The deepest stroke that pierced
him was the stroke that justice gave. I don't know of a more
poignant line in any song we ever sing. What a blessing, people
meeting together who believe in and rejoice in that message. Special. Turn back to Hebrews
chapter 11. I've entitled this message, How
Enoch Pleased God. Now we read the account of Enoch
in Genesis chapter five. He is one of two men who never
saw physical death. He walked right into heaven. He never closed his eyes in death.
He walked right into heaven. Elisha did as well. Now, look at God's testimony
concerning this man in verse 5. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found. I imagine
it was time for him to come home that day. People said, where's
Enoch? They might have sent out a search party. Where is he?
But he was not found. He went straight into heaven. because God had translated him. For before his translation, he
had this testimony. This is God's testimony concerning
this man Enoch. He pleased God. Pleased is in the perfect tense. Enoch pleased God perfectly. There was nothing he could do
to become more pleasing. There's nothing he could do to
be less pleasing because this was already accomplished. Enoch
pleased God. Now if you and I believe the
gospel, God is completely pleased with us. I think about that. If you believe
the gospel, God, the God of the Bible, the Holy God is pleased
with you. And He can't become any more
pleased with you than He is. Turn to Genesis 5. Let's look
at that account briefly. Beginning in verse 18. And Jared lived 160 and two years
and he begat Enoch. And Jared lived after he begat
Enoch 800 years and begat sons and daughters and all the days
of Jared were 960 and two years and he died. Somebody says, how
did they live that long back then? I don't know. But they
did. But they did. Verse 21. And Enoch lived sixty and five
years and begat Methuselah. Do you know who Methuselah is?
He's the oldest man to ever live in the Bible. He lived to be
969 years old. And right after he died, the
flood came. Now look what verse 24 says. And Enoch walked with God. And he was not. For God took
him. And the same thing was said of
Noah. Look in Genesis chapter 6 verse 9. These are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations. Noah too was well pleasing to
God. This is God's testimony. You
know, I remember when I was young, I used to read passages of scripture
like that. I just thought it was just different
back then. You know, they could be a lot better than we can today. They didn't have the temptations
we have today. They didn't have the exposure. That's all that
I'd say. It says Noah was a just man. Justified. And perfect in his
generations. And Noah walked with God. Now what is said of Noah, what
is said of Enoch, is true of every single believer. Every
believer walks with God. If you are a believer, you walk
with God. Now, Enoch was just as sinful
as you and I are. You believe that? So whether we believe it or not.
We have a tendency to think Enoch was just so good, he just walked
into heaven. But that's not really the scriptural teaching. It was
by faith Enoch did this. And Enoch was a part of this
description of man in Genesis chapter six, verse five. Look
at it while you're there. And God saw that the wickedness
of man, that's every man, You know, the whole Bible is actually
understood in this context. You don't begin to understand
the scriptures until you see this about yourself. And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that
every imagination, he's not even talking about the action to now.
Everything that went on up here that nobody could see, but God. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil, nonstop, continually. That's me, that's you, and that
is Enoch. Yet the scripture says he walked
with the living God. Now for a man to walk with God,
there's two things that have to take place. First, he has
to have no sin. God's not going to walk with
somebody who has sin. He has to have no sin. And the only way that can take
place is for Christ to put away that sin so that it is no more. And that's exactly what he did.
He was manifested to take away our sins. John says, in him is
no sin. If I'm in him, I have no sin. Fit for fellowship with God. And that's true of every believer. Something else I need. I need
to have the capacity to walk with the living God. And that
is given when God gives us a new nature, the new birth. It's called
in 2 Peter 1, 4, partakers of the divine nature, a nature that
can have fellowship with God. That's the spirit that worships
God. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit, the Holy Spirit, a new spirit, and truth. No worship
apart from the truth. But I have to walk with God.
