Okay, open your Bibles to Genesis,
Chapter 5. Genesis chapter 5. Let's read
a few verses here. Verses 21 through 24. Genesis 5. Verse 21, And Enoch
lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked
with God. after he begat Methuselah 300
years, and begat sons and daughters. All the days of Enoch were 365
years. And Enoch walked with God. And he was not, or that is, he
disappeared, for God took him. Now this is not a message to
commend a man, not commending the man Enoch, but this is to
tell you what it is to walk with God. Walking with God, that's
the title of this message. And many have done so, not just
Enoch. Look at chapter 6, look at verse
9. Verse 9 says, these are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a just man, a perfect
man in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And there were
many references that I looked up, various people. All of God's people did. But
Enoch is first mentioned. He's the first mention as someone
who walked with God. And so we're just going to use
him as an example, all right? If you take him notes, very easy.
We're going to look at the man Enoch, the man Enoch, what kind
of man he was. We're going to look at the world
that Enoch lived in, the age that he lived in, the time he
walked in. We'll look at the walk of Enoch,
what this was, to walk with God. And then we're going to look
at the end of Enoch. Enoch's end. All right? The man, Enoch, he was just a
man. He was just a man. He was not
a super-man. He was not a super-religious.
When it talks about Enoch walking with God, it doesn't mean he
was an ultra-pious or living some ethereal or high spiritual
plane. person, just a man, just a man. Scripture says that which is
flesh is flesh. Every man at his best state is
altogether vanity. He was just a man. He was a sinful
man. He wasn't holier than anybody
else. He was a sinful man. Every man
and woman is. Born a sinner. A son of Adam.
Every son of Adam is a sinner. There's none righteous. No, not
one. There's none that doeth good. Not Enoch. OK? He's just a man. He's a sinful
man. All right? He's a man with responsibilities. He had a home. He lived for 365
years. And he begat, it says in verse
22, he begat sons and daughters. Now, the world's being populated
at this time, and he begat sons and daughters over a period of
300 and some years, 300 years. He had a lot of children, needless
to say. He could have had hundreds, counting
grandchildren. You know he did. He could have
had a thousand mouths to feed. Was he busy? Huh? Did he have
a job? Did he work long hours? He worked
every overtime he could get, Brother Steve. He had a lot of
mouths to feed, and worthless sons-in-laws to support, and
daughters-in-law. Then, you know, teenagers. How
many teenagers? We think we got problems. He
may have had a hundred teenagers at any given time in his house. Just a man with problems that
men and women face. Home, family, job, responsibility,
and a house full of people. My, my, my. So he's just a man. Don't think of him as being something
special. He's just a man. And I thought
of this, he lived 365 years. Can you imagine? We lived here
70 years and we're ready to go. That's the reason the Lord takes
us because that's all we can take of this place. 300 years. It was tough. It was tough. Needless to say. Many trials. He's just a man. He's a sinful man. He's a man
with a home, responsibilities, trials, troubles, tribulations,
persecution. But he's a chosen man. He's a
chosen man. You notice there it says in verse
21, Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked
with God after he begat Methuselah. In other words, Enoch didn't
know God, wasn't interested in God, didn't worship God, didn't
know Christ until he was 65 years old. That makes him a chosen man,
doesn't it? You can't teach a 65-year-old
man anything, can you, Henry? What about 70? Oh, no. You can't change somebody so
set in their ways. If you can't teach an old dog,
what about an old human? Sixty-five. Who and what could
change this man's mind? Who could turn his heart, turn
his will? Only God. He would not have been seeking
and calling God, calling on God, unless God had sought him and
called on him. So he's a chosen man. For our
Lord, my God, as is every single one of God's elect. Didn't you
love reading that in 2 John? Elect, the elect lady. He started that and finished
it with that, didn't he? Elect, your elect sister. This was one of God's elect,
one of God's chosen. Yes, blessed is the man whom
thou choosest, John, whom thou causest to approach unto thee.
Sixty-five years old, one day God called him by his grace. by the gospel, by the very same
gospel you and I hear. Yes! By the truth which you believe,
not one variance from the truth. Enoch had to hear the gospel,
and I'll tell you more about that in a moment. He wouldn't have come. If God
hadn't chosen him and called him, he would not have come.
