[0:00] Open your Bibles to the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis. The fifth chapter of the book of Genesis. Nobody will have any problem finding that, right? In the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis, and before I get to my text, and the text is verses 21 through 25, but I want you to notice, okay?
[0:24] In verse 3 it says, And Adam lived, and he tells how long he lived, and he begat children, and he died. Okay? And Seth lived, and it tells how many years, and Seth lived, he begat children, and he died.
[0:43] And Enos lived, begat children, and he died. Canaan lived and begat children, and he died. Okay? And Enos lived, and begat children, and he died.
[1:00] And Jared lived, and hundred, sixty years, and so forth, and begat Enoch. And Jared lived, after he begat Enoch, and so forth, and he died.
[1:14] Now look at verse 21. And Enoch lived, sixty and five years. He was just a young person when he begat children. Some of them were hundred, fifty, hundred, okay.
[1:27] But this is his first child, okay? And Enoch lived, sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God, after he begat Methuselah, three hundred years.
[1:43] 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.
[1:59] For God took him different. Everybody else, they begat, they lived, they begat, they died. They lived, they begat, they died. But when it comes to Enoch, we found these words.
[2:10] And Enoch was not, for God took him. Dear Lord, I pray you'll bless your word tonight. It's not what Darnes says, but it's what your word says that makes a difference in the lives of people.
[2:24] Thank you for the opportunity to be here. I thank you for Brother Trent, and the way you're using him here, dear Lord, and his dear wife and family, and all the other workers.
[2:35] And I pray your continued blessings will be upon them. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. I want us to think tonight just about the subject.
[2:46] Enoch walked with God. Now, by the way, I don't hear about anybody running with God. Okay? For many years, I ran.
[3:01] And I loved it. I mean, you know. And you say, well, every time I see somebody running, he's got a bad look on his face and so forth. But I really did. I left her running.
[3:12] But then it got to the place where I couldn't run. And I began walking. And walking is a very, very good thing. And sometimes if we're not careful, we'll ride everywhere and not walk anywhere.
[3:28] So could I make a suggestion that in the new year, you start walking. Okay? You start walking. My dear wife and I, we used to walk together.
[3:42] And wherever we would go, we'd walk around hotel rooms. Or if we were home, we'd walk around the property there at BIMI. Or if it's cold, we'd find a mall somewhere.
[3:57] And we would walk in them. Walking is a wonderful thing. And think about it. It says, Enoch walked with God. And notice, after he begat Methuselah.
[4:13] You remember when your firstborn was born? Was that an awesome responsibility or not? And I never will forget in 1955 when God gave us Renee.
[4:28] And I went there and looked through that glass. And back in those days, they wouldn't let fathers get near the delivery room. And I thank God they didn't. Amen. I'm not sure I could stake it.
[4:41] Okay? But I looked through that glass and I thought, Wow. I have a great responsibility. I'm now a father. And I have a child.
[4:54] And by the way, that is a great responsibility. And children are a heritage of the Lord. Thank God for them. Amen. But when you look at Enoch, it says, Enoch walked with God.
[5:09] In Jude chapter 1, and by the way, that's the only chapter you've got. Okay? And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, now listen to that. Okay? The seventh from Adam, prophesied of these things, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all, to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
[5:42] It sounds like he might have lived in 2023. Ungodly this, ungodly that. Okay? So, there we found that Enoch was a prophet.
[5:54] He prophesied during those times. Okay? Listen to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 5. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and he was not found because God had translated him.
[6:12] For before his translation, he had this testimony. Isn't this a good testimony? Listen to it. He had this testimony that he pleased God.
[6:25] Hey, don't spend all your time trying to please people. You can't do that. Okay? And by the way, God is not as hard to please as some people think he is.
[6:40] I was reading that too long ago and I read this statement from a great man of God. I tell you his name but he's modernist and you wouldn't appreciate me for reading his book. Okay? But here is the statement.
[6:54] We are most useful to God. when we are pleased with God. We are most useful to God when we are pleased with God.
[7:09] Enoch lived until before Adam died.
