first book of the Bible, the
book of Genesis, and chapter 5, Genesis chapter
5. This is a most neglected chapter
in God's Word. It's mostly just recording names
and numbers of years that they lived and I suppose the most
prominent statement in the whole chapter that occurs eight times
is the statement, and he died. And he died. Eight times. But there's one fella in here
that didn't die. And his name is Enoch, a godly
man. And I want us to read three text
this morning, three scriptures. And the first one is here in
Genesis 5, verses 18 through 24. And this passage is about
three people. It's about Enoch's father, Jared. It's about Enoch himself. And
it's about Enoch's son, Methuselah, three generations. So let's read
it. Genesis 5. verse 18. And Jared lived in hundred 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 And Enoch walked with God after he
begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were
three hundred sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with
God, and he was not, for God took him." Now the second text
is in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews chapter 11, This
one verse, Hebrews 11. We'll be referring to all three
of these texts as we go along. Hebrews 11, verse 5. By faith, Enoch was translated. that's an interesting word, transported,
transferred. By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony that he pleased God. And the third text is in
the little epistle of Jude which is right before the revelation,
just one chapter, Jude verses 14 and 15. Jude 14, and Enoch also, the
seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, and the these he's
referring to are the descendants of Cain and the error of Balaam and the
gainsaying of Korah, all false religionists. Enoch prophesied
of these saying, behold, the Lord cometh. with 10,000 of his
saints, what's he coming for? To execute judgment upon all
and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their
ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, of all their
hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. So reading in those three places,
we'll talk a little this morning about the man Enoch. Not nearly as much is said in
scripture about this man as is said about many others. And yet,
though the record of scripture concerning him is brief, it is full. It is complete. The facts are very clear. Nothing
more needs to be said than is said. And that is the beauty
of the Bible to those of us who believe it, to be inspired. It is the inspired, inerrant
word of God. We might read some places that
are especially convicting and say, I wish it hadn't said that,
but it did. Other places were left hanging
and say, I wish the Bible had said more about that, but it
didn't. The beauty is that the Bible says exactly what and exactly
all God meant it to say about everything and everybody. So as we come to talk about Enoch,
I want to consider four things. One, the person of Enoch. Two,
the preaching of Enoch. Three, the path of Enoch. And
four, the promotion of Enoch. So we're going to talk a few
minutes about these four things. Number one, the person of Enoch. What kind of fella was he? Well,
there are two men with this same name in these early chapters
of Genesis. In the previous chapter, chapter
four, after Cain slew Abel and declared himself the enemy of
God and the enemy of his brother, who
was approved of God, The scripture records Cain's descendants beginning
in chapter four and verse 17. And Cain knew his wife and she
conceived and bare Enoch. Here's another boy named Enoch.
And he built in a city and called the name of the city after the
name of his son, Enoch. This is Cain's side. And he has
not only a son he named Enoch, but he builds a city and names
the city Enoch. And by the way, this is the first
city in human history. And this is of great significance
when you study the principle of a city through the Bible.
God's city is his people. Here we've no abiding city. We're
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. We desire a better country. Like Abraham, we are in search
of a city whose builder and maker is God. We have no walled protection
in this world. God's people don't. We have no
iron gates protecting us. But John saw the city, God's
city, the city of saints called the holy city, the new Jerusalem
coming down from God out of heaven. Now that wasn't a whole bunch
of buildings, skyscrapers and streets and lights. No, it was
a people. It was his people. John saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven.
That is having its origin in God in heaven. And it appears
to John not as a literal city, but as a bride adorned for her
husband. That's who the church is, that
who his people are. So God's city is his bride, his
people. Each one in every generation
longing for an existence free from any taint of sin. That's
where our Enoch dwells. But this Enoch of chapter 4 is
Cain's son, who has his own city, which is very prosperous, popular,
and praised in the world. And this is the environment in
which godly Enoch lived. Not only was it a time when following
God was not popular, speaking of God was not proper, And in
the minds of most, mention of God should not even be permitted.
Well, that's not so different from our world today, is it?
Not only is it not popular to follow God, it is not proper
in a cultured society, they say. And many prefer that the mention
of God should not even be permitted. So, things don't change so much. We're pretty much where Enoch
lived. This is what he lived with. This is what we live with.
Even in the realm of religion, flesh exalting, flesh pleasing,
this is Cain. But Enoch did not live, our Enoch
did not live to please men. He did not live to please self.