First, I can't have any sin. None at all. And second, I have
to have the capacity to walk in fellowship with God. Listen
to this. To be God's friend. Put you on that. To be a friend
of God. What is said of Abraham? He was
called the friend of God. What was said of Moses? He spake
face to face with the Lord as a man speaketh with his friend. Now listen to this. The Lord
said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends. If you're a believer, you're
the friend, the personal friend of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you are my friends if
you do whatsoever I've commanded you, if you believe the gospel. Now, this is true of every believer. Every believer is the friend
of God. You see, I have no sin to bar
that friendship. And I have the capacity to be
his friend in the new birth. Now Amos made this statement
that I think it's so important for us to remember. He said in
Amos chapter three, verse three, how can two walk together? Enoch
walked with God. Noah walked with God. Every believer
without exception walks with God. How can two walk together
except they be agreed? If I walk with God, I'm in complete
agreement with God. I'm in agreement with who he
says he is. I'm in agreement with all of
his glorious attributes. I love him as he is. I love his
holiness. I love his sovereignty. I love
his justice. I love his love. I love his omnipotence. I love his graciousness and his
loving kindness. Everything with regard to God,
I'm in agreement with. When I hear what the Bible declares
with regard to Him, I say, yes, that's who He is. I know Him
and I'm in agreement. I'm in agreement with what God
says about me. I'm in agreement with what He
says about me before I was saved. I just read about it in Genesis
chapter 6 verse 5. And I'm in agreement with what he says about
me after I'm saved. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus.
I'm still in and of myself sinful, but I'm God's friend. I stand
just before God. I stand perfect in God's sight. God is well pleased with me. You say, how can you say something
like that? because he's well pleased with
his son, Jesus Christ. And if he's well pleased with
Christ, he's well pleased with me. We're in agreement with what
God says about his son. He's altogether lovely. He's
the only righteousness. He's the fairest of 10,000. We're
in complete agreement with everything God says about his son, Jesus
Christ. I love it when he said, this
is my beloved son. In whom? And I love the way he
says in whom. I'm glad he didn't just say with
him. But he said in whom because he's speaking of everybody that's
in him. In whom I am well pleased. Now this man Enoch, look back
in verse 24. And Enoch walked with God and
he was not. He never died for God took him. Now, we have two references to
Enoch in the New Testament. Would you turn with me to the
book of Jude? That's the little one chapter book right before
the book of Revelation. Jude. Verse 14. And Enoch also The seventh from
Adam. He wants to let us know, this
is the ink I'm talking about. The one that walked right into
heaven. He was the seventh from Adam. And Enoch also, the seventh
from Adam, prophesied of these. Now, let me say this, this is
not recorded in the Old Testament. What Jude tells us is not recorded
in the Old Testament. But God the Holy Spirit revealed
it to Jude when he was writing this book. This is how we know
what he had to say. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. While this is not in the Old
Testament, he said it in the Old Testament because God said
he said it. Now Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these. These what? Well, what's he talking
about in the context? It's these false prophets. That's
what the book of Jude has more to say about these false prophets. And Enoch testified of these,
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh. Isn't that what the Old Testament
is about? Somebody's coming. The Lord cometh. with 10,000 of his saints talking about his
second coming. And here's why he's coming to
execute judgment upon all. Now, when the Lord came, that's
exactly what he did. He executed judgment. Everybody
he died for was justified. Everybody who stood before God
on their own was condemned and judged. He came to execute judgment. Oh, the gospel is so just. It's
so righteous. It's so glorious. The righteousness
of God. And to convince all that are
ungodly among them. Now that word ungodly is irreverent.
Irreverent. No reverence for God. He came
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
irreverent deeds, which they have ungodly committed and of
all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him. He's talking about the preaching.
He's talking about their deeds and their preaching. This is
what he had to say. And then we have this passage
in Hebrews chapter 11. Turn back there. Now, it's important for us to
know that Enoch did not just walk into heaven. If I walked
into heaven the way I am right now, it'd ruin heaven. Enoch was changed. He was translated. I love that word. He was translated. He was given a glorified body. He never experienced death. All
of a sudden, he had a glorified body. And he walked straight
into heaven. Now the faith Enoch had was already
described when it says, the just shall live by faith. He had that
faith. The just shall live by faith.
