Please turn in your Bibles to
the book of Hebrews chapter 11. We're going back to the passage
that I preached from last Sunday concerning the subject of how
to please God. And this subject is in verses
five and six concerning a man named Enoch. By faith, Hebrews
11, 5, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death
and was not found because God had translated him. I dealt with
that last week and I'm not going to go into that again, but I
wanted to get that out of the way before we get to the real
issue of this passage and the next line. For before his translation,
he had this testimony. What an amazing testimony it
is that he pleased God. that he pleased God. Now what
do we know about Enoch? Well, we know number one, he
pleased God. That's what it says, doesn't it? And we know this,
that in order to please God, the first
thing for a sinner is that he must be justified before God,
legally, Forensically, if you will, he must be justified before
God. We can ask the question, how
in the world can a sinner please God? Sin is not pleasing to God. And so we must ask the question,
how in the world can a sinner be justified? You know what it
is to be justified, don't you? It means to be not guilty. It means, and that's talking
about legal condemnation, that's what that's talking about. The
legal guilt, subject to condemnation because of sin. In the day that
you eat thereof, God told Adam, you shall surely die. The wages
of sin is death. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's, a sinner, in order to
avoid that, and be put in a position where he can please God, he must
be justified before God. He must be declared righteous
by God. Sin doesn't please God. Righteousness
does. We don't have it. We can't work
it. We can't earn it. We can't create
it. Righteousness. There's none righteous, no, not
one. In fact, what's sad in our depraved state, we don't even
want righteousness God's way. That was shown in the example
of Abel and Cain and Abel. Cain wanted righteousness but
not God's way. Abel was brought to desire righteousness
God's way. How do you know? Abel brought
the blood. There is a fountain filled with
blood. That's satisfaction to God's
justice. Cain wanted to bring the works
of his hands, pride, self-righteousness, unbelief. And that's a key. So when we come to Enoch, we
know this, that he was justified before God. How was he justified? On what ground? Upon the ground
of a promise that God made to send the Messiah, the surety,
the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be his surety, to
perform the work of a surety. who was set up before the foundation
of the world as a surety so that Enoch could stand before God
righteous in God's sight, not by righteous works that he'd
done. You see, Enoch, when it says he pleased God, it doesn't
mean that he rose up on his own and by his works and by his attitude
above the crowd. and showed himself to be better
than everybody else. Enoch was a sinner saved by grace. Every one of these people that
are mentioned in Hebrews 11, sinners saved by grace. So Enoch pleased God. To please
God, a sinner must be reconciled to God. Not only must we be made
legally righteous, and not guilty, so that we cannot be charged
with sin, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect,
it's God that judge. But we must in our minds and
hearts through a work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth,
we must be turned toward God and reconciled to him on that
same ground, the righteousness of Christ freely imputed. I know this about Abel. He brought
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. What was the more excellent
sacrifice? It was the blood of Christ, the
righteousness of Christ. And by that, he obtained witness
that he was righteous. Well, is Enoch any different?
No. If he pleased God. God accepted
Abel's sacrifice. God was pleased with Abel's sacrifice. He didn't accept Cain. Now, if
he's pleased with Enoch, it's on the same basis, the same ground,
by the grace of God. based on justice satisfied in
promise of a future promise that was sure and certain to be fulfilled.
God justified Enoch and God sent the spirit just like he does
today. When the gospel is preached, Enoch heard the gospel. How do
you know that? He pleased God. Well, it doesn't
say anything. That's right. And I'm not going to fill in
the blanks. I just know that he that believeth not shall be
damned. He that believeth shall be saved. That applies to everyone
in some way. So Enoch heard the gospel. He
heard the gospel of the cross, the gospel of the blood, the
gospel when the righteousness of God is revealed, and God turned
him by the blood of the cross, applied to his heart, the new
heart, and regeneration and conversion. And Enoch approached God through
Christ, just like Abel did. Enoch pleased God. In the book
of Genesis, chapter 5, we know that Enoch pleased God.
