[0:00] Well, if we could, for a short time this evening, turn back to the chapter that we read together in Genesis chapter 5. Genesis chapter 5, and we can take for our text this evening the words that we have in verse 24.
[0:20] Genesis chapter 5, verse 24. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
[0:43] Friends, I'd like to begin by asking you a question this evening. And I'd like to ask you, what it is that is your defining feature?
[0:57] What is it that makes you, you? What is it that you think, when you go, people will remember you by?
[1:09] It's quite an interesting question, isn't it? It is, perhaps, in some ways, even a probing question. But in answering that very question, I think we're able to tell quite a lot about our own character.
[1:26] What are we defined by? Now, studying Bible characters is not only a wonderful way of learning more about God, but also a wonderful way of learning more about ourselves and how we live in this world.
[1:47] We see throughout Scripture numerous examples of humanity at its very best, but also humanity at its very worst. This evening, we're going to think together about this man, Enoch, that we have before us here in our text.
[2:05] And in order for us to get to know this man, or perhaps even just to reacquaint ourselves with this man, we're going to ask ourselves three basic questions.
[2:18] Who was this man Enoch? How did he live his life? And what was the result of him living such a life?
[2:30] Who, how, and what? Firstly, then, who was Enoch? Well, as we read this chapter together, I am sure you noticed that there were lists and lists of genealogy spanning all the way from Adam right through to Noah.
[2:49] These, of course, are none other than the generations of those antediluvians, those people who lived before the time of the flood. Of course, in this particular chapter, we don't learn very much about these particular people that are mentioned, these descendants of Adam.
[3:07] Adam. We learn their names. We learn the children they had. And we learn that they all died. Amongst others, here we have Seth.
[3:18] We have Enoch. And we have Jared. Then when we come to verse 21, we see that this pattern is broken. Here we read this short description of a different man, a man who goes by the name of Enoch.
[3:35] But who was he? And why is it that we learn a little bit more about him here in this verse? Enoch walked with God. Well, it's important for us to note at the outset that there are, in fact, two different men going by the name of Enoch in the book of Genesis.
[3:54] In Genesis 4, we read of Cain, who had a son called Enoch. Cain, one of the sons of Adam and Eve, you remember, murdered his brother Abel.
[4:05] And we read that consequently he was sent out of the presence of the Lord. But that's not the Enoch that we have here in chapter 5. The Enoch that we have here comes from a different line.
[4:18] He comes from the line of Seth, who was appointed by God, as we read, as another seed. He's instead of Abel, almost replacing Abel, who had been killed.
[4:32] And so here we have two distinct lines of genealogy. That which comes from the line of Cain, who was wicked. And that which comes from the line of Seth, which is the Enoch who we have before us tonight.
[4:46] Now, as well as this, we can glean from chapter 5, verse 21, that when Enoch was 65 years old, he became a father. He fathered a child by the name of Methuselah.
[4:59] And you remember that Methuselah was noteworthy in that he was the oldest recorded living person in the Bible. He lived for over 970 years.
[5:12] It wasn't, of course, until after the flood that the life expectancy, just by the way, that the life expectancy dropped dramatically to what we're accustomed to today. So Enoch's the father of Methuselah.
[5:25] There's something else that we learn about this man in these verses that goes so beyond his genealogy. Often in our islands here, we're concerned with who people belong to.
[5:38] We say that so-and-so is the son or daughter of so-and-so. But in learning that, often we don't really learn much about that person's character. No doubt many people in here are identified by who their father was.
[5:52] But that doesn't really tell us as to the kind of person you are. And so it is with Enoch. We learn of his genealogy, yes, but we learn so much more.
[6:04] Which brings us to our second point, how he lived his life, how the type of person that he was. If we look at verses 22 and 24, we read a detail regarding Enoch's life that is repeated.
[6:19] A detail that is obviously of such prominence that it deserves to be noted twice here in this one chapter. Here we read that Enoch walked with God.
[6:35] And I'm sure that all the men mentioned in this very chapter here, they would have had various gifts and qualities that would have been particular to themselves. But none of these are mentioned.
