't walk conscientiously
with a person whose existence is not known. And he says in
the book of Hebrews, without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is. And that goes with what I'm saying. You must believe that He is.
You cannot conscientiously walk with a person whose existence
is not known unto you. And eternal life is known to
sons. as God hath revealed himself
in the person of his Son." Only one God. When you or we walk
with a man, we know that he's there. He's by our side. And we have a clear perception
of it. Paul said, He that calleth to
God must believe that he is in its faith. then was a realizing
faith. To him, God just was not a matter
of doctrine or a matter of creed or a mere orthodox creed in his
head. But walking with God in the person
of God was a truth that entered in. to the head and to the mind
and to the soul of this man Enoch. He walked with God. Not that he just thought of God. Not that he just read of God. Not that he speculated about
God or argued with God. But he actually, it says, walked
with God. and his daily life, twenty-four
hours a day for three hundred and some odd years, he realized
that God was with him and regarded him as the true and living God. He regarded him as a living saint. a loving friend in whom he confided,
one whom he loved, a real God walking with me. This we must
know if we are to walk with God and be pleasing unto God as Enoch
was. Since Enoch walked with God,
no doubt about it, He talked with God. He had a conversation with God
that was free, was pleasant, that arises out of a constant
fellowship with Him. Men hear that we can get together
and walk and talk. And I don't have to be fearful
in what I say. I don't have to worry about am
I going to say the wrong thing here that might touch some fiber
of his makeup and hurt his feelings or offending. They walked close
together, and out of this conversation grows this closeness, this friendship. When people are constantly in
the habit of walking together by choice, you can be sure that
they'll have many profitable conversations. Walk together, walk together. two walk together, except they
be agreed. Well, you say, will God really
walk with a man? He did with Enoch. And Enoch
was one of us, and he walked with him. If we would taste,
I'm talking about tasting, if we'd taste the cream of the believer's
life is to be found in a realizing
faith, like Enoch had, and entering into a fellowship with his companion
traveler, who was God the Father. Enoch did not walk with God just
a mile or two. Enoch never got tired of hearing
what God had to say. He walked with his companion
God, with his Father God, for 300 years, Bob. One might well desire a change
of company, if it was any other but God. I was on a little old ship during
the war. It had 120 men on it. That's
not very many. And we lived in close quarters.
And I was on that ship for over three years. And I knew where
every man in that ship was born, where he'd come from, if he was
married, who his girlfriend was. I heard all of his sad tales,
and they heard all of my sad tales. And I never got so weary
and tired of telling the same old stories and listening to
the same old stories. Got to the place that if we'd
have come to a paradise, I'd have jumped off and left them
all. But God, to walk with God, 300
years. He did. And he just kept on walking
with Him through time. And all at once, he wound up
in God's paradise. He did not commune in fellowship
and walk with God in stops and starts. I had all the congregation here
this morning. that started in this place but
stopped. We couldn't hold them all. We
couldn't hold all of them that started, that said, yes, I'm
his and he's mine. He walks with me and he talks
with me. But they quit walking and they
quit talking, didn't they? There was no stops and starts,
a consistent thing, Pat. It was every day. For 300 years,
he walked with God, and he talked with God. It was not a run, a
push, a leap, a spurt, but it was a constant, steady walk. That's the best evidence that
I know of that a man's a believer. That's every day. It's when no
one's around, he's still walking with God. He can still, while
he's working, or when something takes place that refreshes his
heart, he can quickly say, Thank you, Father. Thank you that you
comforted me in this hour. I was so afraid. I had so much fret and anxiety
and worry in my soul, Father. I didn't know if I could pace
it or not, but out of the blue, God calmed the rough seas. He was able to say, Thank you,
Father. Thank you. Thank you that you're mindful
of me. Walking with God. Walking with Him. Steady walk. I'll tell you something
else about this fellow, too. He's a family man. He is the father of the oldest
man that ever lived, Methuselah. And during the course of his
300 years, he begat sons and daughters. Enoch walked with
God. He didn't renounce his family
and say, Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going
to become a hermit. I wish I'd never got married. My wife's
not interested in what I what I delight in, my children's not
too interested in it, I'll just give it up and quit. No. He had a family. He had a family. Oh, I got to hurry. I preached
too long. Too much to say here about Enoch. You start talking about his history
and all that. Too much to say. But let me say this. Sometimes
we walk with God, and other times we walk with the world. He walked
with God 365 years. That would have been a long life
for us. If we lived 365, that would have
been a long time, wouldn't it? That wasn't a long time to him,
though, because they lived to be 900 and some years old, 700,
800, 900, 600, 500. Noah was 500 years old when he begat Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Him being 365 years, if you compare
it to the lives of his compadres, he'd be about 35 years old. He
was a young man, a young man. But God took him. God took him. He had a short life, a short
life. The holy man here, his life was
over. Some people have a long life.
I know a lot of people have a long life. And we admire them, you
know. We say, well, So-and-so's 91 years old, so-and-so's
95 years old, and he still does push-ups or something. Some people
have a long life, listen to me now, for they have need to do
so to do anything at all. That's all they do. That's all
they do. They don't walk with God. They
got to have something. Just let them live a long time. Listen to me now. did his work
well, he kept close to God, and the Lord said, Enoch, come on
home. Listen now, God never keeps his wheat in the field longer
than necessary. Now listen, when his people are
ready to go home, what's going to happen? He takes them. He
takes them up. What did happen to Enoch? I said
he died. That's not right. He didn't die. He was gone from this earth,
but he was there. He didn't die. He never tasted
death, the Bible says. He never tasted death. He was
translated. God took him. It didn't mean
that he was... It just meant that he wasn't
here. Well, he was with God, but he never tasted death. Now
listen, there may be some of us, I don't know, maybe some
of the young ones, maybe some of the older ones, Some of us,
the Bible says, we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed
in the twinkle of an eye. We may not die either. But really, a man who walks with
God and talks with God and lives in this close relationship with
God, he'll never die anyhow. Death to him is nothing. Death
to him is nothing. It's just going through. It's graduation day. They had
graduation in North Marion, West Farmore, and Eastside. It meant
that they had twelve years of schooling, they passed all the
tests, and they'd given their diploma. That's what this is! Graduation day! The week has
come to the full head, and God said it's time to take him home. And He takes him home. Ah? Ah, listen. You say, well, they took him.
Was he missed? A good man's always missed. I
look back here about every time we have service and I see where
Neal always sat. Neal always sat right back there
on the right. Back there. To my right. Sat there by himself.
Sometimes he put his head in his hand. Tired. Tired. Put his head down. But
he listened. He listened. And he's missed. I miss him. His wife misses him. His children miss him. You and
I miss him. A good man's always missed. Was Enoch missed? The Bible says in that fifth
verse, he should not see death, and he was not found. That means
somebody's looking for him. They're looking for Enoch. They
said, where's he at? Well, it says God took him. He said he was not, but God took
him. A good man's always missed. Well, what's his testimony? May
his testimony be our testimony. What is his testimony? His testimony
is that he pleased God. That ought to be our custom.
We preach that. Walk and talk. Not jump. Not jump up. Start. Die down. Get out. Lay down. Start. Start. Every day. Every
day. Every day.