you would turn in your Bibles
to Genesis chapter 5 Genesis chapter 5 and I want
to begin reading verse 18 to 24 Genesis chapter 5 beginning in
verse 18 and Jared lived in hundred and sixty and two years and he
begat Enoch. And Jared lived after he begat
Enoch eight hundred years and begat sons and daughters. And
all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years and
he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five
years and begat Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he
begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters and
all the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God
and he was not for God took him I Want to talk today about the
faith of Enoch Now You know there were two men named
Enoch in the book of Genesis This Enoch according to Jude
was the seventh from Adam, but also in chapter 4 Chapter before this You will
see Cain's first son was named Enoch Verse 17 and Cain knew
his wife and she conceived and bear Enoch and he built in a
city and called the name of the city after the name of his son
Enoch Now all we have there is that
Cain had a son And then Enoch had a son and
so and so Chapter 5 comes after chapter
4 I know this is really difficult stuff, but I do hopefully have
a point here in this introduction, because I do want to point out
the difference here, which is made right at the beginning of
this book. The difference between the end
of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five, because when
you look at the descendants of Cain, that's Genesis 4, 16 through
18 on down, All it says is that Cain and
his wife had a son. And then it says Cain's son had
a son. And so and so begat so and so.
Enoch, let's see, I don't want to read these names. So I'm not
going to. But then when you come to chapter
five, the very first verse says, this is the book of the generations
of Adam. The day that God created man
in the likeness of God made him Now verse 3 starts off and Adam
lived 130 years and begat a son Called his name Seth And in the days of Adam after
he'd begotten Seth were 800 years and he begat sons and daughters
and then Seth lived 105 years and after Seth lived He had a
son Enos Seth had a son named Enos, and
he lived Enos lived had a son Named Canaan, and he lived and
then he died Canaan lived and had a son. Oh here we go Mahala
el praise with God And he lived and then he died As you see the
descendants of Adam here the generations of Adam, you'll see
two things. They lived and they died. Now when you look at Cain and
his progeny, it says he had them, but it never says they lived
or they died. That's a very subtle point that
was pointed out to me a long time ago by a Armenian preacher. And he said, oh, don't worry
about it. They lived and they died. But they weren't recognized. They weren't recognized by God. It never says that Cain or his
descendants lived or died. They were on the earth. But in
verse 16 it tells you exactly why. And Cain went out from the
presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod in the east
of Eden. There's the difference. presence of the Lord That's the
difference between the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of
chapter 5 The presence of the Lord Cain
and his sons lived and died Abraham knew that difference Genesis
17 verse 18 and Abraham said unto God. Oh that Ishmael might
live before thee Ishmael was alive He was right there Abraham
might have been looking at it But it don't count unless you
live before the eyes of God It doesn't count Matter of fact
it kind of counts against you Just like that statement in Exodus
about the Passover. He says when I see the blood
I Will pass over you His sight that matters not mine. It's his
sight that matters not yours and That's what's revealed here
in this little just this little section here. There's already
a separation Between those who are without the presence of God
and those who have the presence of God or in the presence of
God because living before God is the only thing that matters
and I'm not saying living for God that's another sermon and
Generally, it's not good from what most people say about it
But living in his presence in his sight In him we live and
move and have our being what because we're in his sight There's a difference between
the children of Cain and the children of Adam even though
Cain was a child of Adam But I'm here to talk about Enoch.
But I had to throw that in. I did read a cartoon the other
day. Actually, I copied it. I'm going to bring it to Walter. You're welcome, Walter. I'll
tell you what it says right now. It's a Snuffy Smith cartoon.
