Enoch's Faith

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Hebrews 11, looking at verses 5 and 6. Last week we looked at one verse, this week we're going to look at two verses.

Last week we looked at Abel, he taught us what it meant to worship. This week we're going to look at Enoch, he's going to teach us how it means, or what it means to walk by faith.

If someone was to ask you, do you walk with God, what would you say? How would you answer that question? Do you walk with God? Do you walk with God intimately? Or do you walk with God sporadically? Do you walk with God conditionally? Or do you walk with God unconditionally? Do you walk with God faithfully? Or do you walk with Him unfaithfully? How and when do you walk with God? If someone was to ask you, when did you begin to walk with God, could you answer that question? When did you begin to truly walk with the true and living God?

Do you know when? You should know when. Do you know? If someone was to ask you, how do I walk with God, could you teach them what it means to walk with God? Would other people say that you walk with God? Would someone say that man is characterized by a walk with the living God that is true and sure and everybody knows it? Those are questions you need to ask, because the guy today is going to answer those questions for you. How long have you walked with God, a year, five years, 10 years, 30 years?

How long have you walked with God? Enoch walked with God for 300 years. We have a hard time walking with God for 300 minutes, let alone 300 years. And we know exactly the time that Enoch began to walk with God. At age 65, Enoch began to walk with God. So Enoch not only walked with God, he walked with God for a long time, so he's very faithful, very committed, and we know exactly the time he began to walk with God. So let me ask you a question, how long have you walked with God, and do you know when you began to walk with God?

Enoch, the second hero in the Hall of Faith, talks to us about our walk of faith and what it means to walk with the living God.

And so like we did with Abel, we're going to read verses 5 and 6, but we have to go back to the book of Genesis to understand the narrative surrounding this man, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, as opposed to Enoch, the son of Cain that we talked about last week who had a city named after him, this Enoch is a different one, and he is the seventh from Adam. Let's look at what the Bible says in Hebrews 11, verse number 5.

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 diligently seek Him. Now, back in the book of Genesis, this is what it says, Genesis chapter 5, so you have to keep your finger on Hebrews 11, and in Genesis chapter 5, verse number 21, Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah.

Then Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Now, those verses hold for us a whole slew of biblical truth. If we had the time, we could spend several weeks just talking about Enoch. We're not going to do that, because we're on our way through Hebrews chapter 11, and we want to cover all the characters that are there. But this morning, I want you to see that Enoch, number one, pleased God, number two, pursued God, number three, portrayed God, number four, preached God, and number five, passed on upward to God.

Okay? First of all, Enoch pleased God. That's what Hebrews chapter 11 says. He obtained the witness, or this was the testimony of Enoch, that before being taken up, he was pleasing to God. So whatever happened in Enoch's life, he lived a life pleasing to God. So when you walk with God, you are pleasing God. Now, he did this for 300 years. Just try to let that sink in for a moment. You know, God, in His grace, has allowed sin to run its course, so we don't have to live that long. Think about that.

Would you want to live 365 years? I wouldn't. I'm having trouble getting out of bed now, and I'm only 63. I don't know what I'd do if I was 363. And so God, in His grace, has allowed sin to run its course, so we don't have to live very long. That's God's grace, God's mercy. Just make sure you're ready to die, right? You know the Lord. So Enoch had this testimony that his life was pleasing to the Lord. Wow. Paul said, I make it my ambition to please the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5 verse number 9. That was Paul's ambition in life.

Is that your ambition? Evidently. It was Enoch's ambition. Because he had this testimony that for 300 years, he lived a life that was pleasing to God. Now that's hard for me to understand. You say, well, you know, he lived in a time where it wasn't that difficult. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He lived, listen, in the most perverted, ungodly time in the history of the world. It was so bad that before 2,000 years was even up, God destroyed those people around the world with a flood. And we have lived another 4,000 plus years, and guess what?

We're still here. God hasn't destroyed this nation, these people, this earth yet. He's going to, but he hasn't. That tells me that what happened in those first 2,000 years was a lot worse than what's happening now.

That's the era that Enoch lived. So bad that God said that every intention of every man, his heart was evil continually. He repented that he even made man. He relented that he even created man. He said, that's it, I'm destroying everybody. I'm going to start over with no one in his family. And God hasn't even done that yet. You think today's bad? It's not compared to Enoch's day. And he walked with God for 300 years. So don't think, oh man, this is so hard for me to walk with God. You ought to see the environment in which I live, where I go to school, where I work.