He lived to please God. And the text that we read in
the epistle of Jude said that he was the seventh from Adam. That don't mean he was the seventh
individual man in the world, but it means the seventh generation
from Adam. And you can follow that early
in Genesis 5. There was Adam, Seth, Enos, Canaan,
Mahalaleel, Jared, and the seventh is Enoch. Most of you know the
significance of the number seven in the scriptures. We've talked
about it a lot. It's completeness. It's all God
has purposed. And so Enoch, representative
of God's people in an ungodly world, is the seventh. God will accomplish the full
salvation of his people. Not one can perish. Enoch is one of two men who lived
that left this world without dying. He and Elijah the prophet. Enoch is one of two men of whom
the scripture says he walked with God. Noah walked with God
and Enoch walked with God. This man Enoch is the only man
in scripture apart from the Lord Jesus himself, of whom Enoch
is a type, he's the only one that the scripture says he pleased
God. No other son of Adam, just Enoch. So he is an extraordinary individual
from whom we have much to learn. He walked with God. He pleased
God. He escaped death. the person
of Enoch. Now I hope those specifics about
his person will get our attention, open our eyes and minds and hearts
to see the value and pursue the value of such a man as Enoch
in this world, his person. Number two, the preaching of
Enoch. We're given specifically what
his message was in the text that we read in Jude verse 14 said
and Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied that means he
preached of these and of course we already said that these being
the false prophets he just exposed in the earlier verses all the
way back to verse 4 in Jude called certain men ordained to condemnation. Ungodly men denying the only
Lord God in our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jude associates them in verse
11 with Cain and Balaam and Korah. And in verse 12 he calls them
spots. Symbolically spots of leprosy. Sin. Spots in your love feast. Talking to believers. That is
their They're poison in your fellowship. And in verse 13,
Jude speaks of their shame. Not shame which they hide, but
shame which they proudly display and glory in. And he announces
their end, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. So for those who don't believe
in hell, I promise you, one second after they die, they will believe
in it. They'll be there. So Enoch's preaching is to these,
verse 14, and here's the message. Here's the sermon he preached.
He said in Verse 14 here in Jude, Behold, which means look, listen
up, pay attention, hear me, and hear me well. Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of his saints. Not ten thousands
singular, but ten thousands plural. An indefinite number. He's coming, verse 15, to execute
judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them
of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,
and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against Him, that is, against God. Enoch preached that judgment
is coming on this wicked and ungodly world. And his message
was no more received then than it is now. It wasn't easy to
go against the grain and not compromise God's Word. No doubt
he was told, as I've been told, if you'd leave off certain subjects
you'd have a lot more success. But Enoch wouldn't do it. He
wouldn't do it. He told the truth. And those
to whom Enoch preached, and also our generation today, is described
further in verse 16. These are murmurers against God's Word. They murmur
against God's Word. They're complainers against God's
Gospel. walking in their own lust. We'll interpret it to suit us. And their mouth speaketh great
swelling words. This ought to be about me. Praise
me. Having men's persons in admiration
because of advantage. Let's cater to one another and
just forget about God. Let's cater to one another. Pat
one another on the back. Well, Enoch preached coming judgment
upon the world of ungodliness. Notice in verse 15, we've read
a couple of times already. He sure did not spare that word
ungodly. He said it four times. And their
chief end is to speak against God. That's ungodly. Now see this last statement. in verse 15, which ungodly sinners
have spoken against him. Judgment is coming. Enoch preaches
it to his generation. We're to believe it and preach
it to our generation. Judgment is coming on this ungodly
world. And we're considering Enoch as
an example of what it means not to be part of this ungodly world. Enoch is convinced of coming
judgment apparently by revelation from God. That's the only way
anyone is truly convinced. You can ask a whole lot of people,
do you believe the Bible is true? Yes. Do you believe everything
the Bible says is going to happen is going to happen? Yes. But
to believe that in the heart And to live in light of that
coming to pass is another matter. But Enoch had believed this because
he had received this as revelation from God. That's the only way
any of us truly believe God, truly believe the gospel, truly
believe in Christ. Dr. Caldwell used to say salvation
is by revelation. It's not by decision. People
talk other people into making a decision. It's not by joining
the church. It's not by turning over a new
leaf. It's by revelation. Until God catches up with you
somewhere, sometime, makes it known in your heart what a corrupt
being you are and how much you deserve the judgment of God,
and then points you to His dear Son. who shed his blood on the
cross, quickens you to life. Then and then only do you have
any hope. So he received this from God.