Secondly, we know that Enoch walked with God. Look at it in
verse 21. Now first of all, back up in
verse 19, notice this. It says, Jared lived 160 and
two years he begat Enoch. Enoch's father, or it could be
his grandfather, was a man named Jared. It says all the days of Jared
were 960 and two years and he died. And then verse 21, Enoch
lived 65 years and begat Methuselah. Enoch was Methuselah's father.
You know who Methuselah was? He lived, he's the, they always,
if you ask kids the question, who's the oldest man that ever
lived? Methuselah, 969 years. Well, Enoch was his father. Verse
22, and Enoch walked with God after he beget Methuselah 300
years and beget sons and daughters. Now it seems like Enoch's walk
with God has something to do with the birth of Methuselah,
but hold on to that thought, I'm gonna come back to it. And
it says in verse 23, the days of Enoch were 360 and five years
and Enoch walked with God. He walked with God and he was
not, for God took him. So Enoch walked with God. Now
I'm going to come back to Genesis there in just a moment. But to
walk with God is to walk by faith in Christ. It's to walk in the
grace of God. That means being saved, being
preserved, and ultimately being glorified by God's grace based
upon the power and the goodness of God in Christ. To walk with
God means to walk looking to Christ, the author and finisher
of our faith. It is a walk of obedience. It's
a walk of faith. It's a walk of repentance. It's
a walk of love, not perfection, because we're not perfect. We're
sinners saved by grace, but we depend upon, rest in, look to,
and have our assurance in a perfect Savior. by whose righteousness
we are eternally justified. To walk with God means to have
fellowship with God. In Christ, we're brought into
fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We
become, as Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1.4, partakers of the divine
nature. What does that mean? We become
participants. Fellowshipers, if you will, partners
with the glory of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through
Christ. Our fellowship is with the Father
and the Son, John said. To walk with God is to walk in
light. That means in his truth. That's
why we study the word and walk by the word. Do you know that
anytime you get into a religious meeting and they don't preach to you
what's in the Bible, You're walking in darkness. That's right. Walk in the light
as he is in the light. The light of his truth. The gospel. To walk with God is to walk after
and mind the things of the Spirit of God. We read that last time
in Romans chapter 8. Where he talks about in the flesh
no man can please. Enoch pleased God but in the
flesh no man can please God. What is it to be in the flesh?
It's to be an unbeliever. It's to be one like Cain who's
seeking to establish their own righteousness before God. A person
who says, well, I'm going to try to keep the law and see if
God will bless me. That's walking after the flesh,
isn't it? Walking after and minding the
things of the flesh. I'm gonna be the best that I
can be and I know that'll be enough for God to accept me and
to bless me. That'll please God. That's walking
after the flesh. To walk after and mind the things
of the spirit is to look to Christ by faith. It's to repent of that
other, but it's to do like Abel. Come bearing the blood. That's
what Enoch did. He walked with God. So we know
number one, he pleased God. A sinner saved by grace. A man
of faith, God-given faith. Number two, he walked with God.
And number three, we know he preached the gospel. He preached
righteousness. Now turn to the passage that
Brother Randy read in the book of Jude. See if you can find
it again, right before the last book of the Bible. The short
book of Jude. Now, Jude, in this book, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, warns his readers of spiritual Christian
counterfeits. That's what he's doing here.
Preachers who claim to be Christian, claim to preach the gospel, claim
to follow Christ, but they're counterfeit. They're not saved. They try to pass themselves off
as believers, but they pervert and twist and confuse the gospel,
the true faith, and they try to dissuade people from the doctrine
of Christ and the grace of God. They're described in verse 11.
Look at Jude 11. Notice how they're described.
