Genesis chapter 5, and I want
to begin reading here what said this man. Genesis chapter 5,
and look here in verse 18. Jared lived 162 years in Begate,
Enoch. And Jared lived, after he Begate
Enoch, 800 years in Begate, sons and daughters. And all the days
of Jared were 962 years, and he died. And Enoch lived sixty-five years
and begate Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after
he begate Methuselah three hundred years, and begate sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were
three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with
God, and he was not, for God took him." Now you and I have
been studying in this book of Genesis. And one of the things
I think that we've noticed already, and we'll notice as we read and
study this book, and indeed the whole entire Old Testament, it's
what we call a progressive revelation. We began in chapter 3 of this
book in verse 15, and the Lord Himself prophesied of the Redeemer,
that He would be the woman seed, that He had bruised the serpent's
head, and the serpent's seed would bruise His heel. That's
all that's said of Him there. But as we advance through the
Scriptures, a revelation more about the Redeemer is revealed.
We come over to the book of Isaiah, for example, and we're told of
Him that He would be born of a virgin, that His name would
be called Counselor, and the mighty God, and wonderful, and
we're told there of His work, what He would do upon the cross,
and His death and His resurrection. And then we come over to the
New Testament, and He arrives. The seed of the woman that we
saw the revelation progress through the Old Testament, He arrives.
The fullness of the time has come, and the Lord Jesus is indeed
born of a woman. He is the seed of the woman.
And what does He do? He bruises the serpent's head.
He comes to destroy the works of the devil. You and I are partakers
of flesh and blood. He Himself likewise took part
of the same, born of a woman like you and I are, only without
sin. Why did He do that? To destroy
him who had the power of death. And we come here in this book,
and we get to see just a little of it. But as we progress through
the book, we find out the Holy Spirit is pleased to reveal more
and more about Him. And it's the same way with salvation,
the saving grace of God. It progresses in its revelation. When we first see it, we don't
see very much of it. For instance, when we first hear
the gospel, who preaches it to us? It was preached to our first
parents by God Himself. When they had fallen, God slew
these animals and He clothed them with the skin of those animals. That's the first gospel that
was preached to our fallen parents. God Himself preached it. He let
them know the only way He could justify them and make them acceptable
in His sight. was for innocent animals to die
and them be clothed with their skin. And they went out of the
garden and they told their sons, they told their children about
this, their children, and Abel believed them. Abel believed
that God could be approached unto and worshipped through faith
in a sacrifice. He believed that and he approached
God that way. Put this animal, this blood between
His guilt and a holy God. And you and I come to the New
Testament, and what do we find? We find this revealed so plainly.
The Apostle Paul said, having boldness, brethren, to enter
the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ. There it is, a full revelation
of saving grace. How do we approach Him to God?
Through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then here that
we've studied the last few weeks concerning public worship, then
began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Abel was slain and Seth seeded. Enos and his holy children began
to congregate one with another and call upon the name of the
Lord. What do we see revealed? We see public worship. Remember
we saw how Cain went out from the presence of the Lord? One
of the ways he did that was to lead the public assembly and
worship of the Lord's saints. So we see here also this morning
something else that's revealed. We're advancing, you see, in
this revelation. Here was a man called Enoch,
and what we're told about this man, something we're not told
before. He walked with God. There's no
doubt that Seth walked with God. His children walked with God.
But we're not told about that, aren't we? There's no doubt that
Enoch continued to approach unto God through a sacrifice. There's
no doubt that he continued to congregate with the Lord's people,
with the church to worship. But we're told this also about
this man. And we're told this about every
child of God. that he walked with God. So see, we have these three things
that we've learned, haven't we? We've learned how we approach
unto God to be accepted of Him through a sacrifice. We've learned
that we congregate with God's children to worship, and now
we're going to see that here was a man who walked with God. Now I want you to turn over with
me for just a minute in the book of Ephesians. Turn over here
to chapter 1. I want us to see that. These
three things are constantly spoken of in the New Testament. Look in Ephesians chapter 1.
