ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD
A very pleasant good morning to each of our listeners today.
It is my hope and prayer that you had a very good year in
1997 and that the upcoming year will be very prosperous. Our aims
for this new year are the same as when we first began this radio
program. It is my desire and the wish of the congregation of God's
people who bring you this broadcast each Sunday morning that the
truth of God's Word will continue to shine forth. It is my hope and
prayer that we may in some small measure encourage each one to a
better understanding of God's Word and a greater desire upon the
part of each one to allow His Word to permeate our hearts and lead
us all to complete obedience in all that we do.
To introduce our thoughts this morning, I invite you to a
reading of Genesis 5:21-24: " 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." Then, in
Hebrews 11:5, we find this reading: "By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death; and he was not found because God
translated him; for he hath had witness borne to him that before his
translation he had been well pleasing unto God:" Here are references
to the man called, "Enoch," the son of Jared, the father of
Methusaleh, a prophet of God. Enoch lived the seventh generation
from Adam, or approximately 600 plus years after the creation of
Adam. Enoch is given special mention in the list of the great men of
old, the patriarches. Only two are said to have "walked with God."
ENOCH and NOAH.
In our study this morning, we wish to inquire as to the
meaning of how Enoch "walked with God." The word "walk" has both a
literal and figurative meaning in our language. We all understand
the literal meaning of "walk." To simply move from one place to
another. But how might the term "walk" be used in a figurative way?
There are at lease three ways the word "walk" is used figuratively
in God's Word.
(1) One might "walk AFTER." Note Hosea 11:10, "They walk AFTER
Jehovah." Here the prophet describes those who walk in His desires
and paths. One who walks after God is conducting himself or herself
in harmony with God`s wishes. We would be following the Lord
closely as we walk after Him. To walk as God commands us to walk,
would be walking "after" Jehovah. It means to obey Him.
(2) One might "walk BEFORE." In Genesis 17:1, we read, "And
when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram,
and said unto him, I am God Almighty: walk before me, and be thou
perfect." To walk before, means to walk as God inspects us. He
watches our every step and movement. We are walking in His presence.
He is conscious of our every action. And whether we like it or not,
we shall all give an accounting of the lives that we are living day
by day.
(3) The third way one might walk figuratively is to "walk
WITH." It is said of Enoch that "he walked with God." This means
that we walk in agreement with God. To walk with God means that one
has listened to what the Lord is saying and then to conduct
ourselves as He instructs. Let us look at Enoch and his walk with
God a little closer.
There was a closeness and companionship between Enoch and the
Lord. Enoch had a consciousness of God's presence. Enoch responded
to the commandments of Jehovah in his life. There was an association
with Jehovah. He recognized that he was in the presence of Jehovah.
We too, my listening audience, have the same privilege as did Enoch.
We too, can walk with God. Oh no, we cannot literally or fleshly
grasp the hand of God and walk with Him in that sense. But, we have
the opportunity to be in God's presence daily as we implement His
Word into our lives day by day. We read in Galatians 2:20, where
Paul states, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer
I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now life
in the flesh I live in faith, faith which is in the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself up for me." Then, in Romans 6:3,4, "Or
are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through
baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of
life." In 1 John 1:7, we read, "but if we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin." These verses, as well
as many others we could refer to, teach very clearly that we can
walk with God, that we can have an association with Jehovah. We have
the exalted privilege of closeness and companionship with the Lord.
But let us go back to Enoch. At the time of Enoch, the earth
was deeply in sin. Enoch lived but a couple of generations before
Noah. And we read in Genesis 6 of Jehovah's feelings about the
generation of Noah's day. Genesis 6:5,6 states, "And Jehovah saw the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it
repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart." You will note that Enoch had no written
instructions, that is, as far as we are able to ascertain. Yet, he
walked with God. Enoch lived during the patriarchal age when God
dealt with the fathers of the families of men. Enoch, without
written instructions, walked with God. If he could walk with God
without any written instructions, now much easier it should be for
us today to walk with God. In John 20:30,31, we read, "Many other
signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which
are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing
ye may have life in his name." We now have the written, revealed
Word of truth. We are free to study that word and then to live as it
directs us. That is, if we have the desire and determination to do
His will.
