When I rise with love unknown,
when we hold the other strong, like the daisies that will be,
let me find myself in Thee. Alright, open your Bibles now
to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11. As stated before, we are going
to go through each of these persons spoken of in Hebrews 11, one
by one. Last week we looked at Abel.
Hebrews 11, verses 5 and 6. By faith, Enoch was translated,
that is transported to heaven, went straight to heaven, that
he should not see death. He was not found. That is, one
day he was, he just disappeared. because God had translated him. For before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it is
impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is. And he, God, is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. By faith Enoch, like Abel. By faith Abel. By faith Enoch. Scripture says was translated,
did not die. He went straight to glory one
day, and before this it said, His testimony was he pleased
God. But without faith, it's impossible
to please God. What is faith? Verse 6 is a good
definition. He that cometh to God must believe
he is. Not that he exists. James one
time wrote, you believe there's one God, you do well. But the
devils believe that. It's not just to say, I believe
in God. It's much deeper than that. He
believed God is. God is God. And we'll look into
that a little more in a moment. And God is a rewarder. Look at
this. This is important. Verse 6. God
is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek. What? Heaven? Him. Scripture says, Seek ye
my face, saith the Lord. He is a rewarder of them that
seek Him. Him. The reward, what is the
reward? Him. Faith seeks to know God. Faith seeks to win, as Paul wrote
in Philippians 3, to win Christ and be found in Him. Oh, that
I might know Him, my Creator, my Savior, to know Him. This,
our Lord said, is eternal life. This is the essence of faith.
This is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true
God. Everybody wants to go to heaven.
Who doesn't? Who doesn't want to be happy
all their life? Who doesn't want to go to a utopia where everything's
just pie in the sky? That's not salvation. That's
not a saving desire. By faith, faith wants to know
God, wants to know Christ, the truth. This is life eternal. All right? By faith, Enoch sought
to know his God. By faith, Enoch walked with. is God. God revealed himself
to Enoch. Turn with me to the story in
Genesis chapter 5. Here's the story of Enoch. Genesis
chapter 5. Someone requested we go through
the book of Genesis again. We've already been through it,
but someone requested we go through it again, and so we are. Briefly,
we're touching some of the places in Genesis. Genesis 5 is the
story of Enoch. It says, by faith, Enoch. And
we're going to look at four things. We're going to look at the world
in which Enoch lived. You're going to find this much
like ours. The world in which Enoch lived. We're going to look
at the man Enoch. We're going to look at the walk of Enoch.
We're going to look at the end of Enoch. I hope the Lord will
give you an ear. Here is the world of Enoch. Look
at chapter 6 first. Chapter 6 is right before the
flood. Enoch was taken just 50 or so years before Noah. This was the day in which Enoch
lived. It says in chapter 6, verse 5,
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Great
wickedness. Anything imaginable. That every
imagination of the thoughts of man's heart, that's all men without
exception, was only evil continually. You see that? a commentary on our day, does
it not? There's nothing that men and
women don't and won't do. Verses 11 and 12, the earth was
corrupt before God. The earth was filled with violence.
Turn on your TV. Look at your TV. Look at all
of it. Everything is violent. I can't get over the violence
that I see. Much of it's called sport. People
love it. It's called sport, whether it's
wrestling or whatever it is. We live in a violent age. Men and women and young people
love violence, thirst for blood. The Scriptures are very clear
about that. That's the day in which we live.
Violent. Verse 12, God looked upon the
earth, and behold, it was corrupt. All flesh had corrupted His way
upon the earth. This was the world in which Enoch
lived. A violent world, a corrupt world,
right before God destroyed it. Sound familiar? Look at this.
Look at verse 2. It says, The sons of God, that
is, believers, saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and
took them wives. In other words, it was a land,
it was a world full of beautiful, gorgeous women strutting their
stuff. Every advertisement back then
you saw was full of beautiful, thin, Gorgeous women. Sound familiar? Look at that.