He wouldn't have walked with God, but he did. Enoch walked
with God. Here is the age in which Enoch
lived, the time, the world in which Enoch lived. Look at chapter
6, verse 5. Now, Enoch was taken just sixty
years before Noah was born. Sixty years before Noah was born. Now, this chapter is the chapter
of Noah. Five, it says, God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil and continual all
the time. Every day, that's it. So the
day in which Enoch lived was not a more reserved day, a more
conservative day, and more principled. God destroyed this generation
just very shortly after. It was a wicked and violent day. Wicked world. Corrupt. Verses
11 and 12. Look at this. The earth was corrupt
before God. The earth was filled with violence.
God looked upon the earth and it was corrupt. All flesh had
corrupted his way on the earth. Sounds like now, but that was
the day he lived in. Enoch walked with God 300 years. So it was a very sinful day,
a very wicked day. It was an age, look at verses
2 through 4 here in chapter 6. The sons of God, that is, believers,
saw the daughters of men that they were fair, that is, unbelieving
women who were very beautiful. They took them wives of all which
they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, but his flesh in his days
shall be a hundred and twenty years." There were giants in
the earth in those days. Also, after that, the sons of
daughters came in unto the daughters of men, and the sons of God,
and they bare children of them. They were mighty men, but men
of renown. So this was a day of giants in
the land, huge men, athletic. Giants in the land, beautiful
women. Everybody was just—this was a
day of beautiful people. Sound familiar? Giants. And I'm sure they all played
basketball or something. And very rich. Our Lord said
there was a materialistic world. The day in which Enoch lived
was a very materialistic world. very, very rich. Our Lord said
that in Matthew 24. He said, as in the days of Noah,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.
It was a day of a religion, says the sons of God. They were believers,
but apostasy. That is, these sons of God, these
believers, were taken with the women of the world and they went
after them and evidently forgot God, because we're going to see,
because it wasn't long after that till Noah and his family,
that was it. Right? So many departed from
the truth, but it got down to Noah and his family. So do you
see? It was a day of apostasy. And
that sounds just like today, doesn't it? It says, in the last
days, many shall depart from the faith. In the last days,
Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, perilous times, men will be proud boasters,
vain, violent. Sounds just like now, doesn't
it? But Enoch walked with God. So I want to know what this is,
don't you? What is this walk? with God.
He did it 300 years. I've got just 30 left, maybe. Enoch walked with God. What is
it then? What is the walk? Let's look at Enoch's walk. Now,
when you walk, a walk is two things. It's two things, actually. A walk, when you're walking,
it's the direction you're headed. All right? I'm going to walk to that door,
so my walk is toward that door. And also, the walk of someone
is the way or the manner in which they do it. Okay? So you see, it's the direction
you're going and the manner in which you go. That's the walk,
all right? What direction was Enoch going? Enoch walked with God. The world, there's a way the
scripture says, and turn to Hebrews 11, Hebrews chapter 11, the scripture
says there's a way that seems right to man. But the end, the
direction, is destruction. This world is not seeking God. This world, Paul said it in Romans
1, the whole chapter, Romans 1, is devoted to that. That men weren't thankful, though
God is clearly known, yet they rejected the Creator and believed
evolution. They weren't thankful, became
proud, vain in their imaginations, worshipped the creature, that
is, man, more than the Creator. So God gave them over, in all
manner of filthiness, in the way of man's corruption. Man's not seeking God. Oh, no. Man's dead and trespasses
in sin. The direction to go with God,
Enoch walked with God. He sought the things of God. His affection was set on things
above, not on things of this earth. Our Lord talked about pearls
before swine. Do you remember that? Don't cast
your pearls before swine. Do you ever see pigs or swine
gazing at the stars? Do you ever see pigs or swine Sitting out under the stars at
night, beholding and contemplating the beauties of the universe.