Peter tells us in Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of
persons. Therefore, if Enoch was able to walk with God, the others
then living could have done likewise. They could have walked with
God if they had so desired. The same is true today: You, my friend,
can walk with God, if you will but listen to His Word and bring your
life into compliance with that Word. And yet, as I look round about
me, I see so many who have no desire to know the will of God, much
less a desire to walk with God. God would put too many crimps in
their life. They just would not be able to do all the vile things
that they take so much delight in doing.
In Amos 3:3, we read, "How can two walk together except they
be agreed." Thus, walking with God indicates agreement with God. I
cannot, nor can you my friend, walk with God unless I am in
agreement with everything that He says. One must bend his or her
will to match the desires of the Heavenly Father. I cannot expect
Jehovah to change his Will to please me. God does not bend His will.
If He did, then He would become the servant of man. If He changed
his will to fit me, then He would have to change His will to fit you
and by that very action would surrender His position as Deity; as
the sovereign ruler of this universe. Man is not his own maker,
therefore man cannot become his own master. We must bow to the
wishes, to the commandments of our Heavenly Father. Even if we do
not, He continues to be the ruler power of this universe. Even if
the whole world refuses Him, He is still the final authority. And
His word will judge us one day, whether we have respected His Word
or not.
But, back to Enoch. Enoch did what God desired of him, and as
the result of that, he walked with God. Enoch agreed with God's
commandments. Enoch listened to God's message. Enoch had the frame
of mind to say, "Speak Lord, thy servant heareth." This, too, my
friend, must be our longing. This attitude must be our disposition
likewise. Do you have the desire to do the will of the Lord, nothing
more nor nothing less?? Or, do you wish to do your own thing, to act
as seems best to you, without any regard to the revealed Word of
truth? If so, you cannot possibly walk with God.
To walk with God is to walk by faith. Remember we read from
Hebrews 11:5, earlier, "By faith Enoch was translated...." Paul
says that, "we walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians
5:7). But, how does faith come? Romans 10:17, states, "So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Ghrist." If one
walks by faith; he simply walks as God instructs. Saving faith comes
only by listening to and obeying what the Lord says. Are we
listening to God's Word? Not just part of it, but all of it. Enoch
pleased the Lord God. Enoch heard the word of Jehovah and did it. We
too, must hear the Word of God and do it.
In our reading of Genesis 5:24, we learned that "he (speaking
of Enoch) was not; for God took him." Then in the reading of Hebrews
11:5, we learn that Enoch "was translated." We might ask the
question, Why was this? The answer, Because he pleased God. And, how
did he please God. He walked by faith, He walked in agreement with
God. Only three have ever been taken by God. That is, as far as the
revealed truth of God tells us. The first was Enoch, the next was
Elijah, the prophet. And then, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It has
been said that he was walking home one day and God said, "Come home
with me, Enoch," and he went. We do not know the circumstances. We
only know that the scriptures tells us that Enoch walked with God
and God took him. He was translated. That simply means, he was
changed.
We, too, that the opportunity to be translated. Not
physically, but spiritually. Hear the apostle Paul as he speaks to
the Colossian brethren, "who delivered us out of the power of
darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love;
in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:"
(Colossians 1:13, 14). The word "translated" means "to be changed."
When one obeys the gospel by submission to the commandments of the
Lord and is forgiven of past sins, that one is changed to walk in
newness of life. The power of sin no longer controls that life. The
one who becomes the child of God is thus translated into the kingdom
of Christ Jesus. Yes, Christ's kingdom is a reality in this life in
which we life. We can become members of that Kingdom, His Church, by
doing the will of our Master. We can be separated from sin. The
child of God no longer desires to walk in sin, but rather, to walk
in righteousness, to walk in the light of God's Word.
What a privilege to be translated by God. To be changed. One
now has a new Master, a new life, a new existence, a new hope. Enoch
was taken away from the sins of the world. We, too, can be free from
the sins of the world. We can be cleansed by the blood of Christ.
We can all walk with God. It will make this life a pleasant
journey and God will take us home at the end of the journey. If we
walk with God while here on the earth, we will not be a stranger in
heaven. Righteousness will not be something new to us. I am
persuaded that many who now live would not be happy in heaven. They
refuse to walk with God in this life, how could they be happy with
God in the next life. Those who revel in the flesh would not be
content with the purity of heaven. What a tragic thought. To live in
self-gratification of the flesh in this life; yet, to suffer
throughout eternities when this life is over. And rest assured, this
life will one day come to an end. What then???
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