[7:20] How would you like to have a great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather? That's what Enoch was.
[7:32] He was still alive when Adam was living. Now, people lived a long time back in those days, okay? But the Bible tells us from Adam to Enoch, the refrain is the same.
[7:51] He lived, he begat, he died. But when came to Enoch, Moses gave up, gave us some very helpful insights unto the life of Enoch.
[8:05] Enoch walked with God. I like what the little girl said. She went home from Sunday school one day. Her mother said, Dawn, what did you learn in Sunday school today?
[8:17] She said, we learned about a man by the name of Enoch. Oh, really? Yeah. And she said, Mom, a good thing. One day, Enoch and God were out walking and God said, hey, Enoch, it's just as close to my house as it is to yours.
[8:35] Why don't you just come home with me? And she said, he did. And everybody started looking for him but they couldn't find him. So, let's think about the statement as it, okay?
[8:51] Enoch walked with God. You know what that tells me? Our God is not an imperishable being somewhere far all.
[9:06] He is near us. In fact, if you're saved by the grace of God, he is in us. John chapter 14 verse 17 says, Jesus, before he went away and he was trying to comfort his disciples and after telling them that he was going to leave here.
[9:27] And he said, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter in the word other could mean another different from me or it could mean another like me.
[9:43] And here it means another like me. He will send you another comforter, a comforter, one to walk along beside you that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not.
[10:02] Neither knoweth him, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you. Now that's a wonderful thing. And shall be in you. In other words, God is not only near us, he is in us.
[10:20] Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. God, Jesus said, I'll not leave you comfortless, I'll come to you.
[10:33] Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. Read the first two chapters in the book of Genesis. Abraham was called the friend of God.
[10:45] How would you like to be called that? That'd be a great name, wouldn't it? Hey, in time after time, for instance, in Isaiah 41.8 and 2 Chronicles 27, both of these places mention that Abraham was a friend of God.
[11:05] False religions, Buddhism, Shintoism, Islam, none of them have the concept of a personal God that can be talked to and can be walked with.
[11:21] What a great joy, what a great privilege it is to walk with God. Moses was a friend of God.
[11:34] Listen to what the Bible says about Moses. Okay? And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friends.
[11:48] Moses walked with God. He was a friend of God. Abraham walked with God. He was a friend of God. Enoch walked with God.
[11:58] He was a friend of God. It tells us that after Enoch begat Methuselah when he was 65 years old, he lived until he was 365 years.
[12:20] So it was a long walk. Amen? A long walk. 300 years. It was a walk that probably, if you know anything about those ages, they're different, you've read about them.
[12:36] It was a walk filled with trials. It was a walk filled with temptation, but the trials and temptations and all the other things of the world, they did not keep Enoch from walking with God.
[12:50] By the way, the Bible says, can two walk together and accept they be agreed? And we can. We choose who we walk with.
[13:01] It was a walk of faith. By faith, the writer of Hebrews tells us, by faith, Enoch, walked with God.
[13:14] And then it says, and he was not. As the little girl said, he just went home to be with Jean. He was not. Listen to Psalms chapter 1.
[13:27] Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. It was a blessed walk because he did not walk according to the counsel of the ungodly.
[13:39] By the way, in Isaiah chapter 9, one of the names for Jesus was counselor. And so Enoch did not take his counsel from the world.
[13:55] He took his counsel from God. And by the way, be careful who you take your counsel from. He was not.
[14:07] He took his counsel not from the ungodly. I think of our public schools today. Can you imagine what they're teaching little kindergarten children, first and second grade children and so forth?
[14:26] The ungodly things that they're teaching them. But any did not listen to the world. He took his counsel from God. Now, blessed is the man that standeth not in the way of sinners.
[14:41] That's an awesome thing, is it not? Imagine standing in the way of sinners. And if we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not living the right kind of life, we are standing in the way of sinners and sinners will stumble over our life into a bad everlasting hell.
[15:02] But not Enoch. He did not stand in the way of sinners. And by the way, he did not sit in the seat of the scornful. Somebody's always criticizing.