Look at verse 4. It says there were giants in
the earth in that day. Seven feet tall. Gladiators and all this sound familiar? This
was the day in which Enoch lived. Not unlike ours. Just like ours. Just like ours. It was a materialistic
world. Our Lord brought up the day of
Noah in Matthew 24. He said, as in the days of Noah,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage
until the day that Noah entered into the ark. The people didn't work. They
were, they were too busy eating and drinking and sporting and
marrying and giving a marriage and buying and selling and all
that. They were too busy. They didn't give God a thought. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Noah was preaching the truth. Noah was preaching the Word of
God, building an ark for 120 years. 120 years. How many people got
on that boat? They weren't interested. Maybe
a bunch of them were in the beginning, you know, but they fell to the
wayside until there were eight souls on that ark. Our Lord said,
when the Son of Man comes, when I come back to earth, he said,
will he find faith in the earth? Not in one country, in the earth. behind the selling, marrying,
giving marriage, all taken up with her until the day that Noah
entered the ark. And materialistic work. That's all
men and women and people thought about, young people. That's all
they thought of. Did not, Romans 1, we'll get
to it, says they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. Didn't have time. That's the world in which Enoch
lived. Sound like ours? Enoch walked with God. He walked with God. It's amazing. Look at our text. It says in
verse 5, let's read verses 21 through 24. I'm in chapter 5. I'm sorry. Genesis chapter 5.
Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah, Methuselah's
father, Enoch. Enoch walked with God after he
begat Methuselah three hundred years and begat sons and daughters.
All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years,
and Enoch walked with God. And he was not. One day he was
not there. Well, God took him. Now let's
look at the man Enoch. It says he walked with God. It
says in verse 22, he begat sons and daughters. He lived 65 years
and begat a man named Methuselah and begat sons and daughters.
Now who, what was Enoch? He was a man. He's not a superman. There are no supermen in the
scriptures. And every person you read about in Scripture is
just a man like you, a woman like you, a young person like
you. They're not super humans. No sir, no. No such thing. Just a man. He's a man. Flesh. That which is of the flesh
is what? Flesh. As is of the earth, or
the earthy. Only one man from glory. It was
not like us. So he was a son of Adam. He was
of like passions, like likes, like passions, like temptations. He's a man. He was a sinful man. Scripture says all have sin.
Does it not? All have sin. There's none that
doeth good, no, not one. And none righteous, no, not one.
That's Scripture. No exclusions, no exceptions,
none. Sinful man. Look at verse 22
again. Enoch walked with God after he
begat Methuselah. This caught my attention. Apparently,
he was 65 years old. He hadn't walked with God until
he was 65 years old. So he lived 65 years doing what? As a godless sinner. like everybody else by nature,
65 years. And then after that, when the
Lord revealed himself to him, he walked 300 years with the
Lord. So he was, apparently the Lord
saved him when he was 65 years old. The Lord did that to Abraham,
didn't he? John, the Baptist, is the only
one in Scriptures of whom it was said that from a child, from
a baby, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Only man, other
than our Lord, of course. But John was filled with the
Spirit, not the rest of us. Now, he was a man, all right,
a sinful man. A man with a home and family,
a whole family. The job, or jobs, multiple jobs,
responsibility. I sat down and figured it out.
He lived three hundred years and begat sons, three hundred
and sixty-five years he begat sons and daughters. Three hundred
and sixty-five years. Now a woman can have a child
every nine months. And he conceivably could have
had two hundred children. Not to mention grandchildren
and great-grandchildren and great-great-great-great and on and on. There could conceivably
very easily have been 5,000 people in his family, in and around. And you remember this, the thought
struck my mind one time that he could have had at one time,
he could have had 20 or 30 teenagers in his house at one time. Oh man, he was, he's just like
us. You don't think he had problems?
