354, what a friend we have in Jesus,
354. What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Everything
to God in prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything
to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden,
Comforted with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge,
Take it to the Lord in prayer. You, Thy friends, these spies forsake
Thee, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Thank you. I would like to read 1 Thessalonians
1. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus
unto the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father,
knowing brother and beloved your election of God, for our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
the joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. and
to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Our heavenly and merciful father,
we thank you for allowing us to assemble together this morning.
And Lord, from Sunday to Sunday and during the week, you allow
these doors to be opened that we can hear the unsearchable
riches of our Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a
great blessing it is, Lord, that you provide this for us. For
Lord, we are no more worthy than anyone else, but yet you have
taken reasons out of yourself and have provided this ability
to be able to come here. And you have also given us a
pastor. And Father, will you remember him this morning? as
he hopes to stand before us a second time. O Lord, remember him in
mercy. Pour out your spirit upon him.
Give him freedom and liberty in declaring the glorious gospel
to us. And Lord, remember us as we gather
together. Open our hearts that we may be
comforted, that our faith may be increased, and that our eyes
may once again be turned to our only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, we think of our loved ones you know perfectly all the
situations. But Lord, in your own time, for
your own people, all that you have died for, when that effectual
call comes out, then they will also be turned unto you. They
will flee from trusting in themselves and other religions, and they
will be turned to the true and living God from their idols.
And Father, remember our loved ones, Have mercy upon them that
they may also one day declare your glorious gospel. And Father,
have mercy upon us as a local assembly. Continue, Lord, to
provide for us financially and give us the health and strength.
And we also think of Brother Scott in rehabilitation. Father, we are thankful you have
so far given him some strength and some encouragement. Will
you continue to be with him that once again, he may also come
with us and assemble with us. Remember sister Johnny also continue
to give her strength and comfort and all that she needs. Father,
remember us in mercy for Jesus sake alone. Amen. Our second hymn will be 129,
129 at the cross. You. The lesson did my Savior plead,
and did my Sovereign die. Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy
all the day. Was it for crimes that I have
done, He groaned upon a tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, And the burning of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, And now I am happy all the day. Well, might the
sun in darkness hide And shut his glories in When Christ, the
mighty Maker, died For man the creature's sin? At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light And the burning of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy
all the day. But drops of grief can ne'er
repay The debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away,
this all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burning of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Thank you. Morning All right brethren we're going
to be in Genesis chapter 5 Genesis 5 now the stated focus is of this chapter is that this
is the book of the generations of Adam. And then it begins to
list the genealogy from Adam all the way up to Noah and his
three sons, that family before the flood that God preserved
when he said he would destroy every living soul upon the earth
Well, he was gracious to Noah and to his family, and he preserved
them in the ark, which is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
the scriptures tell us that genealogies, and looking at genealogies, they
are a waste of time. They're a waste of time. Paul
told Timothy, saying that, don't spend your time on them. They
minister questions. They raise questions, rather
than godly edifying, which is in faith. But this genealogy
is rather important. In fact, Luke uses it when he
traces back the genealogy from Mary, from her father, Eli, all
the way back down through Noah and all the way to Adam, showing
that he is the promised seed of the woman, that he is the
Christ that should come. And so, when you read a chapter
like this, usually they're not very, I don't know, we tend to
skip through them. We detect that there's a pattern,
and once we get the pattern, we just use it to skim right
on over the rest of the chapter. And the pattern that we see here
is most easily seen when you get to verse six. where we're