What's the first thing that you and I are concerned with? The
first thing you and I are concerned with is being accepted of God. That's the first thing. We must
be accepted with God. What else matters if we're not
accepted with Him? And that's the first thing that
Paul mentions here in Ephesians chapter 1. Look here in verse
5. Acceptance. Abel was accepted
in that sacrifice. Look in verse 5 in Ephesians
chapter 1. God has predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself, according to
the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His, the glory
of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. That's what you and I are concerned
about. This is the beginning of the way to be accepted, and
there's only one place to be accepted, and that's in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And look in verse 7 what He quickly
adds, "...in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace." So there's where
we begin. There is where we begin. Acceptance
in the Lord Jesus Christ. A cleansing of His blood. Being justified by His grace
from all our sin. But He doesn't stop there. Look
over here now in chapter 1 and look in verse 15. After I heard of your faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, there's the beginning. There's the beginning. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And here,
look at this. And since I heard of your love
to all the saints. Now that's it, isn't it? That's
what happened to the church back in the Old Testament. That's
what happened to Seth and Enos and their children. They brought
up His sacrifice as they were taught to. They approached Him
to God. They were accepted of Him. And
then what happened to them? Their hearts were filled with
love, one for another. So what did they do? They began
to congregate with them of like minds. Why did they do that?
Because they loved one another. They loved one another. I told
you about a man that came to my house two or three weeks ago,
and he believes that not only is it not necessary in our day
to assemble as a church, but he believes it's sin to do so.
And when I asked him would he come and gather with us to worship
God, he refused. Well, you know, I kindly accused
that man this morning of not loving the saints of God. Because
if you love the saints of God, you'll assemble with them. You'll
assemble with them. They're black minds as you are. That's why the church assembled
when we first read about them in the Old Testament. And that's
why they assemble today. They love one another. Now look
at that right quickly. Look over here in chapter 2.
Look here at what's said of these saints. There's no reason they
love one another. There's no reason that they do.
Look in chapter 2, look here in verse 13 and verse 14. Now in Christ Jesus, you who
sometimes were afar off are made now by the blood of Christ, for
He is our peace, who hath made both Jews and Gentiles one. And he broken down the middle
wall of division between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments, containing ordinances. For to
make in himself of two one new man, so make in peace." See what
Paul is saying? All of the laws and all of those
ordinances and commandments that divided the Jews and the Gentiles,
the Lord Jesus has torn that wall down, taken it all away,
fulfilled all those commandments, all those promises, and everything
that would hinder a Jewish believer from having fellowship with a
Gentile believer has been taken out of the way. There is nothing
there to hinder them. And I tell you, when you can
take a Jew and a Gentile And they can sit down and love and
fellowship one with another. There's no reason Gentile believers
shouldn't be able to do that. It's all been taken out of the
way. Why? Because he said Christ has made
one new man. That's what the church is called.
One new man. And look at what else in verse
16 that he begins to say. and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you that were far off and to
them that are nigh. For through him we both, Jew
and Gentile, have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Every
believer here this morning has one spirit. You don't have one
Spirit and I have another Spirit. If you're a believer, you have
this one Spirit. That's our unity. We have the
one Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's been sent into your heart, been sent into my
heart. And we endeavor to keep the unity of this Spirit in the
bond of peace. And look what he goes on to say
in verse 19. Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners,
But you're fellow citizens with the saints. We're fellow citizens
of a heavenly country. We're in a kingdom and all of
us are citizens of that kingdom. That's a close union, ain't it?
That's a close union. We're going to the same heaven.