Woe unto them for they've gone the way of Cain. He keeps cropping. Well, what
is the way of Cain? Trying to come before God to
be saved, to be accepted, to be blessed based upon the works
of their hands. Claiming salvation by grace,
but really it's a cleverly disguised system of works. He says they
ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward. What was the
heir of Balaam? It was compromise. Compromising
the gospel. Oh, you know, I know there's
only one way of salvation, but there are other people who are
saved who don't know this. And then the perished in the
gainsaying of Korah. Remember what Korah did? He stood
against God's appointed prophet, Moses. He wanted a following
for himself. He says in verse 12, these are
spots in your feast of charity. Those are worship services. That's
a way of, he says, when they feast with you, feeding themselves
without fear. In other words, they don't aid
you in worship. They hinder you in worship. They
defile your worship. See, when you sit in a place
where the gospel is not preached, where it's a counterfeit Christianity,
they're not aiding you in worship. They're defiling your worship.
Clouds they are without water. The water of the word. Carried
about of wind, they change. Like a reed shaken in the wind.
They go with society. Modernize. That's a good word
for it. Well, we've got to keep up with
the times. Who said? Now, I'm not talking about the Amish,
you know, wearing beards and riding buggies. You know what
they actually do. They deify a culture and not
God. We live in this age and this
day, but the truth of the Bible does not change. You understand
that? It does not have to adapt to
our society. He said trees whose, whose fruit
withereth without fruit twice dead, plucked up by the root.
You know what he's talking about? They're, they're converts. The
people that follow them. No fruit say raging waves of
the sea, verse 13 foaming out their own shame. Oh, they can
speak powerfully and with authority wandering stars. Like movie stars. To whom is reserved the blackness
of darkness forever. And then look who comes up, verse
14, Enoch. Wait a minute, Jude, you're talking
about our day. Enoch was some 4,000 years before
this. Well, now Enoch applies, Jude
says, and that's the Holy Spirit speaking. And here's what Enoch
said, also Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied. That means
he preached of these. Enoch said something about in
the last days, there's going to be false prophets. That's
what, how did Enoch know that? Well, he was just a smart fella.
I mean, he was probably more of a genius than Einstein. No,
God revealed it to him. God told him. And here's what
he said, behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints. That's
talking about the second coming of Christ. Do you think Enoch
preached the first coming of Christ? Yes, I do. He pleased
God. He walked with God. He was a
man of faith. Hebrews 11, six, without faith,
it's impossible to please God. And those who please God, it
says, for he that cometh to God must believe that God is, God
is who he says he is. as he reveals himself in Christ
as a just God and a Savior through the blood and righteousness of
Christ, and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. That's not an earned reward, that's the reward of grace. Abraham
had it, but the reward Romans 4 was not reckoned of debt, but
of grace. You see, if you seek God's favor,
God's blessings, God's salvation in Christ, he'll reward you. But it's not what you earn, it's
what he's promised to give freely, unconditionally in Christ. So
that's what Enoch did. And then look at verse 15, Jude
15, God's coming with 10,000 of his saints to execute judgment
upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and all
of their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him, against God. Now that's the way of Cain. And
the irony of the way of Cain is this, you know, it's clearly
marked. You see, while these false preachers
appear to be sincere and offer up good works to God, they have
the wrong ground of salvation, the wrong ground of reconciliation
before God. They are full of pride, self-righteousness. They stumble at salvation by
God's grace in Christ because it will not allow them room to
boast in themselves. Abel saw it, Enoch saw it, and
later on we're going to see that Noah saw it. Turn back to Genesis
chapter 4. Now I think it's important for
us when we read about these men like Abel, Enoch, and later on
Noah, and we'll read about Abraham, I think it's important for us
to go back and look at the context in the Old Testament. Number
one, it's very enlightening and it shows us how the Bible fits
together. This is not just pieces of different
books just shoved together with no thought in mind. It all redounds
to the glory of God in Christ. But here's Genesis 4. You know,
Genesis 4 tells the story of Cain and Abel and then Cain is
cast out as a vagabond and God puts that mark on him and then
people write books and argue and debate and preach messages
on what is the mark of Cain. And that again, just like Enoch's
translation, takes their minds off the issue. I'll tell you
what the mark of Cain according to Jude was, seeking salvation