told that Seth lived in 105 years and begat Enos. And so right
from there, we see that the scriptures tell us how long the man lived
when this son was born, this son, Enos. And the child is named,
specifically named because this is Enos. one through whom the
seed came. This lineage is not forgotten,
but Enos is remembered and recorded here. And verse seven, and Seth
lived after he begat Enos 807 years and begat sons and daughters. So that, and it tells us how
long the man lived after he had this particular child and that
he had other sons and daughters who are not named. They're not
named. They're just forgotten. They
were there, but they are forgotten. And all the days of Seth were
912 years, right? So we see how many years he lived
in all, and then finally it ends, and he died. And this pattern
is repeated over and over again so that when it breaks, When
there's just a few words made different in it, it catches our
eye, and we take notice, and it's meant for us to take notice. So that pattern is broken with
Adam and Seth, and then it's broken with Enoch alone, and
then it's broken again with Lamech, Noah, and Noah's sons. Now today,
our focus is on Enoch, and the faith of Enoch. So let's read
verses 21 through 24, because here the pattern is broken. And
Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch
walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years,
and begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Enoch were
three hundred sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with
God, and he was not, for God took him. And so a couple of
primary differences here that we see right away is in verse
22 and 24, we're told that Enoch walked with God. That wasn't
said with any of the other men. Whether they did or didn't, we're
not told. But we are told that Enoch walked
with God. And the other thing that jumps
out to us is that Enoch never died. Enoch never died. Now, as we read of the men at
this time, there's really not a lot of good recorded about
man. There's not a lot of good that's
really mentioned, not everlasting good for men at this time. After
Cain slew Abel, No one, we're not told of anyone that worshiped
the Lord beside Adam and Eve perhaps. We really don't know
if anyone had fellowship with the true and living God because
Cain slew his brother and he went off in bitterness. He wasn't
seeking the Lord. He wasn't repentant. He wasn't
sorrowful for taking the life of his brother Abel. But look
back in Genesis 4 verse 25 through 26. And Adam knew his wife again. This is after the death, after
the murder took place, and she bare a son and called his name
Seth for God. said she, hath appointed me another
seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. So at the very least, Eve
remembered the Lord. She called upon the name of the
Lord and attributed this son to the grace of God, to the gift
of God, according to his promise. Because it was clear now that
Cain wasn't the man she thought he was. She thought, this is
it. This is our Redeemer. The Lord hath given me a son,
just as he promised. whereby the the serpent would
be crushed and we would be redeemed and restored to what we lost
before but clearly Cain was not the man and Abel wasn't the man
because he was put to death he was put to death and so it says
verse 26 and to Seth to him also there was born a son and he called
his name Enos then Then began men to call upon the name of
the Lord. You know, chapter four does speak
lightly of Cain's genealogy, of his lineage. We don't get
all the details we got here about their years, per se, but it's
casually mentioned. In fact, he also had a son named
Enoch. And Cain built a city and named
the city after his son Enoch. But this Enoch, of whom we read
here in chapter 5, he had no lasting city on earth. But he
was brought to an everlasting city whose builder and maker
is God rather than men. That's the place, brethren. That's
the place where we want to be. We can build our kingdoms here.
We can make riches for ourselves here, and they're nothing. That city of Enoch by Cain, who
knows where that is? It's probably buried somewhere
under an ocean or something. I have no idea. It's gone. It's
gone. It's replaced. It's covered over,
maybe dirt covering it over. It means nothing, but there is
an everlasting city that our God speaks of, and that's the
city we want to be. By the grace of God, that's where
we want to appear before our God and live with Him forever.
Now it's important to know that Enoch did not always walk with
God. This Enoch in chapter five did
not always walk with God. He didn't know the true and living
God and didn't worship him in spirit and in truth. He maybe
went through the motions, but he didn't know him in spirit
and in truth. And we're told in verse 22, look at it closely,
and Enoch walked with God after. after he begat Methuselah 300
years. So that it was after. He begot Methuselah, that he
began to walk with God. Now we're not told exactly what
was that happened here that turned Enoch. We don't know the specifics
of what was done, what the Lord did to turn Enoch's heart and
to give him a heart to serve and walk with the Lord in faith.