And look what else. And of the household of God. God has a household. And if you're
in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, you're a member of God's household. Whether you're Jew or Gentile,
bond or free, young or old, poor or rich, ignorant or educated,
if you're in Christ, you're of God's household. And look what
else he said in verse 20. We're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief cornerstone, and whom all the building fitly framed together,
groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. There's many bricks
in this building, but it's just one building. You have your rafters,
and you have your floor joists, you have your side walls, you
have your beautiful ointments, but it's all one building. And if God has set you in this
building, it's just one building. And look what he says here in
this last verse. "...in whom ye also are builded
together as the church and habitation of God through the Spirit." You
and I are gathered here this morning, assembled to worship
as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is here. The Spirit
of God is here. He inhabits His church. And lastly, look in chapter 3
and look in verse 15. Paul was speaking here, "...bound
his knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus, of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named." What is the church? It's
God's family. The one in heaven is His family,
and the church upon this earth, that's His family. And I tell
you what, if you don't want to gather with the Lord's family,
you've got a problem. You've got a problem. But He doesn't stop there. Remember
we said that we accepted in the Beloved? We have redemption,
forgiveness through His blood? But now look what He says here
in chapter 4. Look what he says in chapter 4. He doesn't stop
with our exceptions. He doesn't stop with our congregating
as believers. But look what he says in chapter
4, verse 1. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith
ye are called. See now what he does? He goes
to what you and I are going to look at for a few minutes this
morning. or walk, walk worthy of that calling that God has
called you into. How are we to walk? How are we
to walk? Well, He tells us there in verse
2, doesn't He? What kind of Lord has called
us? Well, we're told that He's meek and lowly in heart. Well,
look what He says. Walk with all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. That's the
way we walk. And look in chapter 5 in verses
1 and 2. Be ye therefore followers of
God, dear children, as dear children, and walk in love. Look what he says in chapter
5 and look here in verse 8. For ye were sometimes darkness,
but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk ye as children of light. Walk ye. Is God light? Then walk as God walks. Is Christ love? Then walk in
love. Now walk. So we see we have those
things. They begin to be revealed over
in the Old Testament. You come to the New Testament,
and there they are so plain. Now, let's look this morning,
back over here in our text in Genesis chapter 5. Let's look
at this just for a few minutes. Enoch walked with God. Isn't that amazing in and of
itself? Here you have a creature. walking in friendship with his
Creator. Now, brothers and sisters, that's
amazing when you think of that. You have a servant walking with
his Master in friendship and fellowship. You have a sinner
walking with his Savior. You have a student walking with
his Master. That in itself is amazing. It
just doesn't happen, does it? Not down here it doesn't happen.
But here in the spiritual realm, Enoch walked with God. Now here's the first thing that
we must see about this this morning, and we must see this. This man
who walked with God in and of himself was a mere man. And I'll go one step farther
than that. He was a fallen man. He was a sinner by his very nature. by his deeds and by his choice. You say, Bruce, there you go
again. Can't you ever get off of being a sinner? I cannot.
I cannot. If I'm to come here this morning
and you're to come here with me and receive any instruction
from this text and any comfort from it, then we must admit what
we are. We must own what we are. And
what are we? We're sinners, aren't we? You're
here this morning, perhaps, and you're lost. And you're without
God and without hope in this world. And you say, Bruce, what's
this got to do with me? Here was a man who walked with
God. How can I relate to that? Well,
you can relate to that this way. Here's a man who walked with
God, and there was a time in his life when he was just like
you. There was a time in his life
when he was without God, when he was unsaved, when he had no
hope. And that should encourage you
to say, if this man was just like I am, and he walked with
God, then that gives me some hope that I may walk with God. If I came here this morning and
I had to convince us that this was no mere man, that he was
some sort of a sinless individual, that he was some sort of an angelic
type person who was immaculately conceived in his mother's womb,
how would that help us? How would that help us? We need
to learn, first of all, that this man was just like we were. He was born and lived just like
you and I live. And yet he come to walk with
God. You see, I've got this problem.