It was in the newspaper. And one of the fellas is talking
to the parson there. And he says, what's the secret
to a good sermon? He says well you have a really good start,
and you have a really good end, and you put them both close together
as you can I'm gonna try and do that today
I Like that I did But it helps to have a good start and a good
end really done, but the middle better be good, too Well look
at verse 18 says in Jared lived 160 160 in two years and he begat
Enoch Walter, when I read stuff like
this, it just sounds weird to me. I mean, 162 years old, then
he has a son. But folks lived longer in those
days. It dropped down considerably and considerably quickly. We
went from 962 years to 120 or whatever. But still, here we have documented by name
the birth of Enoch. And that name means dedicated,
trained, or initiated. That's the name, Enoch. Enoch
was dedicated. He was named that by his father,
Jared, which meant descent. And Jared lived after he begat
Enoch 800 years and begat sons and daughters. See now, if you
thought of having children at 162, sounds weird. How about
living 800 years and having more? I couldn't help it, Walter. I
thought, you remember, I used to complain about the generation
gap. 800 years. And yet, this whole thing here,
this whole part that we see here in the scripture, For Jared is
knocked down to two verses Because the important part here
is that Jared lived Jared had Enoch and Jared lived and Jared
died In the sight of the Lord. I have that confidence just by
the way, this is written Jared lived after he begat Enoch 800
years and he begat sons and daughters. He had more kids but they're
not mentioned. Not saying they didn't do anything good. Not
saying they weren't worthwhile people. It's just this is what
we've got to deal with right here. And there's a specific
purpose for this. Because none of the other kids
are mentioned of any of them. It says they had more. But none
of them ran. You just got the sequence here.
That's all we have. Enoch lived sixty and five years
and he begat Methuselah I'm sorry. I can't help it. I
am this sometimes Minded this way that he got a head start
of a hundred years on his dad and having kids But he named
him Methuselah and Enoch walked with God after
he begat Methuselah and 300 years and begat sons and daughters Walter I remember when you point
this out a while back Because it didn't really dawn on me.
It doesn't say Enoch walked with God before he begat Methuselah
says after So sometimes you might want to you know I Have to read
things more than once I I need somebody to tell me sometimes Enoch walked with God after he
begat Methuselah now right now I'm not going to go in to walk
with God, but it was after he begat Methuselah, and then he
had more kids Methuselah is important because he is Noah's grandfather
But also important here. He was named Methuselah by his
father Enoch dedicated now As close as I can find the breakdown
of Methuselah's name, which is you've got it. There has to be
a purpose behind that name I'm sorry just for that name But supposedly from what I see
It is derived from two words First word is muth in muth the
way they spell it in English which means death and The second
word is shalak which means to bring. So what they're saying
is the theory is that Methuselah's name means his death shall bring. Now what comes after the end
of the death of Methuselah? If you do the math, and I've
seen it done, I actually did figure it out one time, but I
didn't write none of that stuff down Methuselah dies the year
the flood came. That's the way the math works
out. Now why in the world would Enoch name his child Methuselah? It doesn't specifically state
it here, but I got a feeling he had inside knowledge. He didn't name him that by accident.
If nothing else, he was laid on him by God to name him that. And Methuselah, just a little
background for this, he couldn't come until he died. And he was
the longest lived man recorded in this book. He was the longest
lived person on this earth. Longer than Jared. You know what,
962. The forbearance of God. He's
amazing sometimes. The long suffering of God is
salvation. Now, I did watch that movie and
I'm not going into that mess. But it was nice to see Methuselah
in it. Sure, they had him portrayed
as kind of a crazy old man, but it worked out for him. But this
is the thing here. The son of Enoch was called Methuselah. After he begat Methuselah is
when he started walking with God according to this That's
when it stated that he's walking with God that he walked with
God, and he begat Methuselah 300 years after that he lived
And this is the description that we have of his life He walked
with God It's going to repeat it here in a verse or two Because
they want you to know this it doesn't say this about Adam Doesn't
say this about Seth Enos Canaan Mahala L. I practice saying that
yesterday Doesn't say that about anybody, but this fellow here
and one other in the next chapter Enoch walked with God And all the days of Enoch were
365 years. His life is summed up here in
these seven verses. From birth to death were 365
years. In between, this is what we have
recorded in the scripture, and we need to pay attention to it.