[15:17] Somebody's always trying to pour cold water on anything that God's doing. He didn't do that. And I like this word. he delighted in the law of the Lord.
[15:32] And it is law that he meditates day and night. Could I urge you, if you don't do it every morning, get up early enough to open your Bible and read the Word of God.
[15:49] For well over 50 years, I have read the Bible through, from Genesis 1 to the last chapter in Revelation. Every word.
[16:03] I decided the other day, I'm going to try to read the Bible in 90 days. You want to be a challenge?
[16:16] I'll tell you, when you're sitting around and watching the television, you get the Bible out and start reading it. When you're waiting on your wife's shopping, just get your phone out and read your Bible. I mean, you do that, I catch myself constantly doing that.
[16:33] You cannot get too much of the Bible. The Bible tells us about blessed is the man that walketh not on counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor setteth in the seat of the scornful.
[16:51] God. The psalmist says these words, listen to it, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Think of that.
[17:05] Not the years, not even the days, not the months, but the steps. Hey, by the way, we need God to lead us step by step. The steps of a good man, and don't let the word good keep you from claiming that promise.
[17:22] Amen. You say, well, I'm not good. I know that, and God knows that. Amen. And your wife knows that. And your husband knows that.
[17:34] The steps of a good man. It doesn't mean some super saint. No. Thank God if you've been born again, if you've been saved by the grace of God, you have the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ on you.
[17:49] When Jesus Christ died on Calvary's cross, my sins and your sins and the sins of the world were placed on him. On the third Saturday night in October 1949, a 16-year-old boy, when I trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I didn't know this then, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ was put on me.
[18:21] And when God looks at me, he does not see, God says, he sees the blood of his son. We have the imputed righteousness, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way.
[18:35] Look that verse up sometimes, okay? Bound it. Think about it. he delighteth in his way. Now, think about the pronoun he.
[18:48] What does the word he refer back to? Listen to it again. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way.
[19:00] Now, does the he refer back to God that he delights in the way of the good man? Or does it refer back to the good man that he delights in the way of the Lord? And you can study your Bible as long as you want to and you can't tell which one of those it means.
[19:16] Now, I do not know Hebrew myself, but I borrow other people's brains. And they say even in Hebrew you cannot tell what the pronoun refers back to. So, since we don't know which one, can we assume that God delights in the ways of a good man?
[19:36] Enoch walked with God. He frees God. and we can please God. And then not only that, but don't you catch yourself saying many times, isn't God good?
[19:54] You know, think about it. My God did that so well. God said that so well. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of them God.
[20:04] And the seteth in the seat of scorn. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. Now think about this for a minute.
[20:17] He pleased God. Enoch walked with God and he was not. And he had this testimony that he pleased God.
[20:31] Not only did he please God, but he prophesied against the wickedness of his day. You know, if we're not careful today, we'll be so positive that we're not against anything.
[20:51] I never will forget out in Lancaster, California, there were a group of people who got married with Dr. Chaplin, and they started another church not too far from where I was standing in the motel.
[21:02] And they had a sign up there. And the sign said, and it told the church and where it was, come to a church where there are no do's nor don'ts.
[21:15] And I thought, they must not have a Bible, do they? No do's or don'ts? Well, yeah, there's some do's, thank God there's a lot of them, and by the way, there's some don'ts.
[21:27] And Enoch prophesied against the ungodliness of his days. And my dear friend, somebody needs to be standing up and prophesying against the ungodliness of our days.
[21:43] By the way, Ephesians 5, 4, 15, tells us this, speak in the truth in love. Speak in the truth in love.
[21:58] And even though we are preaching against, some ungodly man or some ungodly woman or something that's ungodly, we need to be sure that we're doing it with a heart of love.
[22:13] Hey, by the way, God hates sin. If you don't believe it, go to Calvary. God hates sin.
[22:25] But God loves sinners. love sinners. And if we are not careful, if we are not careful, we look at people and rather than hating their sin, we begin to hate the people.
[22:40] No, no, no. It does not matter what anybody's done, what their lifestyle is, or anything else. We are to love the people. So speak the truth in love.