You don't think he went through trials? Huh? You think he had to work? How
many jobs do you think he had? How many chairs did he have to
buy as teenagers? And on and on you can go with
that, right? He's just a man with home, with family, with
job or jobs, several homes. He probably had to have several
homes and maintain them and pay for them. Possessions, he has
possessions? Yeah, sure he did. Food, the
need to feed this big crowd. Constant daily demands of him. Can you imagine the demands that
were placed on Enoch? Dad, dad, granddad, granddad,
I need, I need, I, do you think that he, do you think he did not go through
what we did? Yes, he did. But it says, Enoch
walked with God. He was a man with worries. He
was a man with fear. Do you think, don't think he
worried about his family? He feared for his family. Do
you think he had problems? Multiply years a hundred times.
That's Enoch's problem. Family man. You think he loved
his family? You think he spent time with
his family? Where did he get the time? But he did. But he
still walked. Loving man, working man. Here's
the point. One can live in this world and
walk with God. One can have possessions in this
world and not be possessed with this world. One can have possessions in this
world and not be possessed by this world. Ain't it? One can have material things,
lots of them, and not be materialistic. That's what I want. Don't you? One can have material things
and not be materialistic. One can live in this world and
not be worldly. One can have possessions and
not be possessed with possession. How? Well, let's go on. Okay. walked with God. Enoch was a man, Enoch was a
chosen man. The only reason Enoch walked
with God is because God chose him to walk with. Blessed is the man, it's written
in the psalm, blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes
to approach unto thee. Causes to walk with thee. Blessed
is the man. Nobody's going to walk with God
unless God says, Follow me. Unless God says, walk with me. Unless God chooses us to do so,
we'll walk. Scripture says, like sheep have
gone our own way. But God, rich in mercy, for the
great love wherewith he loved his people, called them by his
grace, quickened them by his grace. Quicken their feet, cause
their feet to walk in paths of righteousness for his name's
sake. Turn us and we'll be turned. Quicken us and we'll live. Cause
our feet to walk and we'll walk with you. He's a chosen man. He's a man. He's a sinful man. He's a chosen man. That makes
him a blessed man, doesn't it? Blessed is the man who walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. Enoch was a chosen man. He obtained
this precious faith. Let's look at the walk of Enoch.
Let's look at it. The walk of Enoch. Look at verse
22 again. It says, Enoch walked with God. Verse 24, Enoch walked with God. Now, walk means When you're walking, you're going
in a direction, aren't you? When you're walking, you're leaving
somewhere and headed somewhere. In other words, you have a direction
that you're going. The walk is you're headed someplace. There's
a destination in mind. It's also the manner in which
that you are motivating. It's motivation. All right? When it talks about
the walk, He's talking about the life, direction, the bend
of the wheel, affection, the ways of the man. Enoch walked
with God. He walked without faith. Now,
you can't walk with God. He that cometh to God, he says,
must believe he is. Enoch believed God. Enoch believed
the living and true God. It says, notice it again, it
says, Enoch walked with God. It doesn't say God walked with
Enoch. This is important. Most people
have a tag along Jesus, you know. He goes where they feel like
going. He comes when they call. Enoch walked with God. God was doing the leading. God
was directing. God was giving the orders. God's will was being done. He
was just following. He's with God. And I'm going
someplace. If you walk with me, that means
you're with me. Or if I'm with you, that means
I'm with you. You're the man, in other words. See, if I'm with you, you're
the man. Enoch walked with God. Do you
understand what I'm saying here? He didn't understand God's ways.
God's ways are past finding out. He didn't understand God's perfect
will and God's mind completely. Who can, the Scripture said?
None. Enoch didn't have a Bible. Thy will be done. He walked with
God. He walked with God. Not God with
him. Enoch followed the Lord. They that do, the scripture says,
shall know. They'll go on to know. They'll
know. How did Enoch come to know the Lord? How did Enoch come
to believe God? How did Enoch come to start walking
with God? How? There's no evidence at all in this story that God ever spoke
out loud to Enoch. It's not in here. There's no
dialogue. There's no evidence whatsoever
that God appeared to Enoch. But he had any visions or signs
or anything like that. Nothing. Then how did he get
to know God? How did he begin walking with
God? How did he know the will and the way of God? Faith cometh
by hearing. and hearing by the word of God. Well, how shall they hear without
a preacher? It's always been true. Enoch,
listen to me, you'll enjoy this. Enoch heard the word of God from
a man, Adam. Adam was still living when Enoch
was living. Sixty years Adam lived before
he died with Enoch. They were all together. Adam,
Eve, Enoch, Seth. They were all together. Adam talked to... Do you remember
Adam's talk with Cain and Abel? Huh? What do you reckon Adam
wanted to talk about when Enoch... when he had his grandson Enoch
over. Son, let me tell you the story. I want to hear it again. Adam talked
with Enoch. Enoch, your grandmother Eve and
I, we lived in a garden. God created us. God Almighty God created us. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And on and on He went. God created
us. We were in the garden with Him.