It's not said, but we know what happened. We know exactly what
happened. The true and living God was gracious
to Enoch. God was gracious to Enoch and
he made Enoch a new creature. He made Enoch a new creature,
born again, because that's what's important to the Lord. You can
be very religious. You cannot be religious. What
matters is a new creation. a new creature, and that's the
work of Christ, the work that we ourselves cannot do. We can
build a city here on earth, but we cannot build an everlasting
habitation. That is the work of Christ. And
we can be religious and do many religious things, but we cannot
give ourselves life. That is the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to make his children a new creature. Now there's something
else that I think is a key here to looking at Enoch's life and
having an understanding of what the Lord does for us. Turn over
to Amos 3. Amos 3, we're just going to look
at one verse, verse 3 in Amos. So if you go through the major
prophets, you get past Daniel, then there's Hosea, and then
comes Joel and Amos, right before Obadiah and Jonah. I'll go in there myself, let's
see here. Amos 3.3. It says there in that
verse, can two walk together except they be agreed? Can two
walk together except they be agreed? Now we're told that Enoch
walked with God. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? You know, when Methuselah was
born, whether it was his conception or him being born specifically,
Enoch was born again. Right around that time, when
Methuselah was born, Enoch himself was born again. And then he began
to walk with God, a picture of the new birth. And the scriptures
are tying this here, They're putting it together, whether
men see it or not, but the Lord is tying these two things very
closely together so that we see that a new birth is needed. He ties that walk of Enoch when
his child was conceived, and it pictures the new birth. In
fact, if you look up at Seth in chapter four, back in Genesis
four, in verse 26, what does it tell us? the end of chapter
four, 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 spirit is taking these scriptures
and tying these things together, because this is early, this is
very early, and yet the spirit is showing us that we must be
born again. We must be new creatures because
we have defiled ourselves in sin. A new birth is required. Nicodemus, ye must be born again. Nicodemus, you're religious. So was Cain for a while. So was
Cain. Offering sacrifices to the Lord,
and one day he got the idea, you know what, I'm going to bring
the fruits and vegetables that I brought, and God will surely
be pleased with that. And Abel just kept on coming
with a lamb. And God had respect unto Abel
and his sacrifice, and he did not have respect unto Cain, who
brought his own works. His own works. And so Amos 3.3
tells us that Enoch, according to that truth of Amos, Enoch
agreed with God. Enoch took sides against himself
in agreement with God. Enoch was made to know, I'm a
sinner, and I cannot please God by my works. God is just. God
is righteous. God is perfect and holy in all
his ways, and I'm the sinner. I have no righteousness of my
own. And so Enoch believed God. Enoch
worshipped God. Enoch called upon the true and
living God in spirit and in truth, knowing, having learned by the
power of God to know that he cannot save himself, that he
hasn't a righteousness of his own. Do you walk with God? Do you walk together with the
true and living God? If you're His, He makes His child
to know, I'm the sinner. I'm worthy of damnation. I'm worthy of condemnation. If
God should put me in hell, He's just. And what can I say? What could I say? Are you walking
together with God? Or, like Cain, are you unbending,
unyielding, unrepentant, so that you will not turn? You go off
your own way, doing your own thing, and no longer seek the
true and living God. Are you like that murderer Cain,
one who departed from God so that being left to yourself,
if God doesn't have mercy, you'll die in your sins. You'll die
in your sins without a covering for your sin. God tells us that
we are dead in trespasses and sins, that naturally, Men and
women, all alike, are walking according to the course of the
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. We
all, by nature, are children of wrath, even as others. We
don't have anything to boast in. We have nothing to recommend
ourselves to God. And do you know why that is?
Do you know why? We walk in this manner after
the world and by nature do wicked, sinful things. Do you know why
that is? Because we are made after the image of Adam. We are made after the image of
Adam. Men love to remind men, especially in religion, that
we are made in the image of God. Men love to say, you're made
in the image of God. And they do that because they're
trying to appeal to you, to motivate you to try and do better. You need to start living a moral
life. You need to clean that up and fix that, get that straightened
out. You need to put yourself under
the law. You need to bring yourself here and sit down and learn the
law and the scriptures and start doing better. They're making
an appeal to the flesh to say you were created in the image
of God and now Look at you. You need to clean up. But do
you know why that never works? Why the world is still just as
wicked, if not more, increasingly every day. Do you know why it
never works? Because we are made after the
image of Adam. We were born and formed and shaped
in the image of Adam. that sinful, corrupt, defiled,
ruined image of Adam, so that we come forth as rebels, as sinners,
unrepentant, just like Cain, doing it our way, and if you
don't like it, I'm gone. Fine, I'll leave, I'll leave.
We're just like Cain, warring against God. Now let me show
you this, in Genesis 5, verse one through three. This is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day that God created man
in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created
he them and blessed them and called their name Adam in the
day when they were created. And then what happened? Adam
fell in sin and was driven from the garden lest he should put
forth his own hand and take of the tree of life and live forever
in that corrupt nature, that ruined, sinful, wicked nature. That's what men would want to
do. That's what men want to do. That's why men have hunted for
the fountain of youth and the tree of life for ages. because
they want to find that cure-all that will allow them in their
wicked self to live forever. Verse three, and Adam lived in
130 years and begat a son, look at it now, in his own likeness
and after his image, and called his name Seth. Now, Seth wasn't
the firstborn of Adam and Eve. He was not the firstborn child
of Adam and Eve. That honor, from what we can
tell, goes to Cain. to Cain. Even Abel was the second
born behind Cain, and Cain killed Abel. And after that happened,
after Cain slew Cain, that was the first murder, that must have
horrified Adam and Eve. They must have just been shocked. And I would imagine that Adam
really began to feel the weight of his sin and corruption. he really began to know what
have I done as by one man sin entered into the world and death
by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned
and Adam began to know What have I done? This sin has passed. This is just, what's going on?