[6:48] None of these are deemed to be important enough to go down in the pages of Scripture. And of course, in our culture, it's often the case that we do define people by their gifts, by their talents.
[7:02] We say that someone is good at this or someone is good at that. And we especially give place to those whom we deem to be perhaps intellectually smart and capable.
[7:14] And we can even, even within the church, we can place them almost on a higher plane than everyone else. Yet the only characteristic that God has chosen from all of these men and women here is the fact that Enoch walked with God.
[7:32] This was his defining feature. This was his testimony. This was his legacy. This is what made Enoch, Enoch. The fact that he walked with God.
[7:47] Isn't that quite something? But he didn't always walk with God. We read that in verse 21. Enoch walked with God after he had fathered Methuselah.
[7:59] And so when Methuselah, Enoch's son, was born, that was the turning point in Enoch's life. What was it that changed? Why was it that all of a sudden Enoch started walking with God when Methuselah was his son?
[8:15] Well, some would suggest that hidden in that name Methuselah, hidden in the Hebrew of that name Methuselah, are two words, death and scent.
[8:25] And so that perhaps God had revealed to Enoch the judgment that God would eventually send in the form of a flood. Enoch lived in a difficult and dark day.
[8:39] He lived at that time before the flood and the hundreds of years leading up to that flood. He would have found himself in a society that was hostile to God, a time when wickedness was great on the earth.
[8:54] It was a time when sin abounded with very little restraint. Men and women, they were lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And so much like today, it wasn't an easy time for anybody to be walking with God.
[9:11] But yet Enoch didn't just somehow sit back and allow all that was going on around him to go over his head and, as it were, to wash over him.
[9:24] He didn't say, ach, well, this is just the day that we live in. This is the way it is. We can't really do much about him. But the fact is that the world he lived in, it bothered him.
[9:37] It bothered him greatly. And we know that it bothered him, not by the chapter that we have before us here, but elsewhere, as we turn to the words of the New Testament in the book of Jude.
[9:49] In Jude and verse 14. There we read, now Enoch the seventh from Adam. This was to distinguish him from that other Enoch that I mentioned earlier.
[9:59] Now Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied about these men also saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
[10:27] Enoch knew of the impending judgment to come, and it bothered him. He could see the seriousness of the state of those around him, those who were clearly living a life that had turned its back on God.
[10:46] And so how did he respond? He responded by being called, as we read in Jude there, as a preacher of righteousness.
[10:57] A preacher of the judgment of God. Now notice how hard-hitting, how blunt his preaching was. He wasn't scared to call out the people around him for what they were.
[11:12] He called them ungodly. We notice how that word is repeated four times in that one verse, ungodly. He didn't shy away from preaching the fact that the Lord would indeed come in judgment to these ungodly people.
[11:29] He didn't try and unmask the realities of the eternal danger facing those who didn't know the Lord. Why? Because he walked with God.
[11:43] And because he walked closely with God, the things that bothered God bothered him. Because he walked with God, the sinfulness of sin grieved him to the marrow of his very being.
[11:59] You see, friends, when we walk with God, this is challenging. When we walk with God, we are opposed to that which he is opposed to.
[12:11] Not in a self-righteous way. It's possible to appear to be against the things that God is against in a self-righteous way. In a way that seeks to esteem ourselves better than others.
[12:24] That's not what's been spoken of here. But in a godly way, in a holy way, in a just and in a loving way. Some might say, well, Enoch, he was just a man of his time.
[12:40] Preaching the judgment of God may have been relevant then, but it's not really relevant now. We've moved on. We've progressed as a society. We've progressed as a church.
[12:52] We know better what people need to hear and how they need to hear it. But have we really moved on? Do we really know better?
[13:06] Isn't the root of the need of every single lost soul in 2019 the same as it was in the day of Enoch? Friends, I fear that even in the church, the sin has become the elephant in the room, as it were.
[13:28] We all know it's there. We can't avoid sin because we see it in our hearts day after day. But yet we don't want to talk about it.
[13:40] We've accommodated it. We've dressed it up by calling it, by other names, failures or mistakes. And you know, friends, a sad reality is that if we're not walking with God, sin will not seem quite so bad to us.
