A Walk with Enoch

Rev. Leonard Reiss

Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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As Christians, our walk with the Lord should show a lifestyle of faith.

Notes

Transcript

It seems that humanity has a preoccupation with death. In entertainment, we hear about the living dead, zombies, horror movies, what life might be like separated from the body, etc. In everyday life, there are all kinds of advertisements proclaiming how you can increase your life by taking this special formula or doing a variety of exercises, etc. There’s even been searches for the fountain of youth, plus attempts to find that unique elixir that will cure everything. I went to a seminar in the early 2000s, which had as its focus the fact that the fastest growing age group (percentage wise) was going to be those 100 years of age and older.

Peter Pan boldly pronounces that he’ll never grow up. Grown-ups are the enemy. It seems that people don’t realize that death is a part of living.

Even the Bible says, It is destined for man to die once . . . Psalm 90.10 states, As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is only trouble and tragedy; For it quickly passes, and we disappear.

As far as we can tell, historically, only 2 people did not experience physical death on this earth. One would be Elijah, as he was spirited off in a chariot in front of Elisha. The other person is our topic today; he was Enoch. By now you know that I’m not here to promote some formula to avoid death or to suggest we can live forever in these physical bodies. What I’m presenting today is a continuation of our study of various individuals in the Hall of Faith.

The reason I entitled my message, A Walk with Enoch, is because Genesis 5.21-24 mentions that Enoch walked with God twice in the short biography of Enoch.

Genesis 5:21–24 (NASB95)

Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

We’re all fairly sharp here, so we can deduce that chapter 5 comes before chapter 6, where we read about Noah and the flood. So we can easily assume that Enoch lived during a terrible time of wickedness and animosity against God. That alone should start to encourage all of us today. Why would I say that? Because it doesn’t matter what time frame a person finds themselves living out their lives, it is expected that a follower of God would live completely differently than the rest of the world.

As Christians, our walk with the Lord should show a lifestyle of faith.

Hebrews 11:5–6 (NASB95)

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

The Eternal Walk with the Lord - 11.5

As has been said multiple times from this platform and throughout the Bible, works has never been God’s plan for our coming to Him. Works has never been a part of any formula for the salvation of anyone. Works is simply the result of what takes place after a person is saved and has willingly surrendered their lives to God.

In terms of linear progression, these verses are probably more easily understood, if we look at verse 6 first, knowing that the results of verse 6 are realized in verse 5. But now that I’ve explained that to you, we’ll go ahead and look at verse 5 first, then we’ll go to verse 6, showing how that is what led to verse 5.

Enoch believed God in faith, which caused him to have a lifestyle of faith (walking with God), and he proclaimed God to an unbelieving world, because of his faith, in hopes that some would repent and follow after God in faith. After a period (about 300 years) of Enoch doing all of that, God supernaturally caused Enoch’s walk on this earth to be translated into walking into heaven, if you will. The Bible uses the word translated or carried across. In other words, God took him. This sounds very much like what is going to happen at the rapture; one moment we’ll be carrying about our normal activities and suddenly we’ll be gone.

Enoch was proclaiming God for approximately 300 years before leaving this planet without dying. This was a lot of time for the unbelieving people to hear the message and continue to reject it. But what a way to go; to suddenly be removed from this life, with all its ugliness and evil and hatred to God, and find yourself with God. He was allowed to skip death and go straight to God’s presence. It makes it so much more meaningful when we consider that one day, we shall always be with the Lord, according to 1 Thessalonians 4.17.

But how did Enoch get to this point? What are some things which stand out from which we might gain some insight?

The Earnest Walk with the Lord - 11.6a

We already know that works and religion are not what God desires, nor does that make anyone acceptable before God. So we can assume that it wasn’t anything which Enoch did, as far as works, that pleased God. From Romans, it is clear that faith is what pleases God.

The first step of faith, from this passage especially, seems to be to believe that God is. . . . he who comes to God must believe that He is . . . This seems to be the basis for what will come later, a saving faith. If a person cannot accept that God is, that He exists and has always existed and will continue to exist, there is no way a person can ever come to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. However, the world has many strange ideas as to Who God is.

In J.B. Phillips book, Your God is Too Small, he gives some interesting examples, many of which we’re familiar with, as well. For example, some believe the cartoon caricature of God as an old man with flowing white hair who basically sits in His rocking chair and just smiles down at humanity.

Then there is the whistle-blowing characterization of God who looks for every opportunity to make humanity’s life miserable. He’s just a mean God who is looking for any kind of slip-up.

Then there is the notion of a God who fits in with whatever ethnicity a person might have. He might be blond, blue-eyed and white. He might be coal black with a hair style reflective of African heritage. He might be a form of Crocodile Dundee who is managing this universe and having a good time with all of His mates. He might be a very quiet and reserved sort of oriental God.

Then you have the picture of the clock-maker God. This is what the deists believe, of which Benjamin Franklin was one. They believe that God created the earth, wound it up and set it up to go and is just waiting for it to wind down.

I’m sure you know that none of these represent Who God truly is. The true understanding, which we have and which Enoch had, is that the One true God, spoken of in the Holy Scriptures, truly exists.