And you've got this problem. It's a major problem. It's a
terrible discouragement to us. It gets us down sometimes. And
what is it? We're sinners. I was born in
sin. I struggle with sin even to this
very day in my bosom. There's a conflict there. Did Enoch have this problem? Was he as I am and as I'm sure
some of you will confess that you are? Well, look here with
me in a couple of places right quickly. Hold Genesis chapter
5 and look in Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Look in Ecclesiastes chapter
7. Go on by Proverbs and the next
book is Ecclesiastes and look here in verse 7. This is very
important for you and I first to realize this morning that
here was a man that walked with God, but he was no extraordinary
man. He was just like everybody else
when he was born and as he lived in this world. Look here what
is said of this man and all men. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse
20. There is not a just man just
before God, in and of Himself, upon this earth, that doeth good,
He does perfectly good. From the time He gets up in the
morning to the time He goes to bed, from the time He was born
into this world to the time He dies, His motives are perfect,
His thoughts are perfect, His words are perfect, His deeds
are perfect. There is no such man. that doeth
good and sinneth not. Was any of the exception? Absolutely
not. But look here, it goes farther
than that. Look in the ninth chapter. Look in the ninth chapter. A man may say, well, Bruce, nobody's
perfect. None of us are perfect. We sure
have people bragging about that, don't we? Oh, sure, I'm a sinner. Nobody's perfect. But what kind
of sinner was this man? What kind of sinner are we? Look
what he says in chapter 9, and look in verse 3. This is not
evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there
is one event unto all. Yea, also the heart, the essential
part of a man, the heart of the sons of men, is full of evil,
And madness is in their heart while they live, and after that,
they go to the dead. Now, you may say, well, I'm not
perfect, but the situation is worse than that. Our case is
worse than that. He says here, the heart is full
of evil. There's no room for good there.
It's full of madness towards God and towards man. And if God
did not restrain society, we'd kill each other. We'd kill each
other. We have a man that came into
this world by the name of Enoch. His father was a sinner. How
do you know that, Bruce? Because his father died. The
wages of sin is death, physical as well as spiritual. He died.
And Adam all died. This man come along and had a
son himself, Enoch did, and his son died. And the only reason
he didn't die, the Lord took him to heaven. He was a sinner. He was a sinner. That's what
I'm saying. He wasn't the exception to the rule. He came into this
world and he never did one good deed before God. His heart was
full of evil and madness while he lived. And this is the same
man that began to enjoy the company of a holy God. And enjoyed it
so much, he continued that company for 300 years. Now, I'm interested
in that. Now, you tell me he's an angelic
person. Tell me that he wasn't born like
I am. I'm not interested in that. I
can't relate to that. More power to the holy man. But
when you tell me he was born just like I am, he's a sinner
just like I am, by deed and by choice, just like I am, and yet
he walked with God. I'm interested in that. I want
to know about that. That's the first thing about
him. He was a mere man. He was a fallen man, he was a
sinner, and yet Enoch come to walk with God. Secondly, and
this brings us to this point, this man then must have experienced
a conversion. He must have experienced a change
in his life. You cannot walk with God and
have a heart full of evil. You cannot walk with God and
have a heart full of madness. There has to be a change. There
has to be a conversion. This man must have experienced
a great conversion. You say he was dead in sins?
Then he must have been given life. A dead man cannot walk
with God. He went from being an enemy of
God to the friend of God. You cannot walk with God and
be His enemy. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? This man went from being an enemy
of God, he was converted and reconciled to God. Bruce, how
do you know that? Because he went from one state
to another state. From a state of nature to a state
of a new creature. From a state of not knowing God
to being a friend. From walking according to the
course of this world to walking with God. There had to be a conversion,
a change. He went from being a lost sinner,
a condemned sinner, to being a safe sinner. Man that was justified
from all things. He went from having no love to
God. He went from having no desire
to God. No urgency to surrender himself
up to the Lord. He went from that and he experienced
such a conversion that his chief delight became to walk with God. Now that's a conversion, isn't
it? That's a drastic change in a man's heart. And you're here
this morning and you know something about the nature and the attributes
of God. And you know something about
your own sinful self. And you take God that's a way
up here, and you that's a way down here, and you bring you
two together to walk together in fellowship and friendship,
you know what a conversion that must take. We insist, we insist this morning