He created us for His glory. He created us to know Him, to
walk with Him, to be like Him. He created us in His image. But
we rebelled against Him. How could we have done it? But
we did. How could we rebel against perfect
love mercy and goodness, but we did. And all of us, ain't
it? We fell miserably. But God told
us about His coming seed. A woman's seed. The Christ, the
Godemer, the Messiah who is to come and get us out of the mess
that we've got ourselves in. We can't get out of it. Only
God can bring us out of it. Deliver us from this body of
death, ain't it? We have a Deliverer. He's yet
to come, but this is of whom the blood speaks of. I told your
great-great-great-great-great-great uncle Abel and Cain and Seth
and all about what God told us to do and what God did for us,
covering us in that innocent lamb's skin and shedding the
blood. And all that's a picture of Christ.
Ain't it? I can't live much longer, and
I'm going to go be with God. I'm an old man now, ain't I? I'm 900 years old. I'm 800 and
some years old. I'm going to go with God. It's
appointed unto man once to die, and after that, judgment. I've been a sinner for 900 years,
930 years. How am I going to live with God,
ain't I? Now, how's God going to hold me? Guiltless. How is
God going to justify me? Enoch, there's only one way.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but it's
all according to His mercy. And His mercy and His grace and
His salvation is in the Redeemer, the Holy One. God's Christ who
is to come has not come yet. And His blood typifies it. Enoch,
come to God with blood. Bring that lamb's blood. Don't
bring your own works. Bring that lamb's blood as a
picture of God's provision of a sin offering and God's righteousness
and purity to you. Amen. That's it. That's it. It's
good news to sinners like us. Amen. You walk with God by faith
in his Christ. Do you think he told him that? Huh? What's your idea? Had it
able enough? Sure he did. He told him that.
He talked to Seth about it. Seth, what do you think? It's
just like Dad said. He talked to Jared, his father. He told him, just like you and
me, God sent a man. Don't think of Bible characters.
We read these stories. I was telling somebody that we
read these stories We looked at the life of Abel, and there's
not much said about him, is there? Not much said about Enoch. Because
the scripture says, if all of the things that were said and
done were contained in books, the world couldn't hold a book.
If God wrote down the whole dialogue between Cain and Abel, it would
take up several chapters. If God wrote the whole life,
365 years, the life of Enoch, 300 years, we'd have the Bible
this thick, wouldn't we? This is what preachers are all
about. To read between the lines, that is, tell the story. Don't
think of Bible characters as being more than just what they
are. It's things happen between the
lines. Things happen. Their lives are
no different than ours. No different. All things common,
the Scripture said. All things common. Nothing new.
Solomon wrote that. Nothing new under the sun. Nothing
new. Same world. Sounded just like
the 21st century, didn't it? Same world, same problems, same
temptations. Was Enoch tempted? Oh, my. Was Enoch vexed with the things
he saw around him? Oh, he thought, how can this
world go on much longer? Enoch, it's not. Your grandson
is named Noah, and God's going to end it through
him. That's what Enoch thought. This can't go on much longer.
It's so wicked and vile. I don't see how it can go on
much further. Enoch worshiped God. What is it to walk with
God? It's to worship God. What are you doing right now?