Because here, we see the result of Enoch's faith. He walked with
God After he begat Methuselah he walked with God. He lived
365 years verse 24 and Enoch walked with God And we worry
about making it through 80 years 300 years Enoch walked with God Noah was, what, 120 years building
the ark. How many people were converted
under Noah's ministry? His family went in with him. That was it. There was nobody
outside. Methuselah died. And I don't
think he was killed in the flood. He may have been. But I don't
think he was. I think he died that year, and
then the flood came. There's a reason for that and
I'll get to it hopefully here. But this is one heck of a summation
of 365 years of life. Enoch walked with God. Now we're not given any kind
of description in here at all. Now there's a little bit later
in the book of Hebrews which I'm going to look at. But right
here, all it says is that Enoch walked with God, then it says
it again, and Enoch walked with God, and he was not. For God took him. Now there's a fellow, you can
find all kinds of things in commentaries, whether you want to or not. But
I did get the, there was a fellow there who was trying to answer
the question, Walter, of where he went. It doesn't matter where he went.
God took him. He's right where he should be.
He's with God. And the one fellow said, to ask
where he went is just mere curiosity. I don't need to know where he
went. God took him. And if God takes you, you're
took. Don't want to add to the scripture,
but I definitely don't want to take away from the scriptures
either It says Enoch walked with God, and he was not for for for
The reason Enoch was not for God took it Otherwise Enos would
it would have been there? He only lived 365 years I Dad was still alive. He still
had what 400 to go at least And Enoch walked with God and
was not for God took him Now if you would look at Hebrews
chapter 11 because there is a little more in here about mr. Enoch This is the chapter they call
the heroes of faith Faith is the substance of things hoped
for the evidence of things not seen for by it the elders obtained
a good report and verse 5 says By faith Enoch was translated
That he should not see death and was not found because God
had translated him God took it Before his translation he had
this testimony that he pleased God There's a little more There's
a little more there than what we had in Genesis and see I'm
not adding to that scripture We got the right of Hebrews under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just spreading it out a little
bit Because basically what he said was the same thing Where did he go? The only answer to that is he
went with God. Do you need any more than that?
Does anybody need any more than that? Where'd Elijah go in the
whirlwind? He went up. God took him. Writer of Hebrews see we had
seven verses though in Genesis and the writer of Hebrews sums
this up in one By faith There's your answer
there's your answer right there by faith By faith Now it's not by belief
It's not you're believing although you will believe this is by faith
This is a noun. By faith, as Jude calls him,
the seventh from Adam should not see death. Now seven's a number of completion,
seven's a number of perfection, whatever you want to call it.
The seventh from Adam should not see death. How? By his works. No. No, no,
no, no, no. Enoch's works are just like our
works. They're a result of faith. By faith, he walked with God. By faith. That's the answer. That's the Old Testament, though.
And weren't they under the law? No, actually, this was a little
bit before the law. A few hundred years, you know. salvation Translation has never
been by works and it never ever will be It's by faith Because here Excuse me Here is
a summation of a man's life if you want one Here's the conclusion
of all conclusions by faith You can add the rest of men, but
they all start this way in this chapter by faith Abel by faith
Enoch Without faith, it's impossible to please him by faith Noah by
faith Abraham By faith Isaac by faith Jacob by faith Joseph
by faith Moses You begin to find out that the faith of God's elect
is important when you look at this. And all of those fellas
were in the Old Testament. And don't forget the women, by
faith, Rahab. I'm not going to call her the
harlot, although I just did. But that's the conclusion. The
world does not understand the miracle of these two words. faith
Because how did Enoch walk with God by faith how did all of these
people listed in Hebrews 11? How did they do? Whoo how did
they do the things they did and they did some things they're
listed here? by faith By faith by faith even
in the Old Testament faith the just live The righteousness
of God is by faith of Jesus Christ There is a definite sense and
it says so in the scriptures that we are justified by faith
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ How's my
faith? by faith Once delivered to the
Saints We have access by faith. We stand by faith. This is all
from the scriptures. I'm not going to tell you where
We are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus who dwells
in our hearts by faith And I will give you this one
you look up the rest Second Corinthians 5 and verse 7 he says for we
walk by faith not by sight He's got that in parentheses. That's
an aside For what Paul's talking about it was a little explanation
of what he was talking about But I like that you put it in
Princey you put that right after Enoch here We walk by faith not
by sight and Enoch walked with God why how by faith and by faith
alone This is not boasting by any means
Because we know Faith the faith of God's elect
is the gift of God Can't stay away from that verse you are
saved by grace through faith it is Christ Jesus who is the
author and the finisher of faith and It is once delivered to the
Saints and It's the gift of God. Boasting is excluded. What? By
the law of what? Faith. He walked with God by faith.