I've just ruined everything. Now, another thing of note back
in 425, well, when Adam, when Cain and Abel were born, I should
just say, those words, that they were born after the image of
Adam, were never spoken. It doesn't say that in the scripture.
And the spirit wrote these words. The spirit gave these words to
be recorded exactly like this. And these words were never mentioned
when Cain was conceived. Eve shouted for joy. The Lord
had given me a man, a man-child. And Abel's good too. He's the
second, that's good. That's great, but we've got the
man. We have Cain. And so they never
mentioned there that he was made in the image of Adam. It doesn't
say that until Seth was born. Then Adam took note, this man's
made after my image. My son is just like me. Adam began to know right then
and there that grace is not passed through the seed. Grace is not passed because you're
the child of a believing parent. That's not how grace is passed. But you know what is passed?
A corrupt, sinful nature. Your boys are all sinners because
of your seed is corrupt. And my children, you're all sinners
because my nature is sinful and corrupt and ruined. And that's
true of all your children. We come forth sinners, dead in
trespasses and sins, having not the Spirit of God, no fellowship
with God, because our sin is defiled and ruined, and we are
made in the image of Adam. We're not in the image of God.
There is a likeness there through Adam, but it's fallen, and it's
defiled, and it's ruined. And so God called their name,
both Adam and Eve, Adam, because it means red earth. It means
that we are but dust. And Adam saw how ruined he was,
and that he is but dust. He is as valuable as dust in
the earth. That just blows away. blows away. And it's a constant reminder
to him that my works that I bring forth by my flesh, which is but
dust, it cannot save me. It cannot help me or prosper
me with the Lord. And so this time, now it says,
when Seth is conceived and born, that he was made in the image
of his father, Adam. Because Adam was now taught the
sad truth about sin and death that came into the world because
of his rebellion against God. Well, that's the likeness that
Enoch was also born. And he was born after the image
of his father, born after the image of his father, born after
the image of his father. And all were sinners and corrupt
in sin. And so the Lord is telling us
that if your parents are believers, that does not mean that you are
a believer by default. That's not how it happens. You
too are gonna be made to know your sin, right? Your son, though
you're a believer and your husband believed the Lord, your son had
to call upon the Lord himself. Your son was broken. Your child,
you, you children must be born again. The Lord is going to break
your heart and make you to know your sin. And so you must be
born again just like your parents had to be born again. And that
means that if your parents are believers, there was a time when
they were broken and they were made to see, I'm the sinner. We're not perfect. We're not
perfect at all. We were made to know, Lord, I'm
a corrupt, vile sinner. Save me, Lord, have mercy upon
me. Wash me in the blood of Christ. And so we begged God. In our own time, when the Lord
purposed it, we begged God and cried out for mercy. And we continue
to beg God and cry out for mercy, because we always need his salvation. And so that's the same thing
that is the lot of every one of God's children. In the day
of his grace, he makes them to know what a sinner I am. Lord, have mercy on me. Enoch
lived sixty and five years and during that time he didn't walk
with God. And then we read Enoch walked
with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years and begat
sons and daughters when God gave him a new birth. A new birth. And that's how it will be for
you and me. We'll walk with God when God gives us his spirit
and raises us from the dead, regenerating us with the new
man, being born of him. Now the scriptures bear this
out in the New Testament also. The scriptures in the New Testament
speak of the faith of Enoch. Turn over to Hebrews 11 now,
Hebrews 11. And this speaks of the faith
that Enoch had. And faith is what? It's the fruit
of the Spirit. Faith is not a product of this
flesh. There is a faith that's the product
of this flesh, but the faith which looks to Christ alone,
believing He is all my righteousness and all my salvation, my justification
with God, that faith is not of the flesh, but is of the Spirit
of God. Because by grace, you're saved
through faith, and that, that faith is not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God." Ephesians 2, 8. And that faith is what
he gives to his children, born of his grace. Now Hebrews 11,
verse 5 and 6, by faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death, and was not found because God had translated him,
for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased
God. Now understand, his pleasing
God was not according to the works of the law. Not at all. The law hadn't even been given
yet. It wasn't even given by the time
Abraham was around. It wasn't given now with Enoch. The law didn't exist. It wasn't
established yet. So how then did Enoch please
God? He pleased God the way all of
God's children do, by faith, by faith. That is what the Lord
gives to his child and gives them that walk of faith. They
walk in agreement with God, Lord, I cannot save myself, save me,
help me, Lord, keep me. Bless me to look to you and to
you alone. And so without faith, verse six,
it's impossible to please God. You see that? He didn't please
them by his works, he pleased them by the faith which God wrought
in him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Seeking after that one whom God
sent to save us from our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
Enoch's translation gave him a new body, a new heavenly body. one that was fit for eternity,
one that is fashioned after the glorious body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It pictures, that new body pictures
that new creation, that new birth which the spirit works in us.