upon a conversion. upon a change, because the distance
between God, who is holy and high, and Enoch, who is fallen
and depraved, is so broad that there must be a bringing of those
two together. God, listen to me now, God must
condescend in redeeming love and goodness and make Himself
known to Enoch. Enoch cannot walk with a God
that he does not know. So God must condescend in great
love and make Himself known to Enoch. They cannot walk together
without being acquainted. Enoch must be lifted up out of
his state of nature and given a heart, given a spirit, given
a nature to enable him to walk with and enjoy this condescending
Redeemer. A man can read his Bible, and
should, and never walk with God. A man can come here this morning,
as you and I are, and attend the worship service, and never
walk with God. A man can argue for God, argue
the truth for God, and never walk with God. A man can pray
and never walk with God. For a fallen man to walk with
God, the poor man must experience a conversion Anything short of
that will not bring him to God or bring God to him. And who can affect such a conversion? Not man. Not man. When the Ethiopian can change
the color of his skin, and when the leper can change his spot,
then we'll talk about a man changing his own heart and giving himself
a new spirit. But he cannot. This conversion,
this change, must be effected by God Himself. A decision for
Christ will not make this conversion. Reformation will not make this
conversion. Baptism or church going will
not convert a man. It's a change that must be effected
by the Lord God Himself. And we see the beginnings of
this conversion, this change here in this man called Enoch. This is amazing. I saw this a
number of years ago. And then I read some commentaries
on it, and Mr. Bunyan agrees with me, and Mr.
Pink agrees with me. The Scripture says here that
Enoch walked with God after he begate Methuselah, 300 years. And it seems that there is a
time the Holy Spirit is saying that Enoch did not walk with
God. When did he begin to walk with
God? After he begot Methuselah. Methuselah's name is Adart Shechukah. At his death, the end Shechukah. That's basically what the Hebrew
definition of His name means. When He is dead, you shall see
the end. Now that's a strange thing to
name a baby in. And Mr. Bunyan and Pink said,
this is given to show us how God converted this man. One of the means that He used
to convert this man. He did not walk with God before
his son was born, but he walked with Him after he was born. What
was one of the things that brought that to pass? Well, can you imagine
being lost, being without hope, facing eternity? And you've got
a little infant child, and his name is, when he dies, the end
shall come. When he dies, there's a flood
coming. There's a dart coming, a poisonous
dart. Can you imagine how every time
that baby got sick, you'd think, oh no, is he going to die? Oh,
is the end coming? When he dies, the end shall come.
The little fellow is trying to walk and he stumbled and hit
his head. Your antic runs and grabs him. Is he alright? Is
he going to die? And he can get no rest because
of this. Every time he thought of his
little infant son. Oh, when he dies. And he got so guilty. And he became so disturbed in
his mind. He said, I can't take this anymore.
I can't live with this guilt against God anymore. This fear
is killing me. I have no rest in my soul. So
what does he do? He brings this sacrifice and
he comes. And he falls down before the
Lord. And he believes the Lord. And He's accepted in the Beloved.
And He's converted. This change comes. How does the
Scriptures define this change? Very clearly. Listen to these
Scriptures. Here's the way the Lord takes
in hand when He's ready to bring an elect soul into fellowship
with Him, to walk with Him. Here's what He says, the first
thing that He's going to do. Here's the way God converts a
man. Are you interested this morning in how God converts a
man? When God takes in hand to bring
a man to Himself and says, I'm going to walk with this man.
Well, here's what I must do for this man. Well, here's what the
Scripture says He does. I will take you from among the
heathen. I will gather you out of all
countries. I will bring you again unto your
own land. What is this? I will take you.
It sounds sort of violent, doesn't it? I will gather you. I will
bring you out. That's the first thing He does.
He comes and gets you. He finds you right where you
are. And He takes your heart. He captures
your conscience. He takes you from the kingdom
of darkness. And then what does He do? From
all your filthiness, And from all your idols will I cleanse
you." There's a cleansing. See, you can't walk with God.
It's impossible for you and I to walk with God with a guilty conscience. You cannot. You cannot walk with
Him and enjoy Him with a dread and a torment and fear upon your
conscience. If you walk with Him, you must
enjoy His presence. To enjoy His presence, we must
know that there's nothing between us and Him. So what does He do? He purges our conscience. He
washes our sins away. When we come to the New Testament,
what do we find about the purging of sins? The blood of Christ
purges your conscience for what reason? That you may serve the
living God. We can't walk with Him, can we?