What do pigs do? What does swine do? Wallow in
the mud. They always have their snouts
in the earth, wallowing, grubbing, eating, sleeping, eating some
more, sleeping some more. And that's it. That's the extent
of their lives. And man is not any higher than
that by nature. God is his belly. Man does not
contemplate God by nature. He's like a swine. He's like
a pig rooting in the earth, getting his fill of the earth. But God,
who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loves
some of these swine, saves them, quickens them by
his grace to where he shifts their eyes heavenward. Their
hearts that were dead, he gives them a new heart, a sensitive
heart to the word of God. It opens their ears to the word
of God until they look heavenward, until they look to God. Man was
created that way to walk with God. Adam walked with God. That
is, he contemplated God all day long, not his belly. That was
just a means to get something to eat, but the rest of his day
was taken with his God, to enjoy his God. All the old theologians,
to the man, would say, man was created to enjoy God. But man fell and became like
the beasts, to where he never even considers God, until God
in mercy directs his mind, his heart, heavenward. They're God. Enoch, though, was one of these
chosen, and he walked with God. That is his affection, brother
Dan. His heart, his mind, was set on things above. He had here,
look at it, in Hebrews 11, look at Hebrews 11. This is true of
all of God's people. Verse 5, by faith Enoch was translated,
that he should not see death, was not found. God translated
him. And before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. Now, verse 6, but without
faith, it's impossible to please God. He that comes to God must
believe that he is, and a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. And Paul goes on to write about Noah and Abraham and Sarah
and many others, Rahab, all these that died in faith. being the only one who didn't.
But look down at verses 13 and following, all right? Look at
this. These all died in faith, or according
to faith, not having received the promises. And let me remind
you, they didn't have a Bible. They didn't have the advantage.
They did not have the written word of God. Enoch walked with
God 300 years. He didn't have a Bible. But he had a preacher. Oh, yeah. He walked by faith. He walked by faith. Faith comes
by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. And how shall they hear
without a preacher? We're going to see that in a
moment. And you're going to get a blessing out of it. who he
heard preach. And look at, read on. These died
in faith, but they were persuaded, verse 13, of them. Who persuaded
them? Huh? Not flesh and blood, but
the heavenly Father. These persuasions of God. This
faith is a gift of God. And they confessed with their
life, with their walk, verse 13. They confessed they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And they that say such
things, all that say such things, declare plainly they seek a country. Truly, if they'd been mindful
of that country from which they came out, they would have had
opportunity to have return. But no, they desire a better
country, a heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed to
be called their God. And they all walk with God, have
their mind, their heart, their affections set on things above,
not here. This was not their continuing
city. And that's why God in his goodness
and his wisdom sends them trials. So that they won't find anything
here. Won't find much of anything but
trials and trouble. So they seek a continuing city. All right, here's the walk of
Eden. Here's the walk of Enoch. He walked by faith. It says that
Enoch walked with God, and he pleased God. But without faith,
it's impossible to please God. And Paul said to the Corinthians,
we walk by faith, not by sight. All right? He walked with God
by faith. All right? Now, you have to turn
to this, OK? Book of Amos. I want everyone
to turn that. Amos chapter 3. If you don't
know this well, you might want to commit it to memory. Amos chapter 3. We quote this
all the time. Amos chapter 3. All right, Enoch
walked by faith. That is, he believed God. didn't say in God, he believed
in God. That is, Nancy, whatever God
said, he believed it. That's what makes somebody a
believer. How do you know somebody's a believer? Silly question, isn't it, John?
He believes. You remember when Paul said,
after the way they call heresy, so I believe. So I worship the
God of my fathers, believing all things written in the Prophets. Not some things, not what things
I can understand, not what things I like, not just the Calvinistic,
not, all things. Whatever God said, I believe. Why? Because God said it. Believing God. Enoch believed
God. In other words, look at verse
3 of Amos 3. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? All right, Enoch walked with
God. Did God agree with him? Was God walking with him? No. was agreeing with God. Whatever
God said, he agreed. Whatever God said, he bowed to
it. Whatever God said, he believed. Whatever God said, Enoch believed. Enoch believed that God is God.
Oh, didn't we read that in Hebrews 11? He that cometh to God must
believe that he is. What does that mean? This is
the heart of faith. must believe that God is God,
holy, just, sovereign, doing as he will with whom he will.