[13:59] And not only will we tolerate sin, but we'll go so far as to promote it. You know, when this happens as Christians, something solemn happens.
[14:13] We lose our witness. If we're openly flirting with sin of any kind ourselves, we give the message to non-Christians around us that it doesn't really matter.
[14:25] And they're watching. They're watching every move we make. You might not think they are. But rest assured, non-Christians are watching the Christian as a representative of the church, as a representative of Christ.
[14:44] And they're watching how you react, how you don't react, how you act in certain situations. And so if we find ourselves embroiled in sinful activities, we're giving that message that it doesn't really matter, that sin isn't that bad.
[15:04] You know, that's solemn because it has consequences. Because if we give that picture that sin isn't that bad, we also convey the message, perhaps even without realizing it, that because we have a light view of sin, we have a light view of the Savior.
[15:24] Why do we need a Savior if we have nothing to be saved from? Why do we need a Savior if sin isn't that bad? When the church loses sight of the seriousness of what it is to sin before a holy God, friends, we effectively lose the urgency of the message of redemption.
[15:49] And God forbid that we should ever, ever lose that urgency. Friends, stay close to God. Walk with God.
[16:00] But what exactly does this mean? To walk with God. And what did it mean for Enoch? To walk with God. Well, it doesn't say that Enoch ran with God.
[16:14] It says he walked with God. And you know, in this language, something is conveyed. We see that in the parable of the sower and the seed, that the seed in one part of that parable, it grows up so very quickly, doesn't it?
[16:31] It grows up very quickly. And as soon as the sun comes out, it's scorched because it doesn't have root. There's a worldly saying that tells us slow and steady wins the race.
[16:48] And you know, for the Christian, there's a lot of truth in that. Because in the Christian walk, there is a great deal of plodding involved. It's not about springing up quickly and then dying away.
[17:02] In order for us to make progress and in order for us to grow in grace, we need to keep on plodding. We need to keep on walking. And slowly but surely, if we stay close to Jesus, we will make progress bit by bit.
[17:21] And as we walk, we'll experience mountains and valleys. Maybe you know what it is tonight to be in such a valley. Or perhaps you're on a mountaintop.
[17:32] We'll experience stormy days and sunny days. We'll come across many things along this journey, along this way. Things that will seek to distract us and to take us off the path that we're on with Jesus.
[17:48] And so we must, like Enoch, stay close. We must daily listen to his words, to the words of the Lord. And as we read them in Isaiah 30, this is the way, walk ye in it.
[18:05] And what do we do when we're walking with someone? Well, we talk to them, don't we? We talk to them. We communicate to them. We listen to them. We're aware of one another's presence.
[18:18] And that makes the journey that little bit easier, doesn't it? And of course, the more we walk with Jesus, the more we get to know him. And the more our love for him grows.
[18:32] If we're not walking with Jesus, we don't really know him as we ought. We don't really love him as we ought.
[18:42] And so we're not too bothered about protecting his honour, his name, his cause. But friends, if we stay close to Jesus, we will do anything to ensure that our walk is not compromised in any way.
[19:02] But as we walk together, it's also important that we are on the same wavelength, as it were. In Amos 3, 3, we read, can too walk together unless they are agreed.
[19:17] In other words, we cannot walk closely with the Lord, with Jesus, if our worldview does not match that of the Scriptures. I wonder what your worldview is tonight.
[19:32] Even if you're a Christian here, what is your worldview? What motivates you to live your life? Is it your family?
[19:44] Is it your occupation? Is it your standing in this community? Or is it your desire above all else to see the name of Jesus high and lifted up here in point?
[20:01] Is that what you long for? Is that what you desire? Or is it so that your Christianity is, as it were, an add-on to your life? You come to church on Sunday, perhaps even on Wednesday, and that's it.
[20:15] You do what you want the rest of the time. Well, friends, that is no Christianity at all. 1 John 1, 6-7, we read these challenging words.
[20:26] If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
[20:41] And that's important, too. That we have fellowship one with another. You see, friends, the Spirit of the Lord is sensitive.