Not that he didn't believe before that judgment was coming. He
did. But back into our Genesis text here now, I want to show
you something. Something happened at the birth of Methuselah when
Enoch was 65 years old. The Lord showed him, and this
is why he named the baby Methuselah. And what that word means, what
that name means is, when he is gone, it will come. The Lord assured Enoch that judgment
will come when this child you just had dies. Not before, not
after. Now we can see God's patience
and God's long suffering in that this child Methuselah lived longer
than any man in history. 969 years. That's what Genesis
5, 27 here says. 969 years, oldest man ever. Now, if you calculate the years
in the next few verses, and we're not going to really have a math
class here, but I am just going to show you this plainly. It's
right here. Methuselah verse 25 is 187 years old when his
son Lamech is born. Verse 28, 182 years later Noah
is born. 187 and 182 is 369. So Methuselah is 369 years old
when his grandson Noah is born. Chapter 7 and verse 6 says that
Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. Well, his grandfather Methuselah
was 369 when Noah was born. And now 600 years later, which
would be 969, Methuselah died and the flood came. That's exactly
when God said it would be. And the Lord showed this to Enoch
when Methuselah was born. Now Enoch did not know it would
be 969 years away. Oh no, he didn't know that. He
did know what God said to him. When this boy is gone, it'll
come. And he named the baby accordingly,
Methuselah. When he is gone, it shall come. Talking about the judgment. Enoch
didn't know how long it would be. Certainly I don't believe
he ever imagined it would be as much as 969 years. I can imagine as Methuselah as
a baby and was growing up, his father Enoch with this prophecy
not only in his mind and his heart from God, I can imagine
every time little Methuselah got sick or got a cold, Enoch wondered,
is this it? Is it time? He didn't know when, but he did know it's coming.
And that's where we are this morning. We don't know when,
but we do know judgment is coming on this world. Christ will return.
Now this was Enoch's preaching and it's a much needed message
today. Judgment is coming. And I know you hear this ever
before you turn. Some people just say, well, boy,
I sure believe we're right near the end of time. We're sure near
right near the end of time with all this kind of stuff. Well,
I don't know about that, but I do know there is an end of
time. And we hear, well, you know,
God's not going to put up with this much longer. Well, God is
not going to put up with this much longer. Judgment is coming. Was Noah's preaching? Was Jeremiah's
preaching? It was Jonah's preaching? It
was the preaching of all the prophets. Judgment is coming. That was his message. So there's
the person of Enoch and the preaching of Enoch. Now I want us to consider
thirdly the path of Enoch. How did he walk in this world
of which he knew judgment was coming? I'm going to tell you
how he walked, believing that judgment was coming. The answer is in our text in
Genesis chapter five, verse 22. He walked with God. That's how he walked. He walked
with God. This is, there's so much implied
and so much we could be said about this simple yet profound
statement, Enoch walked with God, not just walked after God
or not just walked in the ways of God, but he walked with God. It implies first a reconciliation
has been made. At one time, Enoch walked as
did we all according to the course of this world. Ephesians 2, 2, among whom also
we all had our conversation in time past in the lust of the
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Ephesians
2, verse 3. There was a time Enoch walked
that way, like we all did. And I assert those who deny having
ever been in that predicament are still in that predicament. What happened? Quoting from Ephesians,
the very next verse, 2-4, but God, but God. You see, you're turning over
a new leaf is not the issue. if there's not a but God in your
life. I was going one direction, but
God. If there's not a but God in your
life, you're in trouble. Enoch's walking with God presupposes
a reconciliation to God wrought by God. Secondly, walking with
God implies agreement with God. The prophet Amos asked the question
in Amos 3.3, can two walk together except they be agreed? Enoch is in agreement with God's
way, God's works. And notice it's not God walked
with Enoch. in his fallenness, in his sinful
and selfish intelligence and will. No, they weren't walking
Enoch's way, but Enoch walked with God. He was in agreement
with God's way. Agreement. Third thing, walking
with God implies fellowship, going the same direction, communing
together. Walking implies patience, not
running, but walking. Walking with God implies no self-will. Enoch never walked on ahead of
God. He never jumped out ahead like these birds we've talked
about in the Bible class and set a date when this thing was
coming, when this judgment would have been foolish. And we've
talked about that concerning the founder, the Jehovah's Witness,
and the Seventh-day Adventist, and many other quacks in our
day and time have set dates and said, Christ is returning on
this date. Well, he never has on those dates.