That's God. That's the true God and not an
idol. An idol is someone or something
that you manipulate, that you allow to do things. That's an
idol. Any God, small g, that men and women He's done all he
can do, and now the rest is up to you, and you must let him
be Lord and let him--" That's an idol. That's not the God of
the Bible. That's not the true and living
God in whose hands our breath is. Enoch believed the same God
you and I do, Brother Stephen. He believed God is God, absolutely holy, just, sovereign. Now, listen. I've quoted to you. for Romans 10, faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Who did Enoch? Enoch heard somebody preach. There was no Bible. Enoch heard
somebody preach to him, because Paul said, How shall they hear
without a preacher? And God said he has not left
himself without a witness ever. He's always had his prophets,
always. Who did he hear preach the gospel?
It may surprise you. Enoch heard Adam. He heard Adam preach the gospel. Enoch died before Adam did. I mean, Enoch was left before
Adam did. Enoch knew Adam for three hundred
in 65 years. What do you reckon they're talking
about? Now, listen now. Yes, they knew each other. The world was in that central
Europe right there. That was it. Hadn't spread to
this continent yet. These people were all over in
what is now known as Turkey. Enoch knew Adam for three hundred
years. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the word of God, and you must hear a preacher, all right? Adam
and Eve, and Eve, yes, told Enoch whenever they visited with him.
He was their grandson, seven times removed, but he was their
grandson. Adam told Enoch, and Eve told
Enoch. God is holy. What do you reckon,
Deborah, that they told him first about God? Adam and Eve, now, who God kicked out of the garden
for eating a piece of fruit. What do you reckon they first
told him about God, and everybody would hear them? God is love? They said, ain't it? infinitely, indescribably holy, holy, holy. And they told Enoch their story. We were perfect and upright,
but Satan put in us that we had a free will and that we could
be as God and put a question mark on God's word. You've got to believe God. Believe
God is God. Believe everything God says.
Put no question on anything God says. Don't let anybody—I don't
care if it's an angel from heaven—preach any other gospel to you, Enoch,
than that which you're hearing from us. Let them be accursed
if they do. Enoch, God is holy. God is just. God is sovereign. He kicked us
out of his presence with one sin found on us. and barred away
with an angel of fire. Ain't it? But God is merciful. God is gracious. And God told
us about the woman's seed, ain't it? The woman's seed. Now, you know, ain't it, that
women don't have a seed? It's man that has a seed. But
God told us that the woman's seed is going to come. The Messiah,
ain't it? But Christ, ain't it? The Savior.
God's chosen one, his Holy One, his Redeemer, for all sons of
ours, all sons of Adam. God's going to send, miraculously,
we're not sure how, but we think perhaps born of a virgin, without
the seed of Adam, without our sinful seed in him, God's going
to send his Son, the Christ, a holy man to live a holy life
that we could not live, and you can't either. It's not by works
of righteousness which you have done or we have done. No, we
were righteous. Oh, it's going to be according
to God's mercy that he saves, and his mercy is going to be
in that coming seed, that woman seed. He's going to come. Yes, a man, he's going to come,
made in the likeness of sinful flesh, to redeem them that were
under the law, under the curse, were cursed. Everything we do
is a curse, thorns and thistles and sweat and blood and tears
and death. Ain't it the first thing we experienced
when we left that garden was death because of sin? But God, but God is going to
send someone, some marvelous, wonderful person to come and
to save us from this mess that we've, that even I got us into. And your only hope and our only
hope, God told us this, is to trust and to look to and to believe
in this coming one as your righteousness. And God told us the first thing
God did when we sinned was God took an innocent animal, took
a lamb. We saw it with our very eyes.
God took an innocent lamb and slit its throat and poured out
that blood. and skinned that animal, poor
creature, innocent. He had nothing to do with our
transcription. And took that bloody robe. We were naked. We tried to cover our nakedness
with some fig leaves. That's so foolish. Enoch, you
can't cover God's all. See, he looks on the heart, Enoch.