Now, there is a statement. I wanted to bring this up. Mainly
because there's one little point that seems kind of important
to me. There's another fella in this book, the book of Genesis,
chapter 6. Verse 9 says, these are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generation. And Noah walked with God. Now you'll also find him in Hebrews
11 by faith. But, and this is the part that
a lot of people have a tendency to want to leave out. If you
look in Genesis 6 and verse 8, Which is the verse right before
verse 9 Noah walked with God verse 8 says but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord Now how does Paul state that
in Ephesians, I just quoted a little minute ago By grace you're saved
Through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of
God Not of works lest any man should boast For we are his work
That's what that word means his workmanship his creation created
in Christ Jesus Unto good works which he has before ordained
that we should walk in them It was before ordained Enoch
would walk with God It was ordained of old even older than this than
Genesis chapter 5 It was ordained of old before the foundation
of the world by faith In Hebrews 11 it uses that word
translated twice in Faith Enoch was translated what
that he should not see death and was not found He was not
he was not found because God had translated him Now that word
translated used twice there There's a slight difference in the second
one. It's the same exact base word for But there's a little
suffix on the end of the second word because where it says Enoch
was translated. That's a passive word Enoch had
nothing to do with it, but he was the one translated. He was
passive in that But then when you look at it and said because
God translated him guess what as active Because God's the one
that translates you and if God don't translate you you're not
translated He is the active party and it's
never we ourselves. We do things according to his
will and his good pleasure. But when it comes to translation,
when it comes to the fact that Enoch was not, that was the work
of God and not because of the work of Enoch. Conclusion. I read it just a little while
ago, Cain went out from the presence of God. The first thing we read of Cain
after God finished speaking to him was that Cain went out from
the presence of God and dwelt in the land of Nod. It really
doesn't matter where he dwelt because he dwelt outside the
presence of God. He had a kid named Enoch and
he builted a city. That's the first mention of the
word city in the book. That's the first mention. There was a guy, there's a guy
who wrote some stuff that I've been reading, C.H. Macintosh.
And this is the way he put it, because you've got, before the
generations of Adam, you have the descendants of Cain. There's
a reason for that order. Because you're gonna see what
Cain did and you're gonna see what the descendants of Adam did what
God did through them and in them But what he wrote here I Copied
it down because I liked it. He wrote the sons of Cain and
Cain himself Might spend their energies in the vain attempt
to improve a cursed world But Enoch found a better world Lived
in the power of it His faith Enoch's faith Was not
given him to improve the world but to walk with God That's what
your faith is fine. That's what my faith is So we
don't get it. We don't we don't get any description
of what it is to walk with God There's no description given
here Now, all I can go with them is what we call the preponderant
testimony of scripture. And by that, I mean the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke to Martha, the sister
of Lazarus, and he said unto her, I am the resurrection and
the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die Believest thou this To walk with God you
can't walk with God outside of his son and neither did Enoch He didn't have what we have in
these scriptures, but he knew the Messiah was coming and His great-grandma, Eve, may have
told him about it. I don't know that there's coming
a seed of a woman that's going to bruise the head of the serpent.
God gave them that prophecy before they got kicked out. By faith, we walk with God. If we believe His Son, believest thou this, Believe help thou mine unbelief By faith meaning 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 and if you
think you can do that without Christ you're thinking wrong
I by faith. Our Heavenly Father,
we are thankful for this time and this place. Thank You for Your Son, our Lord. He did come, as promised in the
Old Testament, and He bruised the serpent's head, and His heel
was bruised, and He died He rose again from the dead and he brought
to you the offering of his own blood And you accepted it And
you accepted us in him Thank you, Lord Christ name we pray
amen