We can't walk with them guilty. So what does God do? The first
thing He says, I've got to worship. I've took them from their sins.
I've afflicted their conscience. I've made them confront their
guilt. Now I'm going to wash them from their guilt. But He
doesn't stop there. Listen to what else He says.
A new heart will I put within you. What kind of a heart? Well,
He says this, I will give them that heart to know Me. That I am the Lord. That I am
their God. And they're my sons and my daughter.
And then you shall return to the Lord with all your heart. So see what he's doing? I tell
you, it's not too fun as he does that. You'll not walk down an
aisle, but on your bubble gum, when God takes in hand to bring
you to Himself to walk with Him. Because He afflicts the conscience.
That He may give rest to the conscience. He takes you and
brings you to Himself. And then He gives your heart
to know Him. He reveals Himself to your understanding. But He doesn't stop there. Listen
to this. A new spirit will I put within you, and I will cause
you to walk in My statues. There it is, isn't it? Enoch
walked with God. How can a man do that? God gave
this man a new spirit and caused him to walk in His statutes and
keep My judgments and do them. But He doesn't stop there. Listen
to this. I will put My Spirit within your new heart. Ain't that amazing? He gives
us a new heart. He gives us a new spirit. And
then He says, I will put My Spirit within you. He sends the Spirit
of His Son into your heart. And what happens? Why, He bears
witness to your new spirit, that you are a child of God. And then
you begin to cry, Father, Father. You can walk with a Father, can't
you? Enoch walked with a Father, his Redeemer and his Father.
But He doesn't stop there. Listen to this. I will give them,
not only a new heart and a new spirit, but I will give them
one way. As soon as He washes you and
gives you a new heart and a new spirit, He puts you on one way.
He makes you know only one way. And that's the way of truth as
it is in Jesus. But He doesn't stop there. Listen
to this. I will put my fear in their hearts. That's the beginning of wisdom.
I'll put my fear there. And what does that affect? Well,
this. And they shall never depart from me. Now brothers and sisters,
there's conversion. There's conversion. The first
conversion. We're converted many times in
our life, but there's that initial conversion. When a new heart
and a new spirit is given. When a man is cleansed, when
a man is born again, when God the Spirit brings a man to Jesus
Christ and to God by Him. And there's no walking with God
until this takes place. This is what happened to Enoch.
And I tell you, he never got over it. He never got over it. For 300 years, this man walked
with God. He never got over it. He never
got over it. And when the Lord takes in hand
to prepare our hearts to walk with Him, you and I will never
get over it either. We'll never get over it. You
and I have seen people that lasted a month, some lasted a year,
some a few years, but they finally got over it. They finally left.
But oh, if He's ever brought you and prepared you to walk
with Him, you'll never get over it. Here was a man who enjoyed
God for 300 years. and never got over it. Margaret Harris said, when I
saw the cleansing fountain open wide for all my sins, when I
saw that, she said, when I saw that, and she went ahead to say
this, though the way seems rough and narrow, And all I claimed
was swept away. My ambitions, my wishes, my purposes,
my earthly pleasures, it was all swept away. And ashes at
my feet they lay. Well, how do you feel now, Mrs.
Harris? What do you think now? Well, you know what she said?
I will praise Him. I will praise Him. Why did she
do that? Why could she praise Him even
though she saw her ambitions and wishes and desires burn to
ashes at her feet? Because she saw that fountain
open wide for all her sins. We'll never get over that, will
we? You'll never get over it. If He's revealed Himself to you,
if He's brought you to Himself, this living God, to know the
Lord Jesus Christ, you'll never get over it. Dear Wesley said,
I'm amazed by it. He said, I'm amazed by it, didn't
he? Depths of mercy can there be?
Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrathful bear? And me, the chief of sinners,
spare? When the Lord spared him, he
never got over it. He never got over it. Amazing
love, he said. How can it be that thou, my God,
hast died for me? He never got over it. Paul never
got over it, did he? The Lord met him on the Damascus
road, showed him how deceived he was, brought him to himself,
gave him a new heart and a new spirit, and Paul never got over
it. To his dying day, his song was, He loved me. He gave himself
for me, the Lord of glory loved me. I count my life as nothing. My life is not dear to me anymore.
I've lost all. Why I've lost all? For the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Brothers and sisters,
we'll never get over it. Oh, it's a glorious change. A
glorious conversion. That's what happened to this
man when the Lord brought him to himself. Oh, to walk with
God as Enoch did, one must be converted to God. One must be
converted to the ways of God. Nothing else will do it. Nothing
else will do it. Baptism won't do it. Reading
the Bible won't do it. Coming to church won't do it.
Reformation won't do it. We must be converted to God. Scripture says much about a believer's
walk. And I think you could take everything
in the Scriptures that's said about the believer's walk, and
you could put it under these four headings. There's four things
here the Scripture says about the believer's walk. The Lord
spoke to Abraham, and He said, Abraham, walk before Me. Walk before Me. That doesn't
mean walk ahead of Me. That means walk in My presence.
Walk in the light of My eyes. Walk where I can see you. That
means He's sincere. That means He's transparent.
Our walk before God is in the light. We're exposed. We're transparent to Him. If
I tell you I'm going to walk before you, that means I'm walking
exposed to you. I've got nothing in. No secrets
from you. Walk before Me. And then Moses told the children
of Israel, walk after the Lord your God. That speaks of obedience.
Walk after Him. Follow Him. Be followers of God
as dear children. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. Wherever the Lamb leads, we follow
Him. And then the Scripture speaks
of our union. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Walk in Christ. One with Him. As you received Him, how did
you receive Christ? Well, you received Him an empty
center, didn't you? And you received Him as your
fullness. You had nothing to offer Him
and you received Him as your all in all. He's the Savior and
you're the sinner. That's the way you received Him.
Walk that way. Walk in Him. Your acceptance,
your righteousness, your redemption, your sanctification, your everything. And then we have our text here,
Enoch walked with God, and what does that tell us? Fellowship.
That speaks of our communion. Truly, our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son. Let me make some general comments
on this and I'll close. First of all, imagine this, what
sweet times of fellowship Enoch had walking with God. Imagine that. Three hundred years. You wouldn't walk this long with
somebody that you didn't enjoy, would you? Sweet fellowship must
have been there between these two. What is it so sweet about
walking with the Lord? Why, the psalmist said, Lord,
in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hands there
are pleasures forevermore. Can you imagine the joy this
man felt in his heart at times just being in the presence of
the eternal God? Some of you have been there,
haven't you? You know what he felt. And secondly, imagine how
safe this man Enoch felt walking with God. I read to you over
in the book of Jude that this man Enoch lived in a very dangerous
time. He prophesied of those men around
him that were ungodly men, spoke hard speeches against the Lord,
and he withstood these people. He said, the Lord is coming,
And he's coming in judgment and he's going to convince you of
all your hard speeches. And you're sure, you're just
sure that this man suffered some snares and some persecutions. But can you imagine how safe
he must have felt? Because who was he walking with?
The living God. Who can harm you if God is with
you? I will not fear what man can
do to me." The apostle said, why? Because the Lord is with
me. And He has promised I will never
leave you or forsake you. Brother Clarence quoted that
verse this morning in Isaiah 43. When you go through the waters,
don't fear. Why? I am with you. I am with
you. When you walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, don't fear. Why? I am with you. My
rod and my staff. They'll comfort you. They'll
correct you and keep you. Oh, I tell you, brothers and
sisters, the safest place between the eternities is walking with
God. He walked with God. Imagine this. Imagine how this affected this
man as he walked with God. I'll have to confess this. There
are some preachers that have such influence upon me that when
I read after them, Especially when I hear one of them preach.
They have such influence upon me that I'm apt to quote them. I'm apt sometimes to act like
them. I'm apt, if I'm not careful, even to adapt some of their gestures.