The scripture said he'll come in such a time as you think not.
They won't know. So Enoch wasn't that dumb. He
never run ahead of God. He never lagged behind God. He
walked with God. And his heart cry was, Lord,
I don't want to get ahead of you. I don't want to get behind
you either. I want to walk with you. And
then to walk denotes progress. It may be slow walking, but it
is progress. Enoch would say this to us, regardless
of what you may think, walking with God will get you everywhere
right on time. Now really only Christ fulfilled this in perfection,
of whom Enoch is a type. Christ said in John 8, 29, I
do always those things that please my Father. I'm one with Him in
purpose, in practice, in progress, in perfection. The Hebrews 11
text says that Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God. It don't matter what the world
says, God said I'm pleased with him. You say, well, was not Enoch
a sinner? Oh, yes. Then how could God be
pleased with him? Only in Christ. Remember what
he said of his son. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. So Christ in Enoch pleased God. And Enoch in Christ walked with
God. The path he walked. And the fourth
thing we'll be through, the promotion of Enoch. Genesis 5.24 said he
was not, for God took him. Hebrews 11.5 said Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found. Someone said about this that
Enoch walked with God one day, and after 300 years of walking
with God, said it was late in the evening. And the Lord said
to him, Enoch, it's getting late. We've walked a long way today.
We've come so far. We're much closer to my house
than we are to yours. Just come on home with me." And
Enoch did and never came back. That's how it happened. That's
how it happened. This is such serious business. Most everybody leaves by way
of the grave. Enoch did not. But we're all
leaving here. Two men standing and talking
on the street corner one day. They were talking about all the
troubles and the struggles heartaches and heartbreaks. Finally, one
of them said, when it's all done, just what is there to life in
this world anyway? The other one was silent for
just a moment, and then he walked on down the street, walked on
outside. In a few days, the same two run
into each other again, And one said, hey, a few days ago, I
asked you a question, and you never answered me. And the other
fellow said, I answered you. The other one said, no, you didn't.
You just walked away without saying a word. And the other
man said, that was my answer. Here one minute, gone the next
without a word. This life is so uncertain. Death
is so certain. But for the child of God, it's
not really death. John 11, 26, Jesus said, And
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Never die. Some years ago, I'll
give you this and I'll be through. There was a news story. A man
and his wife lived in a place somewhere in the country, this
country, and their property, their house and property, backed
up to a national forest. I mean, just miles of wooded
land behind their house. And they'd walk every day several
miles, certain trail part of the way, an old logging road
part of the way, and on to another trail and circle back around
and back to the house. And one day they were walking
and something off the trail caught the man's eye. And he stepped
off the trail into the woods and said to his wife, you go
on ahead, I'll catch up. Well, he said it wasn't more
than five minutes until he came back onto the trail and started
walking. And he stepped his pace up a
little bit and he didn't see her. Round the curve, didn't
see her. kept on, didn't see her. Finally,
he got to the house, went in, she wasn't there. He started back down the trail,
hollered for her. Finally, he went back to the
house and called the police, law enforcement. And the story
was for several days, there was a thorough investigation and
not a clue. She was never found, never heard
from. And the story went after that. Every time the man would tell
the story, he would say with tears in his
eyes, those last words never leave me. I wake up in the night hearing those words. You go on
ahead I'll catch up And he said I'm still trying to catch up
with her and one day I will This morning if you know the
Lord you can say with Enoch and we can say To all the dear Saints
we've known in this life. I God has been so good to me. I've known some of the and been
privileged to fellowship with some of the greatest men of God
this world has known who've lived in the last 50, 75 years. And they're saints of God sitting
in the pews, precious elderly people and some young people.
And this morning, as the Lord's people, we can just say to all
of them, You go on ahead, I'll catch up. And thank God one day we will. We will. What an example Enoch
is for us. How beautiful and how blessed
to walk with God through troubles, through heartaches, through sorrows,
In spite of what the devil says, in spite of what anybody says,
in spite of how we feel sometimes, to just keep on walking. And
some glad day after a while, we'll just walk on home with
him, be forever with him. Oh Lord, make us like Enoch. Make us like Enoch. Let's stand
together.