You know, the spirit is called a down payment, an earnest. The
way you put down a down payment on a house that you want to purchase.
It's an earnest to say, I'm returning to complete the purchase. And
so the spirit reveals to us, lets us know that we are God's
child. He redeemed me. He saved me. And he's promised to come again.
And I believe him. He's coming again. And then he
shall raise up this mortal body, which still is in the appearance
and the form of Adam. But he shall raise me again anew,
giving me a new body, transformed, translated. It's different now
than what it was. So that in the new man, we cry
out. You know, the new man, the Apostle
John tells us, cannot sin. The new man does not sin, meaning
the new man believes Christ. The new man of Christ, born after
the seed of Christ, cannot not believe. All we can do is believe
in the new man, trusting our God and Savior. But this old
flesh is still is burdened with sin. We still feel the effects
of sin working in us. The death in us, we feel the
enmity in this flesh which is weak and unruly because it's
after the Adamic nature, that nature of Adam. But God has given
us hope in Christ, in the new man whereby we believe that though
in this flesh I am what I am, yet this isn't my hope. This
isn't my inheritance. This isn't my all. My hope is
Christ. And I stand in the inheritance
of Christ, with Christ, because God put me in Him and gave me
to Him and I'm His. And so that's my hope. That's
my inheritance. And so this flesh doesn't bear
on what I shall be and my inheritance that I shall have. That's already
been determined. It bears and rests on the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I am born again by his grace
and mercy whereby I believe and trust him and walk by faith in
his spirit." So that word translated means to be changed, to pass
over, to be turned. And he was changed. He was transformed
by the power of God and he brought him to heaven. He never died. He never died. And you that believe
truly shall never die. Your death in the flesh is but
passing through the ports to enter into the house. You'll
be with the Lord soon. Now, sometimes it's used in the
scriptures positively in this way with Enoch, and sometimes
it's used in a negative way, as in one who changes sides from
the truth to wicked. They turn from the truth and
they go back to wickedness. We see this in Jude, turn over
to Jude, which is the last book just before Revelation. It's
the last book, Jude 1, and we'll look at verses 4 and 5, and then
we'll stay there because there's a couple more verses we'll look
at in Jude. There's only one chapter, so. Verse 4, for there
are certain men crept in unawares. who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning, and that word is
translating or interpreting, they're turning the grace of
our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now men often think, oh, these
people turned to immoral sins. And maybe they did, because the
law certainly doesn't prevent people from sinning. The law
doesn't change the heart. The law doesn't turn us from
being lawbreakers to law keepers. The law has no power to do that. The law tells you what sin is,
tells you you're a sinner, and tells you what your punishment
is. death, eternal death. That's what the law does, that's
what the law was given. But the emphasis here is, in
one sense, they have turned from God, from the grace of God, and
that means they turned from the Lord Jesus Christ in favor of
their own fleshly works, right? The child of God is turned from
trusting dead works that cannot save to the one who alone gives
his children life. These men were turning from that
hope declared to them in the preaching of faith, and they
turned back to their own works, trusting their works rather than
the Lord Jesus Christ. But it also talks about what
they did to the Word of God, the Word of Grace, which is preached
unto you. They interpreted it, they translated
it as being lasciviousness, as being sinful, saying, you can't
preach grace to sinners. You're giving them license to
sin. They're not going to obey God.