Why are you here? Everybody all over the world
is going to church. Our Lord said true worshipers
worship Father in spirit, for the Father seeketh such to worship
him." Paul says, we are of God, the true circumcision, which
worship God, rejoicing Christ Jesus, no compass in the flesh. Standing up and declaring God,
declaring to Christ to come, he was there. You think so? You think so? You know so. Our
Lord said, where two or three are gathered, I'm there. When
has that changed? You look at the story in the
Scriptures. God's people were together, always together, worshiping
the Lord. The day came that Enoch heard,
he heard the message from somebody. He heard of God, and he was convicted
of his sins. He heard of Christ, he believed
God, he looked to Christ, he brought the blood, and he fellowshiped
with other believers who felt the same way, who believed the
same thing. He was a companion, as David
said, of them that fear thee. Sheep, listen to me, sheep are
not solitary creatures. It's not their nature. It's impossible. Sheep cannot stand to be alone. It's not their nature. Gregarious
is the word. They're gregarious. That means
they flock together. All clean animals in the scripture
that went on the ark, all clean animals were gregarious creatures. That is, they flocked together.
There were no solo sheep. No, they were together. It's
the nature of the creature. Listen to them. The word sheep
is both singular and plural. You can't have one sheep. It's always more. Sheep. My sheep, hear my voice. Where
two or three are gathered. He met with God's people wherever
they were meeting, whenever they were meeting, he worshiped with
them. To walk with God is to walk opposite
of the world. There is a way which seems right
unto man. As the broad road of Scripture
says, our Lord said that it leads unto destruction, and many go
therein. But straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leadeth unto the life, and few there
be that find it. In order to walk with God, walk
with Christ, walk according to the truth, you walk opposite
of the world. The thoughts, the opinions, the
ways, the directions, the pursuits, the ideals, the principles, they
don't have any principles. But what the world thinks is
right now, that which is good is called
evil and that which is evil is called good. You'll be called evil. You'll
be called bigoted. You'll be called narrow. You'll
be called backward. You'll be called a lot of things
just for believing this book. Just for saying God's true and
every man's a liar. For saying, no, that's all wrong.
Whatever men say and do is wrong. I believe God. You're going to
walk opposite of the world. They're not going to want to
walk with you. To walk with God, you can't walk with the world.
In it, believe God. No matter what the whole world
was saying, oh, they may have been saying, God is love. I'm sure they were. Look, look
what we're doing. Nothing's happening to us. No
wrath has fallen. God must love us. Just a few short years, we'll
find out. You know, God's not love. God's
holy. God's just. God is different
than you think he is, and the whole world thinks he is. He's
different. He's the God of the Bible. He's a living and true
God. I believe God, though the whole
world does not. He walked dependent on God. To
walk with God means you're dependent on God. Come on, I'm going to town. You
want to go with me? That means if you get there,
I'm going to take you. You go where I go. If you make
it, you're going to depend on me. Our Lord said in John 14,
I go to prepare a place for you. I'll come again to receive you
to myself. So walk with me. Take up your cross and follow
me. Depend on me. That's what it means. Depend
on me. Look to me. Enoch depended on God for His
mercy, His grace, His daily provision. You imagine the trials, 300 years. Enoch walked according to God's
Word. Enoch walked. Here's a good point, and I'll
go on. I've got to quit. Enoch walked. Peter wrote, the world's going
to think it's strange that you don't run with them. to the same excess of riot. Who are you running with? The
world is running to and fro to do what? He that believeth shall not make
haste." Hurry! What for? Where are we going?
Why are we in such a hurry? Why are we in a hurry to do all
this? You're just going to lose it. Forget all that. Time is short. Let's just walk. Stop. Sit down. Listen. Be still. Scripture says, and
know that I am God. Nobody knows he's God because
nobody's still long enough. Nobody will sit and listen long
enough. Nobody can stand to sit and listen to a man stand up
and declare the truth. Can't stand it. We want to do
something. We're in a hurry. Enoch walked, walked with God. That make sense? He walked. What's the end of Enoch? Verse 24 says he walked with
God and he was not. God took him. One day, where
did he go? Where was he doing the day God
took him? He's doing what he'd do any day. If you knew God was coming tomorrow,
what would you do differently? Well, you'd be in here today,
wouldn't you? Or would you be in here? That
row would not be empty. I know that much. Those two rows
would not be empty. You'd all be fighting one another.