Cry me a river. I mean, come on, people, look at Enoch, a perverted, ungodly society. He pleased God. Do you? Do you even know what it means to please God? You should. We preached on it. Anybody still have this? Who's got this? One, Harold's got it someplace. Two, we did a whole thing on what it means to please God. Because we never wanted you to forget. Why do we do this? Why do we put things on bookmarks for you to keep? So that you never forget. Because you need to know what it means to please God.

But if Paul had an ambition to please God, it should be your ambition. If Enoch pleased God for 300 years in the most perverted, ungodly society that ever existed, then he sets for us an example of what it means to please God. So we told you that pleasing God means you proclaim the message, the message of the cross. That's 1 Corinthians 1. God was so pleased when the message of the cross was preached. Living by faith, we're talking about that by Enoch. He lived by faith. That pleases God. For without faith, it's impossible what?

To please God. Exalting Jesus Christ as Son pleases God. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And Colossians 1, 15 and 19 talk about the fact that it brings pleasure to God when He, His Son, is exalted. Asking God for wisdom, 1 Kings 3, Solomon asked God for wisdom and it pleased God that that's what He asked Him for. And God said, ask me anything you want, I'll give it to you. He chose wisdom and it pleased God. So when you ask God for wisdom, it pleases Him. When you stay away from sexual sin, it pleases Him.

1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says, I want you to know how to walk and please God. How? By abstaining from sexual immorality. That's what pleases God. Imitating Christ pleases God. The Lord said in John 8, 39, that the way He pleased God, I do always those things that please the Father. So if you want to please the Lord, imitate Christ because that's what He did. And then neglecting not to share with others, Hebrews 13, 15 and 16, because you share with them which is good and this is well pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

And then giving praise to His name, Psalm 60, as well as Hebrews 13, it gives praise to God and He is well, well pleased. We wrote it out for you so you'd never forget. Shame on you if you forgot because this should be your ambition. You should be doing this every day of your life, pleasing, that's what Enoch did. He had this testimony. Would someone say at your funeral, he had this testimony, she had this testimony, this was the witness, they pleased God for their entire life. Enoch did. He lived a life to please God.

We should live, we should make it our ambition to please our Lord. And the Bible says that without faith, verse 6, and it's attached with Enoch's testimony, without faith it's impossible to please Him.

Living by faith pleases Him. So Enoch had to live trusting in what God said, even though he would never see what God said. See that? He learned to trust in what God said, even though he would never see all that God had promised. But he believed. He trusted in the true and living God. That was Enoch. And so the Bible says, without faith it is impossible to please the true and living God.

And then it says these words in verse 6, for he who comes to God must believe that He is. He is what? And we've asked that question many times over the years. So we have to ask ourselves, what are you believing in? He is what? That don't the demons believe in God? Yeah, they do. They believe, in fact, they are so theologically sound, the demons are, they know everything there is to know about the living God. They're theologically astute. They called Him by name when they saw Him. They knew He was the God most high when Jesus came across them.

They knew exactly He was the Son of God, He was the Son of David. They were so theologically astute, it's unimaginable all the things they know, but they're going to burn in hell forever. So what does it mean when it says, he who comes to God must believe that He is? If I had a lot of time, I would cover this extensively, but I don't. So let me give you the X factor in what it means to believe that God is, okay?

It's called the X factor. To believe that God is means you believe that He exists eternally and infinitely. He is the God who was and is and is to come. He is the great I am. Before Abraham was, I am. He is the alpha and the omega. He exists eternally. He exists infinitely. He exists indefinitely. He exists personally. Number two, to believe that God is means that He experiences humanity.

God became flesh and dwelt among us that we might behold His glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He is the God-man from His incarnation into eternity and beyond. To believe that God is means you believe He exists eternally, infinitely, and indefinitely. It means that He experiences humanity. It means, number three, that He exhibits tri-unity.

He exhibits tri-unity, not Trinity, tri-unity. He is one God who manifests Himself in three unique and distinct persons. In the beginning, God said, let us make man in our image. Who is God talking to? Let us make man in our image. All throughout the Old Testament, the triune nature of God is expressed where God the Father is God, God the Son is God, and God the Holy Spirit is God. When you come into the New Testament, it becomes to unfold even all the more. They have the same attributes. They all have personality.