They're going to go and live however they want to in this
world. Why? Because they have no confidence
or trust in the power and glory of God to save his people, to
keep them, to turn them, so that we don't hope in dead things. You know, the biggest difference
that, or one of the differences in scripture is that men of flesh
trust themselves, whereas men of God trust God to keep them. And so we don't try to say, well,
I'm not so sure about this Jesus. I mean, I get it. It talks about
him throughout the scriptures. But I'm just going to add a little
something something to this work to really make sure that it sticks,
to make sure that I'm a child of God. I'm going to keep the
law. And what they're saying is, Christ is insufficient. Christ's
blood alone is not able to save me to the uttermost. In spite
of what the scriptures say, that's what you're saying when you turn
to the law. Whereas the child of God has
no interest in being an adulterer, or a murderer, or a liar, or
a thief, or covetousness. We don't want to do that, we
know that's sin. Why? Because we have the spirit.
And the Spirit says, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
mind, soul, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. Lord,
help me, because I know in this flesh what I am. And I know that
I can't do it, but Lord, you're able to keep me, and to turn
me from wicked works, and to turn me from dead works of the
flesh, and to keep me ever looking to Christ. Keep me right there
in Christ. Keep me ever looking to Him. And so, don't Don't accuse the
grace of God as leading to sin, not at all. Shall we that are
saved by the grace of God now turn to sin? God forbid, Paul
said. No, that's not what we're saying
at all. We trust that God is able to
save us. So verse five then says, I will
therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, you
returned from it, but you did know this, how that the Lord,
having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward
destroyed them, That broke the law? No. It says that believed
not. They believed not. They denied
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So don't be turned
from Christ. Enoch wasn't. Enoch walked in
faith. He believed God. He trusted the
promise of God made to him in Christ. And that's how he walked
in the Spirit, by faith. By faith, believe in God. Now
men turn to the law because they don't trust Christ. Where's their
faith? In other words, they're not in
agreement with God. They're not walking with God
who are walking by the law, because God says you cannot keep the
law. Behold my servant, whom I send. Look to him. Believe him. Trust him. Paul never taught
the Gentiles the law, because the law doesn't say. He taught
them Christ. He preached Christ crucified.
And he was called an antinomian for it, just as men call us antinomians
today. But we keep the law in Christ
fully by faith in him. So Enoch didn't trust himself.
He walked in agreement with God, believing him, and God preserved
him in Christ. He kept him. And that's how we
too shall be saved. Our Savior said in Mark 13, 13,
ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Meaning, you trust me, and that's
why men hate you. because you run contrary to their
hope, to what they think is true. You trust Christ and you live
by Christ? How is that possible? You need
the law. That's how men live. They live
by the law, doing good works. But Christ said, you that endure
to the end, you shall be saved by the name of Christ, by the
name of Christ. That's walking in agreement with
God. So back in Jude, verse 14 and
15, And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam prophesied of these saying, behold, the Lord cometh with
10,000 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 hard speeches, which
ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Right? No. not the law that
saves, it's Christ. And to turn to the law and prop
up the law and say that's your salvation is to speak against
God. Speak against him whom he sent.
Drop down to verse 21. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. How? Looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. It's faith, not works. That's the faith that Enoch had.
That's how Enoch walked with God. He walked in agreement,
knowing, believing the promises of God made unto us in Christ. That's how we please Him. That's
how we walk unto the end, is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him. Call upon Him. He's
faithful to save all that call upon Him. And you that trust
Christ, you shall be saved. Amen. Let's close in prayer,
and we'll have a hymn and be dismissed. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ whom you've sent. Lord, we know what we are
in this flesh, but by your spirit, we know your son, and we know
what you have accomplished in the salvation that you give freely
to your people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, help us indeed
to walk in agreement with our God, that we would walk in the
Lord Jesus Christ, believing Him. And Lord, we trust that
You are able to teach us, to keep us, to cleanse us, and to
wash us of our sins, and to keep our hearts in true holiness and
righteousness, which is in and by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Lord, keep us. Keep us ever looking
to Him unto the end. Lord, make us to endure in that
most holy faith which you give to your saints and bless your
people in and by. And not only for us, Lord, but
for all your saints scattered throughout the world. Lord, bless
your people. Pour out your spirit upon us.
Turn us from dead works that cannot save unto the true and
living God. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Alright, brother. Closing hymn will be 255 Blessed
Assurance. If we all want to stand, that'd
be nice. 255. As an assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of
God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my
Savior all the day long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my
Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending rang from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of
love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story,
this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at
rest. I in my Savior, in happy and
blessed. Watching and waiting, looking
above. Filled with His goodness, lost
in His love. This is my story, this is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story, this is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Thank you.