Because I highly esteem them. When you highly esteem someone,
if you're in their company very long, you'll start acting like
them. You start talking like they talk and living like they
live. Can you imagine how this changed
Enoch's attitude as he walked with God? If you had the honor
and the privilege of walking with God for 300 years, don't
you think after a while you'd begin to act like Him? And think
like Him? And talk like Him? Oh, I thank
Him. Some dear man said that after
300 years Enoch was so conformed to the image of Christ that God
looked at him and said, you're nothing like anybody else down
there. You're more like heaven. I said, just come on up here
with us. You're transformed, aren't you? Look into Christ.
Look into His face. What happens? We're changed into
His likeness. Changed into His image. Enoch
walked with God. And imagine this. Can you imagine
what an enduring and strong grace that faith is? Because I read
to you that by faith, Enoch walked with God. Faith is an enduring
grace. Three hundred years it endured.
It never got weak. It grew stronger and stronger
every year. You and I may walk with the Lord. I may make it, I don't know.
He may bless me to make it 40 years. Or 50 years. But 300 years? Can faith hold
out that long? Yes, it can. And get stronger
and stronger. He was strong in faith for 300
years. Never doubted God. Gave glory
to Him. He lived by faith. He overcame
the weak flesh. He overcame this frowning world.
He overcame temptations and heaviness, being cast down, the rage of
Satan, the chastening of the Lord, the Lord hide in His face. Oh, what a trial that is. But
he still believed. And he lived believing for 300
years. You may think you've got little
faith and you think, man, it's just about gone. I've got so
little now. If I lose what I've got, you
never will if it's real, dear soul. The author and finisher
of your faith ever lives, ever lives to see that you just keep
on believing and keep on believing. We're not of them who draw back
unto destruction. But we're of them that believe
to the saving of their soul. And if you live in this world
for 300 years, if you've ever begun to believe, you'll never
quit. You'll never quit. Faith is a strong grace. And
consider this, and you have this here in verse 22 of chapter 5. Look at this. And look how the
Holy Spirit puts these things together. Enoch walked with God
after he begat Methuselah. 300 years and beget sons and
daughters. See how the Holy Spirit said
that? I like that. Any walk with God and beget sons
and daughters. What does that tell us? A man can walk with God and marry
a wife. Can't he? You don't have to go join a monastery
to walk with God and starve yourself half to death and to punish your
body. Is there any organization, is
there any religious group in our day that forbids their ministers
to marry? He was one of God's favorite
prophets. So favored to God, God took him to heaven across
the river of death. And he married a wife. And he
had intimate relations with her. You know what that means, don't
you? And still walk with God. Ain't that strange how the Holy
Spirit put that? He walked with God and begat sons and daughters.
Had several intimate relations with his wife. Loved her dearly. Had children. And raised a family. And walked with God. May have
worked a job. He taught his children. Spent
time to play with his children. And still walked with God. All
the racket around the house. You who've got children, you
know how loud it can be around the house sometimes. You know
how hectic it can get. Not only your kids, but sometimes
the neighbor's kids and the loved one's kids. And sometimes the
house is almost to chaos. Here's a man who lived in the
house and sometimes children. Can you imagine living 300 years,
how many kids you could have? I don't know how many kids. Then
you added the grandkids. And sometimes in Enoch's house,
things seem so hectic and almost out of control. And what's he
doing? Walking with God. Walking with
God. Loving his wife. Loving his children. Down on his all fours, riding
little Enoch Jr. on the floor. Look at that man. Ain't he silly? Playing like
a kid. What's he doing? He's walking with God. He's walking
with God. You can walk with God, brothers
and sisters, and live in this world, enjoy one another's fellowship,
the intimacy between a man and his wife. You can walk into this
world and raise your children and work a job and go shopping
and still walk with a living God. You don't have to be some angelic
type person. You can be just what you are
by faith in the Son of God. You can live and enjoy life and
enjoy God's creatures and enjoy Him at the same time. God grant
us to walk with Him as He granted Eden. Let's pray.