They are all involved in creation. They are all involved in the resurrection. They are all involved in the birth. Everything is about the triune nature of God. He who comes to God must believe that He is. You must believe that God the Father is who He says He is. You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He is God in the flesh. You must believe that the Spirit is the Spirit of God. He exhibits tri-unity. He exists indefinitely, infinitely, and eternally. He experiences humanity. He exposes iniquity.

He is light. He enlightens every man. He has shed light on man's sin, and when He came into the world, His light would shine so bright that man would see all of his sin. He exposes iniquity. He exemplifies veracity. He's all truth, nothing but truth. Everything about Him screams truth. He exemplifies veracity. He extends mercy. He extends mercy to those who are miserable. That's the God that we believe in. He is the God who expresses sympathy. He's a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses like no one else.

He's the God who executes sovereignty. He rules over all. He exudes authority, for all authority has been given unto Me, both in heaven and on earth, says the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God who excites mystery, because there's a name written on Him that no one knows, Revelation 19, and when He comes back, there's so much mystery even involved in the fullness of His glory, and He's the God who excuses nobody. He's the God who excuses nobody. There is no excuse. Why? Romans 1 makes it very clear that there is no excuse not to believe in Him, and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding who comes to God must believe that He is.

He's everything the Bible says He is, and we believe that. And here was Enoch, the seventh from Adam, lived a life of trusting obedience, believing everything God said, even though he would never see all that God said. He lived a life pleasing to the Lord, and he did it for 300 years. Enoch pleased God. Number two, Enoch pursued God.

Without faith, it's impossible to please Him, and he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him, those who diligently seek Him. Enoch pursued God. He sought after God. He darted after God. He wanted to know more of his God. You say, well, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait. Doesn't the Bible say in Romans chapter 3, quoting from Psalm 14, that there is none good and no not one, and that nobody seeks God. So, the Bible says that nobody seeks God, yet the Bible says that God rewards those who seek Him.

How can I seek Him if nobody seeks Him? How do I answer that question? Well, it's very simple. No one comes to the Father unless he's been drawn by the Spirit of God to the Father. And if you've been drawn by the Father to the Father, guess what? You pursue Him. You seek Him. That's why David said way back in 1 Chronicles chapter 28, verse number 9, As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father. Serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts.

If you seek Him, He will let you find Him. If you seek Him. Remember Jeremiah chapter 29? Jeremiah prophesied about the 70 year captivity of Israel, helping them understand that when these 70 years are over, because you are so into pagan idolatry, God puts you in the city that was the authorship of pagan idolatry, Babylon, where everybody would worship idols. He puts you in that city under that king for 70 years to get idol worship completely out of your system. And when it's all said and done, God says, you will seek me when you search for me with all of your heart.

God says, I've got a plan, you need to come after me. You're not doing that. You're seeking other gods. You're searching diligently for other idols. No, no, no. You've got to search after me. So I'm going to make it so you have to do that. And they did. And God would rid Israel of its idol worship, but they would seek Him. When God calls you, when God draws you, you pursue Him. Enoch did. He pursued God so much that for 300 years, he walked with the true and living God. Not only did Enoch please God, and not only did Enoch pursue God, but Enoch portrayed God.

He walked with Him. He walked with the true and living God. Twice, it says in Genesis 5, once in verse 22, once in verse 24, that Enoch walked with God. Hebrews tells us that he had this testimony, that his whole life was pleasing to God. So walking with God and pleasing God are synonymous. He walked with God in such a way that God was pleased. God was honored. And so, Enoch manifested the presence of God, modeled the precepts of God, and maintained peace with God. When you walk with God, you've got to maintain peace with God, right?

It's like when your kids walk with you. You know, sometimes your kids lag behind, right? So what do you do? Get up here. Come on, get up here. Quit lagging behind. Get up here. When you walk with God, you keep pace with God. You don't lag behind. And you certainly don't run ahead, right? I got this, God. I can do it. I'm going to run on ahead and get it done, get it done for you so you don't have to worry about it. No, no, you keep pace with God. You walk with God day by day, trusting, leaning upon Him.