How does anybody know this? I’ve never personally seen God with my eyes. And my intellect, in fact, all of the intellect of this world combined, cannot actually know that God exists by logic or reasoning. No scientific principles exist to show that God is. There are many things which science cannot prove or disprove using the scientific method, but they still exist. History itself cannot be exactly repeated so as to prove that it actually happened. But the information is there that it did take place. Emotions cannot be tested and repeated to prove that they exist, but they are very real, nonetheless.

It has been stated that the only uncaused cause is God. We’ve discussed some of the basic principles of science previously, but I want to review a bit in view of this passage. One of the laws of thermodynamics is the law of entropy, which states that everything is getting worse, wearing out, running down. If this is the case, then it is not able to sustain itself, much less improve. If this is true, then there had to have been a beginning. What or Who would have caused it to have a beginning? The only possible answer is God. There are so many other examples from the world of science which always leads to the conclusion that God is. Yet, science cannot prove or disprove God.

Reason or rational thought cannot prove or disprove God. However, simply looking at what man is, all that consists of man, the only plausible explanation is that God created humanity; therefore He is. Just in the common understanding among anthropologists, psychologists, philosophers, etc., mankind is God-conscious.

But there was more to this. There is a looking forward to something else which only God can provide.

The Earthly Walk with the Lord - 11.6b

He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (11:6b)

Belief should manifest itself by actions. Simply believing that God is assumes that a person would want to pursue this to a deeper level. Enoch, as well as believers today, longed for a deeper, more personal, loving and caring relationship with the Lord. Knowing God in such an intimate manner will cause us to want to walk in a way which glorifies the Lord.

You see, it is much more than knowing and believing that there is a God. It’s more than recognizing that there is only one true God. It requires placing ones faith in God, to totally trust God in all areas of our life, in particular the salvation of our souls. Then we also come to the understanding that because God promised it, He will also reward all who seek Him. Above all else, the ultimate reward for faith in God is our salvation.

Believing that God is begins the journey towards true faith in Him. Actually believing that we can be saved through faith in what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us is the beginning of our journey or our walk with God. Being saved from hell and gaining entrance to heaven is not all that there is to the Christian walk. It would be a very shallow, empty Christian life that doesn’t pursue the walk farther.

How did Enoch “walk” with God? The same way that the Lord’s children have been doing it for centuries. This involves fellowship with God, in prayer and Bible reading and study. This is behind the idea of walking with God, as we see throughout the Bible. When a person walks with God, they are said to be pleasing to the Lord.

One doesn’t walk with someone with whom they are at odds with. We read in Amos 3.3 “Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment?” Several other translations use the word agreed. It would seem clear that Enoch would be in agreement with God; he was not living as an enemy of God, nor was he practicing a lifestyle of sin. If he would have been, he could not have walked with God, much less be pleasing to God.

This would have required God forgiving Enoch’s sin and giving him a new nature. Remember God cannot have fellowship with one who has not dealt with their sin. Sin and holiness cannot be mixed together. My friends, we cannot hold onto the sinful desires and claim to be walking with the Lord. Remember even what John wrote in 1 John 1.6-7

1 John 1:6–7 (NASB95)

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

To walk with the Lord means that a person has to willingly come to Him. Just the idea of seek[ing] Him, implies that there needs to be a desire on our part, just as was with Enoch. Enoch could not come to God with his own agenda; he had to have a surrendered will to do whatever the Lord wanted of Him. The same is true of us today. It’s not my will, but God’s will that we should want. Each of us should want to do whatever God wants us to do; not unwillingly, but with a willing, longing heart to please our Lord.

What does a walk with God look like on this earth? Paul refers to it as walking in the Spirit. But what does that mean? Maybe it is seen in Galatians 5.22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 (NASB95)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

I believe it is also seen in how we approach each day of our lives. Do we approach the day with our list of things we want to accomplish, while asking God to bless it? Maybe we should approach each day with gratitude for our salvation and for the life we’re allowed on this earth. Then maybe we should ask for God to show us where He wants us to walk with Him and not miss the opportunities to live in such a way that the world will know that we are walking with the Lord.

We learn that Enoch proclaimed God to the ungodly people on this earth while he was alive from Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”” Even though, it appears that there were not many, if any, who heeded his message, he faithfully proclaimed God to all those who were rebellious against God. They were very aware of who Enoch was and the One he served.

This serves to encourage us to not only live out our faith walk with the Lord, but to tell others about our relationship with Jesus Christ and how they too can experience salvation through Him.

Conclusion

It would seem to me that the timing of when the Lord comes should not be a big thing for the true believer in Jesus Christ. Our walk should be such that we would not change anything we’re doing when the Lord Jesus calls for His church to be raptured up to meet Him in the clouds and be with Him forever.

That’s kind of what I imagine took place with Enoch. Enoch was most likely living his life like he did every day for the glory of God. He was telling others of their need to repent and place their faith in God. He was in continual fellowship with God all the time. Every decision he made, most likely was checked out with God first of all. Even though Enoch never actually saw God while on this earth, his faith was such, the Bible states that he walked with God.

Then one day, we don’t know how it took place, but Enoch’s journey somehow saw him escaping death on this planet and being in the presence of God.

That is what we who are here when the Lord calls the saints home will experience. All who have placed their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will one day be transported from this earth, and set free from the temptations of sin, to experience eternal life in the presence of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And those who have died in Christ will instantaneously experience the same thing, just a twinkle ahead of us.

This morning , we’ve experienced a walk with Enoch. Yet, in reality, it’s a walk with Jesus.