[20:59] And so when we have fellowship with darkness, as it were, the Spirit is grieved. And when the Spirit is grieved, what happens?
[21:11] Well, is it not true that we lose our comfort? We lose our boldness. We lose our zeal for the Lord. And before we know it, we find ourselves seemingly alone in the wilderness that is life.
[21:27] And what a lonely place that is for the Christian to find that no longer they're walking with Jesus. To find that no longer they're enjoying these benefits that they once did.
[21:43] Friends, we need Jesus by our side in everything that we do. I wonder, are you walking with Jesus this evening? Are you?
[21:56] Ask yourself that question. Examine your heart and me with you. Let us examine our hearts and truthfully and honestly answer, Are we walking with Jesus?
[22:11] Yes, we can all say that we believe in him. Yes, we can all say that we believe in his word, in his truth. But are we walking with him?
[22:27] It's difficult, isn't it? It's difficult when we know that perhaps we're not where we would like to be with the Lord. You might be sensing that yourself.
[22:41] That perhaps just gradually and even quietly, A gulf, a distance has come between you and your saviour. And you want to be back.
[22:53] William Cowper in his hymn, He accurately portrays what it is for the true child of God To be aware of not walking closely with their saviour.
[23:04] Listen to what he says. Oh, for a closer walk with God, A calm and heavenly frame, A light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb.
[23:18] Where is the blessedness I knew when first I sought the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and his word?
[23:29] Return, O holy dove, return, sweet messenger of rest. I hate the sins that made thee mourn And drove thee from my breast.
[23:43] Friends, that is the acid test, isn't it? We can all find ourselves drifting from the Lord at times. That is reality. That is a fact in the Christian life.
[23:56] But friends, is it not true that if we are truly his, We will be just like William Cowper, That we will long for that, That blessedness that we knew when we first sought the Lord, For that soul-refreshing view of Jesus in his word.
[24:14] Don't you long for that in your experience? Don't you long to be in your heart on fire for Christ As you were when he first brought you from that fearful pit?
[24:28] And so, dear Christian friend, If you are discouraged or even backslidden on the way tonight, You come to him. You come and you humbly and honestly cry out to him.
[24:41] And he will bring you back. He will never leave or forsake his people, But come to him. Can I urge you? Come to him. Perhaps you are not a Christian this evening, And so as of yet, You don't know what it is to be walking with Jesus.
[25:02] Well, you know, friend, You don't know what you are missing. And I think every Christian in this church tonight Would testify to that fact. You do not know what you are missing.
[25:15] But allow me, if you will, To lovingly warn you as to the path That you find yourself on tonight, If you are not walking as Enoch did with God.
[25:27] Proverbs 14.12 makes clear That there is a way that seems right to a man, But the end is the way of death.
[25:40] Friend, don't be deceived. Because the solemn reality is That if you are walking through life without Christ, You are walking, quite frankly, quite honestly, You are walking closer and closer To a lost eternity, To hell itself.
[25:57] And all for what? All for what? Not so with Enoch, Which brings us to our third and final point.
[26:08] What was the result of him living such a life? Well, no doubt you will have noticed the phrase, And he died, Cropping up time and time again in this chapter.
[26:19] But amongst the string of so-and-so, Becoming the father of so-and-so, And then so-and-so, Then dying, We here have in verse 24, An obvious break in this pattern.
[26:32] And Enoch walked with God, And he was not, For God took him. And he was not. What exactly does this mean?
[26:43] That Enoch ceased to be? That Enoch died? Well, again, to get further light in this, We need once again to turn to the New Testament, And in particular to the book of Hebrews, Where we learn a little bit more about this man Enoch.
[27:01] Hebrews 11.5 states, That by faith Enoch was taken away, So that he did not see death. And he was not found, Because God had taken him, Had taken him, For before he was taken, He had had his testimony, This testimony rather, That he pleased God.
[27:24] And so when we read in Genesis that Enoch was not, It wasn't that he died, But rather that he was physically taken from earth, Into heaven alive. One minute he would have physically been there in time, And the next he wouldn't.