You walk in the Spirit so you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. You walk side by side. You walk intimately with Him, hand in hand, arm in arm, because He's your God. He's your Maker, and you love Him so. That's what Enoch did. For all those years, he portrayed the true and living God. There was something about his life that was different than the perverted world around him. I want you to notice this.

Enoch preached God. Enoch preached God. Well, how do you know that? It doesn't say that in Hebrews 11. And it certainly didn't say that in Genesis chapter 5. How do you know that Enoch preached God? Well, the only way I know that's the Bible, right? So I get that from the book of Jude. Jude, verse number 14. Listen to what it says. It was also about these men. What men? Apostates. Remember, the writer of Hebrews mentioned Abel first.

Because Abel was born outside of paradise, outside of the Garden of Eden, right? And Abel modeled what it means to worship the true and living God. So through that, you learn about the atonement. And everything about Hebrews was about the atonement. The New Covenant versus the Old Covenant. And if you don't follow the New Covenant, guess what? You're going to apostatize the faith. You're going to fall away from the faith. You're going to turn your back on that which you know to be true. Well Jude's all about these men who have crept in unawares to the church to lead people astray.

About these men, Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied. Ah, Enoch was a prophet. Very first prophet in the Bible, Enoch.

And what did he prophesy? Here it is. 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. That's what Enoch prophesied. That's what Enoch preached. The very first prophet, listen carefully.

The very first prophet in the Bible did not prophesy about the first coming of the Messiah, but the second coming of the Messiah.

Now remember the Jews didn't understand the difference between the two comings. They only saw one coming. Although the Old Testament clearly prophesied both comings of the Messiah, they had a hard time digesting that there were two comings, they only saw one coming. That's why when He came, Jesus, the first time and He didn't do what they thought He was going to do, they rejected Him as their Messiah because they wanted Him to rid them of Roman oppression and live a life of ease.

When Jesus didn't do that, they crucified Him. But Enoch, the very first prophet, did not prophesy about the first coming, but the second coming.

In fact, the very first prophecy in the Bible is Genesis 3.15. The very first prophecy came from God to man about God.

The second prophecy in the Bible came from God to a man so He could preach to men about the second coming of God, when He comes with all of His holy ones.

That's what Revelation 19 is about. He comes with all His saints, all His holy ones. That's what 1 Thessalonians 2.13 is about. He comes with all His holy ones. That's His second coming, not His first coming.

Now think about it for a minute. Why would He do that? He was preaching the imminency of God's judgment upon man. And when did He do this? He did it when He began to walk with God. And when did He walk with God? At age 65. And what happened at 65, two years older than me? I'm 63. What happened at 65? He had a son. The son's name was Methuselah. We read that in Genesis chapter 5. When he was 65 years old, he gave birth to a son, or his wife gave birth to a son, okay, whose name was Methuselah. And then Enoch walked with God for 300 years.

There's something about the birth of the son that caused Enoch to walk with God for 300 years. What was it about the birth of Methuselah that caused Enoch to walk with God and please Him for 300 years? And the answer simply is in the name of his son, Methuselah. Who would name their kid Methuselah? Who would do that? Yo, Methuselah, come in for dinner. Yo, Muthaboy, whatever your name is. Sulah, Selah, come on in here, Methuselah. Who names their kid Methuselah? Enoch. Why? Because of what it means.

What God revealed to Enoch at the birth of his son is the reason he named his son Methuselah. Because his name comes from two different words. The first meaning to die or death, and the second one meaning to send or so be it when it arrives.

So, Methuselah's name means when he dies, it shall be sent. When he dies, it shall come. When he dies, so it shall be. What shall be when he dies? The judgment of God. That's why when he preached Jude 14 and 15, he preached about God's imminent judgment. And Enoch would see and know and understand that the Lord is gonna come with all of us holy ones. And so for 300 years, not only did he please God, but he preached God. And what did he preach? He preached the judgment of God. How long did Methuselah live?

969 years. And so every day, if they believed what Enoch preached, they would ask this question. Is Methuselah still alive? Because if Methuselah's still alive, judgment's not coming. And God in His grace allowed Methuselah to live 969 years. Listen carefully. And in the year that Methuselah dies, all you gotta do is follow the genealogy of chapter five. That's why the importance of genealogy is so crucial, is the exact year the flood came. And judgment destroyed everyone. And God was so graceful.