You can't cover yourself. But God took that innocent creature
and wrapped us in it and covered our nakedness. Yes, God spoke
to us in person, the blessed Son, the Word, and told us, now,
don't you ever come near me. Don't you ever call on me without
blood. Because this blood is going to
represent that Christ who is coming. I'm going to lay on him
the iniquity of you, Adam and Eve, and all those that I've
chosen. I'm going to lay on them, and I'll accept you, and you'll be
my son. But don't come without blood,
because without the shedding of blood, there's no remission
of sin. Ain't it? There's one way. There's one way, one hope, one
life, and it's in the coming Messiah. Add it, add it. Wouldn't you have liked to have
heard Adam preach that? And then I believe they told
him this. I'm quite sure of it. Adam lived 930 years. Our Lord said, now, can you observe
the times? Can't you see the coming apocalypse? You can observe. He said, you
ought to be able to observe. He said, when the sky is red
and lowering, you say this about the weather. When it's fair,
you say it'll be a good day. When it's not, the storm's brewing.
Adam lived 930 years. He saw it. He saw it all. And
he saw this, the wickedness of man. And I know he told Enoch
this. And Enoch had a young boy sitting
with him. His grandson sitting with him,
named Lamech. Sitting there talking to Adam. And Adam was telling Enoch, Enoch,
God's going to destroy this place. It's getting exceedingly wicked
and vile. God is going to end this place.
It can't last forever, Enoch. You've got one hope. We have
one hope. And that boy at Lamech, you see,
was Noah's dad. And that's where Noah heard. He told him, it's going to end,
Enoch. Enoch walked by faith. Enoch trusted Christ. You see,
there's only one Lord, one faith. Never has been a different faith.
Never has. He walked by faith, believing
God, trusting Christ. You see, he didn't do anything different
than you and I do. He worked. He walked to work. He spent time
with his family. How did he find enough time?
He had to do everything that needed to be done. But he walked
by faith, believing God, trusting Christ. He worshipped God. He
worshipped God. I believe he walked with those
that walked with God. I know he did. I know he did. Look at the end
of Enoch. Turn back quickly to Genesis
5, and here's Enoch's end. And here's the end of all. God's
chosen to walk with him by faith in Christ. Verse 24, you have
it? In Genesis 5, verse 24, it says,
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Well, what was he? He was not. But as He is, so was Enoch. He was translated. This mortality
put on immortality. This corruption put on incorruption.
He was changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye into
the image of the Son of God. And as He is, so is Enoch right
now. And so are all those they walk
with that one day you know. In the same thing will happen
with every one of us. Every one of us, every believer, same thing
is going to happen. See Enoch wasn't aware of what
happened to him. He's in God's presence. Every single believer I've ever
seen died, died in absolute peace. You know, that old saying, that
old silly stupid song that John in June saying you ought to walk
that lonesome valley and walk it by yourself, that's a lie. Because Psalm 23 says, Though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear
no evil. Why? Because thou art with me. No fear. There's no dark valley. There's no deep abyss. frightful, terrible experience.
No, sir. Never. Peace. He giveth his beloved sleep. Rest. Rest. And it's a change, it's an instantaneous
change. And they're not even aware, nor
remember what happened. Instant glory. Enoch was walking
one day, I don't know if he was going to work, at the store. Hardware store? I've made many
trips to the hardware store. Just a man. Just a man with responsibilities
of life. I mean, one day he was walking
to the hardware store, the feed store, or something, you know,
and conscious of his God, yes. Went down on his knees praying
all the time. But he was conscious of his God.
Thank you, Lord, for my family, and thank you for that message
I heard today. Boy, I love it. I sure do appreciate
the gospel and all, and thank you for the... He's with God. With God. Heaven's opened and
received him into glory. And he isn't, like I said, it's
the same with all of God's people. And let me read this to you in
closing, okay? It's found in 1 Thessalonians.
I read this at the graveside of our sister Linda Stoniker. It says this, "'This we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
under the coming of the Lord shall not go before them that
are asleep. The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ. shall rise first,
then we, if we're still alive and remain, shall be caught up
together, just like Enoch, with them." With them! Hello,
Virgie! With them, in their clouds, to
meet the Lord in there, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Tell her, Enoch, wherefore comfort
one another. with these words. 70 more years. Think I can take
it. Yeah, you can. His grace is sufficient. Yeah, he can. Three hundred and
sixty-five years. And he was not. All right, let's
let's say in closing here. Oh, for a closer Walk with God. Now, this is a different tune. We don't sing this very often.
336. 336. Very good words. Try to sing it. 336. Let's stand.