by your works. Now, if that's what you're doing
this morning, I guarantee you I can't find a mark on you, on your skin,
but I know that's the mark of Cain. And that's what it is. Go no further than that. And
then it speaks of Cain. See, here's what happened. The
fall of man brought sin into the world. Sin brought separation
from God, condemnation, the curse of the law, along with spiritual
and physical death. But God, in his sovereign, gracious
purpose, had already determined beforehand to redeem this fallen
world. How? By saving a remnant according
to his electing grace through a representative. A representative,
a surety, a substitute, one that he appointed, one who agreed
to do the work, and one who was able, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. And then God
established his way of salvation when he pronounced the curse
upon the serpent and upon the woman and upon the man. And remember,
he slew an animal and shed blood and made coats of skin. That's
mercy established upon justice through death and righteousness
imputed. The grace of God. Grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
It was true back then, it's true today. And it'll be true forever. That's God's way. The way back
to God is a way of grace through sacrifice, justice satisfied,
righteousness imputed, righteousness established, freely given in
his son, not by works of righteousness, which we do. All who come to
God seeking salvation, his way shall be saved. And therefore not all who are
fallen are left to themselves to walk alone in the vanity of
false religion and foolishness and sin. There are some who by
the power and grace of God come to Christ. He calls them his
sheep. He calls them his elect. He calls
them his church. We read about Cain. He refused. He was left to himself. That's
what happened to Cain. God left Cain to his own volition. If you want to talk about the
will of man and what it is naturally, look at Cain. And then we learned
about one who God blessed, graced with his power, Abel. If you
want to see a regenerate man, one who's born again by the spirit,
not by the flesh, not by the will of the flesh, not by the
works of the, look at Abel. There you go. Who made the difference
between Cain and Abel? Well, Abel was just a better
guy. No, and Abel would be the first one to tell you. That's
not true. Who made the difference? God did. Grace, grace, grace. Isn't that right? Now we come
to another sinner saved by grace. Enoch, he walked with God. You
know, in Genesis chapter four, the descendants of Adam really
is the way that it's recorded here in Genesis. They followed
two lines of worship. One through Cain, another through
Abel. Look at Genesis 4, look at verse
16. Look at Genesis 4, 16. It says,
Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, dwelt in the land
of Nod on the east of Eden. Cain knew his wife and she conceived. Now don't get bogged down on
where did Cain get it. He married his sister. That's
what Cain did. And it says, she conceived and
bear Enoch. Now that's another Enoch from
the line of Cain. That's not the Enoch that's the
man of faith. And Cain built a city and called the name of
the city after the name of his son Enoch. What do you think
Cain's heart was? He built a city, first city made
right there. And he made it a matter of pride.
I'm gonna call it after my son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born,
I read, verse 18, and I read, beget Mehugiel, and Mehugiel
beget Methuselah, and Methuselah beget Lamech. Now I've always
told you when you read these Old Testament genealogies, whether
you know how to pronounce these names or not, just say them with
authority so that nobody can argue with you. Now Old Testament genealogies
are not listings whereby we can measure time. There's a lot of
names left out. These are listed to make a point.
The biggest and the best genealogies, the point that's made there is
that's the line of Christ. And incidentally, he didn't come
through the line of Cain, he comes through the line of Seth,
which we'll see. But here's the point, look here,
verse 19, Lamech, this was the grandson of Cain. He took unto
him two wives. He started the wicked practice
of polygamy. There you go, Mormons. That's Lamex started out of his
pride. I've got two wives. The name
of one was Ada, the name of the other was Zilla, and Ada bared
Jabal, and he was the father of such a dwelling tents, and
of such as hath cattle, the ranchers, the farmers. His brother's name
was Jubal. He was the father of all the
handle, the harper, the organ, the entertainers, the movie stars,
the comedians. Verse 22, Zillah, she also bare
tubal cane, the instructor of every artificer and brass and
iron. That's like a blacksmith or like an artist. And the sister
tubalcon was Naamah, and Lamech said unto his wives, now listen
to this, Aid and Zillah, hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech,
hearken unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding and
a young man to my hurt. You see Lamech following his
father's footsteps, Cain. Lamech didn't see Cain's act
of murdering Abel as something bad, it's something to brag about.