The front row would hear this, God's coming tomorrow. The point is, the point I'm trying
to make is, Enoch did what he always did. He didn't know God
was going to take him, did he? He had a job. He had family.
He loved his family. He loved his, he might have loved
his job. Probably not, but he had a job. He had to work it. He didn't
murmur and complain. He thanked the Lord for the job, but he
needed the job. He had a lot of people to feed. He was so
thankful for it. A lot of people have a job. Glad
I got twelve jobs to work in, I thought. He went to work one day, maybe.
Maybe he went to work, maybe he's on his way to work like
he did for three hundred years. How do you like, Brother Henry,
you retired after sixty? No, you didn't. You didn't retire.
You find somebody that's retired. Can't find anybody. You keep
going. Three hundred years he clocked in. What'd he do? Same thing he did every day.
Maybe he's going to the store. His wife's going to the store
for the 40 millionth time. He's going to worship one day. He did what he always did. Are
you listening to me? He was a man. He had responsibility. He had day-to-day tasks to perform. He had people he loved. He had
things to do and places to go. People deceived, but he still
walked with God, thought about God, loved his God, worshipped
his God when the time came to worship. Gave his God all the
glory, believed God, walked the door in His Word. One day he's
walking, he walks out the door and his wife says, Goodbye, honey.
Goodbye, honey. He didn't know that was the day.
He thought he was going to live another 600 years. You understand? There was no
fear, and it won't be. Pray with me in closing. You've got to see this. 1 Thessalonians
4. 1 Thessalonians 4. You know, it could be that Enoch,
he had projects. He had things that he needed
to do, things that he wanted to do. He loved his family, and
he thought, my little great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter Michelle, Her and her husband
are really struggling right now. They're really struggling. He's
out of work down at the grain mill. And this happened! He's out of work down there,
just got laid off at the mill, and they're having trouble, and
here I am. I'd like to build them a little
house. So I'm going to build Michelle and his husband a little
house, and we'll start it tomorrow. That's a good thing, isn't it?
How do you plan to do that? Wake up tomorrow and do it? There was no fear, no—he just
went on about his business. He still walked with God. He
didn't do that. He didn't worry about the future. He believed
God. It's going to be the same for
you and me. Make your plans. Do these things.
Say, God willing. But make your plans. Do what
you're going to do. Do what you do every day. But
do it with God in mind. Worship God, believe God. Conduct
yourself according, and it's going to be just like Enoch.
Enoch was on his way to work, on his way to the store, and
boom, in a moment, twinkling of an eye, he changed. He didn't
even know it happened. He didn't know it happened. He
was walking on his, and the next moment he was with God. No fear,
no trepidation, no, no anxiousness. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You
know, begging and pleading to stay. That's the way it's going
to be with you. If you're a believer. Yes, sir,
look at it. 1 Thessalonians 4, 15 through 17. It says, 1 Thessalonians
4, 15. This we say unto you by the word
of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming
of the Lord." When the Lord comes back, he says, we won't prevent
them which are asleep. That means we won't go before
those who died before us. There are going to be some people
on this earth when the Lord comes that will be like Enoch translated.
They won't see death. Read on. The Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord." Comfort one another with these words. Enoch Panin, are
you listening? Enoch Tartt, Mrs. Enoch? He had a wife. He went on about
his business, but he walked with God. And one day, the Lord took
him. And it's going to be the same
for us. The Lord's going to take us. We're not going to fear.
We're not going to fear. Perfect love casts out fear.
And the Lord, if he comes back and we're still on this earth,
instant glory. eternal happiness. You don't
worry about going to sleep tonight, do you? Anybody worried about
it? You're looking forward to it.
You wake up and it's a new day. Oh, will it be a new day when
we wake up. Enoch walked with God by his
grace. All right. Let's see number 337. 337 and the Green Hymnal.