So for 300 years, Enoch preached about the impending judgment of God. And then after him came Noah, and Noah for 120 years preached about the righteousness of God. And we'll talk about him next week, or yeah, next week. Because he preached the righteousness of God. So you have these two men preaching, one preaching about God's righteousness, one preaching about God's judgment. And it's ringing all over this perverted, ungodly society that they would come to a place of repentance and turn from their sin.

It's no wonder, no wonder Enoch pleased God. It's no wonder Noah pleased God. It's no wonder these men are in the hall of faith, because they weren't afraid to preach judgment. Listen, Enoch preached it faithfully, 300 years. He preached it forcefully, because it was about the judgment of God. He preached it factually, because he needed to know every element of God's judgment. And he never wavered for 300 years. It's no wonder he's in the hall of faith, and it's no wonder God took him home, without ever seeing death.

Enoch just passed right off into glory. Wow. Can you imagine that? Enoch walked with God so closely that one day he just walked right up into glory. I'm not even sure the man changed from when he was on earth to when he went to heaven. He was so close to God. He just walked right up into glory. Think about that. He was no more for God took him. Where did God take him? He took him right home to glory. God was so pleased with this man's walk. He was so pleased with what this man said, because he preached the revelation of God.

He said, just keep walking right up, right up into glory. He did. And he becomes that quintessential picture of what will happen at the rapture of the church when God brings those who are alive and remain, they're caught up together in the air with the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. It's going to be amidst when a perverted ungodly society, so that as Enoch was spared the judgment of God, as Noah and his family were spared the judgment of God, so too the church, the people of God will be spared the judgment of God when He brings forth His judgment upon the earth through the seven-year tribulation and its impending judgment upon man.

The Bible tells us in Revelation 11 there will be two witnesses. It doesn't give us their names, but it does say this in Revelation 11, God says, I will grant authority to my two witnesses.

Which two? We don't know. God doesn't tell us. And they will prophesy for 1260 days, three and a half years, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies. Wow. Wow. If God's looking for volunteers, I'll be one. I'd love to be that guy. So if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky. Well, we could think that's Elijah, because he didn't die either, right?

He went up to heaven, not in a chariot of fire, but in a whirlwind, arriving to glory. So maybe one of the two witnesses is Elijah, because he never died. And the Bible says, there's a point of the man who wants to die after the judgment, so maybe they have to die sometime, so God's going to send them back to preach.

And then it says, not only do they have the power to shut up the sky, it says that rain will not fall during the days that they're prophesying, it says they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire. Some would think that's Moses. He turned water into blood. He was used to strike plagues on the earth, and maybe he was, because when Moses died, who buried Moses? God did. So we don't know where He buried them. No one knows. And the devil would fight for the body of Moses.

The Bible tells us that Michael the archangel would wrestle with Satan over the body of Moses. So maybe it is Elijah, maybe it is Moses, or maybe one of them's Enoch, who had the opportunity to be the first prophet to preach about the second coming of the Messiah, and to come back and for three-and-a-half years to preach once again about that second coming, because it's right around the corner.

Who knows? Only God knows. But what do we know? We know that Enoch pleased God. We know that Enoch pursued God. He portrayed God, and he preached God, and he had this testimony that not only did he please God, but God just took him right up into glory. How about you? How about me? Where do we stand with the living God? Do you walk with God? Do you know when you began to walk with God? Well, something happened in Enoch's life at the birth of his son, and the only thing we can assume is that God gave him a revelation about His coming, and that so transformed that man's life, he never forgot it.

And what we told you on Wednesday nights, never forget it. The clearer you see the future, the cleaner you stand in the present. The clearer you see the future, the more courageous you stand in the present. The clearer you see the future, the more confident you are in the present. that everything about what you do today is always determined on how clearly you see tomorrow. Don't forget that. Daniel was that way. Enoch was that way. Noah was that way. Abel was that way. All these guys in the hall of faith, they could see clearly the future, which helped him to stand strong in the present, to live by faith, trusting in what God had said.

May God give us the grace to do that, let's pray. Father, we thank you for today, the greatness of your word, the opportunity we had to study it. You are a great and wonderful God. May we learn from the life of Enoch. It's no wonder he's in the hall of faith. He pleased you. May we live a life pleasing to our God every single day, in Jesus' name, amen.