Listen, somebody said something about me and I killed him. Somebody
did something to me and I killed him. And look at verse 24. He
says, if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech, 70 and
sevenfold. I'm gonna get my vengeance. following
in the line of Cain. But now look at verse 25. And
Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son, and called his
name Seth. The name Seth, think about it.
He was the one from whom, that was born, that came down. He's the appointed successor
of Abel. For God, she said, hath appointed
me another seed, a substitute instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. Now as it goes through here,
listen to it. It says in verse 26, And to Seth, to him also
there was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began
men to call upon the name of the Lord. You see the line of
Seth is identified not by Buildings and create and you know earthly
things that they construct and all of that and entertainment
and all that and earthly tech It's identified by their way
of worship now that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with building
cities or singing songs or or Being an artist or anything like
that what is saying the point is making is that the line of
Cain was they were connected to bound to this earth and what
man could accomplish and The line of Seth was identified. They called upon the name of
the Lord. Now, what is it to call upon the name of the Lord?
Go back to Abel. It's to bring the blood of Christ.
It's to plead the righteousness of Christ. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That right? What is
it to call upon them is to come to the God who justifies the
ungodly, a just God in a safe, pleading the righteous merits
of Christ imputed to me. That's what it is. But then go back to verse 21
of chapter five. There it is. The main contrast between the
line of Cain and the line of Seth. Now again, this doesn't
mean that every descendant of Cain could never be saved. And it doesn't mean that every
descendant of Seth was saved. But it is simply saying that
this is the spiritual identification of this line and that line. Seth
is the line. In fact, it's shown us in the
book of Luke that Seth was the line through whom Christ came. But here he says in verse 21
of Genesis, Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah. Methuselah. His name means death
shall bring it. Or it could mean God shall send
his death. Methuselah lived up to the time
of the flood. His name, in essence, was prophetic,
you might say. God's going to avenge himself.
God's going to bring wrath down. And it was when Methuselah was
born, it says in verse 22, Enoch walked with God after he beget
Methuselah 300 years and beget sons and daughters. All the days
of Enoch. Verse 24, Enoch walked with God.
He was not for God took him. So Enoch's walk with God seems
to be connected to Methuselah, this prophetic word of Methuselah. Methuselah died the same year
of the flood. And that takes us up to the days
of Noah. And the first thing we find out about Noah, he found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's the only way of salvation.
So Enoch's walk with God, pleasing God, speaks of God's sovereign
grace and power. It speaks of mercy based on justice
satisfied. It speaks of righteousness imputed. It speaks of redemption by the
blood. It speaks of reconciliation with
God through Christ. Enoch's walk with God speaks
of faith and repentance. Let me just read this one more
time and I'll close. Hebrews 11. Verse 6, without
faith. Now remember, faith has a foundation.
The Word of God, the promise of God, the Gospel. Remember,
faith has an object, the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith has an evidence,
a sinner begging for mercy from a holy God. Knowing that this
sinner deserves nothing but damnation and death, but pleading the blood
and righteousness of Christ. And without that, it's impossible
to please God. And those who come to God, they
must believe that God is who he says he is. He's holy, he's
just. Yes, he's merciful, but he's
got to be both a just God and a savior. And that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. What is our reward? It's
Christ. and all the blessings of mercy
and grace that we find in him by virtue of his merits alone. Isn't that right? All right.