He had the same faith Abel did. Remember how Abel came into God
with the offering that testified of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the way he came. He would come no other way. He
had the same faith. He had the same understanding.
But look what it says in our text. By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. And I love this addition that
the writer of the Hebrews gives us that we don't see in Genesis.
He was not found. I love thinking about this. He
walked into heaven and I reckon it was time to come home. Where's
Enoch? I don't know. He had a wife.
He had kids. And what happened to Enoch? And they went looking
for him. They sent out a search party
to find Enoch. Enoch was a well-respected man. I have no doubt about that. And
people, what happened to Enoch? He was not. For God took him. Because God had translated him,
for before his translation, before he was glorified, before he was
changed, and he was changed. Can you imagine just all of a
sudden you are who you are and all of a sudden you are without
sin, you are glorified, you are perfectly conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ. All of a sudden, boom, he was
who he was and then he was changed. But before that change, Before
that translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. Now, somebody says, how? That's
a good question. How? How could a man like that
be pleasing to God? Our text says he pleased God.
Now we know that God is well pleased with his son. This is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And you know a scripture
that I find so, I wish I could talk about it the way it ought
to be talked about, but Isaiah 53 says, it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. It pleased the Lord. Now that's
not some kind of sadistic enjoyment of His pain, you know that, but
yet the word used is it pleased the Lord. You see the cross is
so glorious. It pleased the Lord to do this.
This is God's eternal purpose. God was completely satisfied
by what He did. It pleased the Lord. to bruise him. Every attribute
of God was satisfied in the death of Christ. Ain't he pleased God? Because God was pleased to crush
his son in his place. That's why Enoch pleased God. You know, Samuel said, it pleased
the Lord to make you his people. Well, that's how Enoch became
his people. It pleased the Lord. Paul said,
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace, that happened with Enoch. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. You know, somehow Enoch
heard the gospel. I don't know how, maybe God preached
to him directly, I don't know, but he heard the gospel. It pleased
God by the foolishness of what we're doing right now to save
them that believe. There's a scripture in 1 Corinthians
12, where it says, God has set the members, every one of them
in the body as it has pleased him. Anywhere God was pleased
to put him. And me and you are where God
has pleased to put us. Enoch pleased God. God was perfectly
pleased with him, but look at verse six, but without faith, it is not highly unlikely, not
improbable without faith. It is impossible. And do you hear those words?
Let them sink in. Without faith, it is impossible
to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Now we have a tendency to think
of Enoch and his walk as being so pleasing to God that he just
walked right into heaven. That would be contrary to the
gospel. That's not the case. It was through
faith in Christ that Enoch pleased God. Now, do you believe that
Jesus Christ is the son of God? Do you believe he's the Christ?
Do you believe he's equal to the father, the second person
of the Trinity? Do you have the same faith that
Paul did when he said, I know whom I have believed and I'm
persuaded that he is able. Are you persuaded of his ability
to save you without any help from you? You don't need to make any contribution.
You don't need to add anything to what he has done. You believe
that he is all in salvation. You believe that. Do you know whom you believed
and you believe he's able to keep that which you've committed
to him, the salvation of your soul and your salvation? Hands
off. He did it all. My fingerprint
is not on there anywhere. He did it all. I trust him only. I have no confidence in anything
else. You believe that? You know what? You are pleasing
to God. God looks at you and says, and
I wouldn't say this if the Bible doesn't teach it, I'm scared
even saying it, but if you are a believer, God looks at you
and he says, I am pleased with you. I couldn't be any more pleased
than I am. Perfect in Christ Jesus. 1 John 4, 17 says, As He is, so
are we in this world. Question, is He pleasing to God? Is God well pleased with Him?