[27:40] Now we don't know how this would have looked, We don't know how this would have happened, It's not Irish to know, Scripture doesn't tell us, But it happened.
[27:51] It happened. And apart from Jesus himself, The only other instance of this happening, In the whole of Scripture, Is found in 2 Kings 2, Where we read of Elijah being taken up, In that heavenly whirlwind.
[28:05] And so in response to this man of faith, This man who pleased God, This man who walked with God, The Lord enabled him, Unlike all his forefathers, To bypass that valley of the shadow of death.
[28:23] Death is that river that divides, isn't it? That river that divides this world, And the world to come. Yet here is a man, Who never had to go through that river.
[28:36] Here is a man, Who was carried across the Jordan of death, So he was afforded seamless, Unbroken fellowship, As he was translated from time, Into eternity.
[28:49] But why? Why did this happen? Why is this incident recorded, In the pages of Scripture? Well surely friends, It's to highlight to us, The witness and the example, Of this man of God, This man who walked with God, And because Enoch lived, His life by faith, Because he was then translated, Into heaven, The message that has been communicated, Here is a message, Of hope.
[29:21] Death isn't, The final answer, We touched on that this morning, Death isn't, The final answer, For those, Who walk, With God. Yes we will all, Face death, That is of course, Unless we are still here, When Christ, Comes again, Which of course, Is not outwith, The realms of possibility, But for a Christian, Death, Will not, Have the victory.
[29:48] We read in Isaiah 43, That when you pass, Through the waters, I will be with you, And through the rivers, They will, Not, Overflow you, Friends, You will not be submerged, By the river, Of death, If you are in Christ, Yes, You will go through it, And me with you, But if you are in Christ, You will come, Through, To that glorious, Other side, Do you believe that?
[30:20] Do you live your life, In the light, Of this very reality? Do you live your life, In the light, Of the reality, Of the greatness, Of what is to come?
[30:35] Walking here, With God, Because you look forward, To walking with God, In sinless perfection, For all eternity, You know friends, I believe that, If we were to meditate, On the things of heaven, More they would fragrance, Our walk, And our witness, Here on earth, And you know, Even if you are not, A Christian here today, You too ought to meditate, On the things of death, You know I am astounded, At the reaction, Of so many, Even at a funeral, As we find ourselves, Gathered there, To lay someone to rest, Their mortal remains, For the last time, As we gather around, That open grave, What do we so often, Hear happening?
[31:25] People talking about, The trivia of this world, Talking about the things, That have absolute no bearing, On the things of eternity, Budding their head in the sand, To that eternal reality, Before them, I wonder is that you?
[31:43] Well the next time, You are at a funeral, And at an open grave, You ask yourself that question, Will I be next? You could be next.
[31:56] So that friend, Is why you need, To walk, With God, So that you, Just like, The psalmists, That you would know, What it is, To pass through that, Valley of the shadow, Of death, Fearing, No evil, In the knowledge, That the Lord, Is, With you, How often, We live our lives, As if, We are somehow, Immortal, We find ourselves tonight, At the very edge, Of that river, That river of death, Each and every one of us, There is no, Getting away from that reality, But I wonder, Can you say, With the hymn writer of old, That on Jordan's, Stormy banks, I stand, And cast, A wishful eye, To Canaan's, Fair and happy land, Where my possessions,
[32:58] Lie, That this isn't your home, Your possessions, Lie, In that great tomorrow, Because I am bound, I am bound, I am bound, For the promised, Land, Where, My friend, Are you bound, For tonight, You know, Dear friend, Scripture makes clear, That where the tree falls, There, It will lie, We cannot expect, To walk with Jesus, In eternity, If we haven't walked, With him here, In time, And so are you, Like Enoch, Walking, With God, Can I plead with you, That you walk with him, That you put your trust, In him, So that you too, Will have that hope, That stretches, So far beyond, The flimsy, Vapor, That is, This life, And Enoch, Walked with God, And he was not, For God,
[33:59] Took him, Amen, And we pray the Lord would bless these few thoughts to us, Let us join together in prayer.