That is how well pleased He is with every believer. Verse 6, But without faith it
is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God, and
that's what people who believe do, they come to God. They come to God. The Lord said,
No man cometh to the Father but by Me. But we come to the Father,
don't we? Wherefore, he is able to save him to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for us. Every believer is somebody that
comes to God, but here's what always is taking place when somebody
comes to God by faith. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. Now understand that that doesn't
mean must believe that he exists. Everybody to ever live at one
time or the other in their life, they may be atheists now, but
at one time they believed that he existed. That's intuitive. to men. You look at creation
and you know somebody made this and nobody made him and he's
all-powerful. Every human being that has their
senses that have brought in this world have reached that conclusion
at some time. That's not faith. He that cometh
to God must believe that he is. that he is who he says he is
in his word. We believe in his isness. Everything he reveals about himself
in his word. I love when he said to Moses,
I am that I am. No creature could say that. No
creature. I would, I was, I will be, I
want to be. He says, I am that I am. Only God can say that. Now there are several very simple
scriptures that tell us with regard to God, for instance, God is light in him. is no darkness at all. God is light. God is spirit.
God is spirit. That's how he's omnipresent.
You can't go anywhere where he's not. He's not bound by space. He's not bound by time. God is
spirit. God is love. Not here's love
and God fits that description. God is love. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation, the sin-removing sacrifice for our sins. That's
love. God is a consuming fire. Our
God, the writer to the Hebrews said, is a consuming fire. He
consumes anyone who comes to Him apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ. He will not have it. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. Holy is the Father. Holy is the
Son. Holy is the Spirit. Other. I love this description of God. He's other. He's altogether separate. He's not like anyone or anything. He's utterly unique. None like
Him. God is. He that cometh to God
must believe that he is. Now, this is not, well, here's what it is. The
cross is who he is. Here's what I want to say. May I say this
as the Lord enables me to say it. The cross of Jesus Christ
is who God is. The cross of Jesus Christ is
the whole counsel of God. God made the universe for the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross was not a response
to the fall of Adam. The fall of Adam was for the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who God is. Every attribute
of God is made, revealed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. You take any attribute of God
that is revealed in the scripture, he's all wise. Well, the cross
tells how he and his wisdom has made a way to be just and justify
somebody that's unjust. God is all powerful. The cross
made a way for Him to put away sin and make it to be no more.
God is sovereign. I love the way there were two
other crosses on either side of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have one man dying in his sins. In the middle we have the man
dying for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. And on one side we see
a man Dying in his sins, left to himself. And we have another
man dying unto sin. Sin has nothing to say to him.
God did something for the one that he did not do for the other.
God is absolutely sovereign. God is, is just every attribute,
whatever you want to, is justice. Oh, how that's manifest in the
cross. What about his love? Oh, God so loved the world that
he gave his son. The cross is the manifestation
of the isness of God. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and don't miss this, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. You see, it's impossible to seek God in vain. You don't seek the Lord in vain.
When you seek the Lord, he's found. He said, I said not to
the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. Seek and you shall find. He is a rewarder to them that
diligently seek Him. Now what in the world does it
mean to diligently seek Him? Because I know that there's been
times when I've thought, I'm going to seek the Lord, I'm going
to pray, and I fall asleep 60 seconds after I begin to pray.
You've done that too. Talk about seeking the Lord.
We desire to seek, but what does it mean to diligently seek? Well,
that word is used two other times. And both other times, it's translated
by the word require. I require Christ. I require to be found in Him. I require for His grace to reign
in me. This is what I have to have. I require His righteousness because
I sure don't have any of my own. I require His mercy. I require His grace. I require
His love. I require grace to follow Him. I require grace to deny myself,
to take up my cross and to follow Him. I require this. I have to have it. I have to
have Him. And that's what it means to diligently
seek Him. You have to have Him. And we have this promise, ask
and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
to you. That is his promise. Oh, he is a rewarder to them
that diligently seek him. Now. I pray that God will give
each one of us such a need of him and his grace that we require
him and diligently seek him. Enoch pleased God. So does every other believer.
I'm looking at some people in here that God looks upon you
and he says, I'm well pleased. How did he do this? By faith. By faith. May God give us this
faith. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would take this message and create this faith in each
one of us according to your will for your glory. Lord let us be
like Enoch and Lord how we long for that translation when we'll
be perfectly conformed to the image of your son. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.