[22:54] And even if you have to confront somebody, don't be confrontational. Speak the truth in love. Then it says, he was translated.
[23:09] He was taken from earth to heaven without the process of death. Listen to Job.
[23:22] If a man die, shall he live again? That's one of the questions. By the way, Job is filled with questions. If a man die, shall he live again?
[23:35] And don't you like it when people answer their own question? And that's what Job did. Job 19, 26, 27 says, And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall, or shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reins be consumed within me.
[24:07] Think about it. Job said, if a man dies, shall he live again? And then he says, oh yeah, I'm going to see him in the flesh.
[24:17] Thank God for the fact that one day we're going to see him. Amen? And by the way, it doesn't really matter whether we go by death or whether we go by the rapture.
[24:32] The bottom line is that we're going to see God. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, verses 7 and 8.
[24:44] For we walk by faith and not by sight. And then he said, we are confident.
[24:57] In other words, we're settled on this. It's going to happen. We are confident, I say, and willing rather, in other words, if I had my choice to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
[25:15] And you know, in reality, Christians never die. They just change the addresses. You think about it.
[25:27] When a born-again child of God dies, breathes their last breath of earthly air, they breathe their first breath of celestial air.
[25:40] Absent from the body and present with the Lord. Thank God. Amen. So, that's the way most of us will go.
[25:53] Now, unless the Lord comes real soon, that's the way I will go, okay? But if he does, there's another way. And that in the Bible, it talks about the second coming of Christ.
[26:06] it's a rather long passage of Scripture, but what God says is far more important than what Don says says, okay? So, listen to it. You know it. In the days of the apostle Paul, they were expecting Jesus to just come back any minute.
[26:24] You say, were they wrong? No, we ought to expect him to come back any minute. I often tell people, the second coming of Christ, it may not be immediate.
[26:36] Oh, you say, he's got to come. No, he don't have to come. He's got a time, he'll come in God's time. During the pandemic we're going through, or still going through, I guess, oh, things are so bad.
[26:51] Wait a minute, things have always been bad. It may not be immediate, but it is imminent. It can happen any moment, any moment of the day.
[27:04] In this period moment, Christ should come, could come back. The archangelist shout, and the trumpet will sound. Listen to it.
[27:16] People are wondering what's happened to our loved ones. They've died, Jesus hasn't come back yet. Now, listen to what Paul said. But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning the in which are asleep.
[27:31] By the way, that never applies, the word asleep, that means soul sleep, okay, those that have died in the Lord's sleep, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope.
[27:45] Now, think about that. When your loved ones pass from this earth to their heavenly home, it doesn't say we're not to sorrow.
[27:58] It says we're not to sorrow as others who have no hope. One of the saddest things I've ever had to do is conduct a funeral.
[28:09] You knew the person was not safe. A Buddhist funeral, a Shinto funeral. How sad, they have no hope. Now listen to me.
[28:20] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so then we shall also sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and Paul thought he would be alive when Jesus came back.
[28:36] Was he wrong? No. I think he'll come back when I'm alive. Could I be wrong? Probably not, but I could be, okay? Okay, if we believe that God died and rose again, even so.
[28:56] Now think about it. We there remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them, we're not going to go before them which are asleep, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord.
[29:21] Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. And he walked with God, and he was not.
[29:35] Elijah had the same kind of experience. He went to heaven, he didn't die. God took him. One day the rapture would take place.
[29:49] Now one day, each of us would go by the way of death. Either way, according to the wonderful word of God, we will be with him for eternity.
[30:04] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth coming down from God. I'm happy. The pride is a pride of dawn for us. Jesus coming to this earth to live with us and we with him for eternity.
[30:22] Therefore, during this short span of life, and it is short, I'll soon be 90 years old. You say, Brother Sieska, I can't believe that.
[30:35] I thought you were 110. I'll soon be 90 years old, but it didn't seem like that life. During this short span of life on this earth, we would do well to practice his presence and walk with him every day.
[30:57] Wouldn't it be good? Wake up tomorrow morning. Dear Lord, where do you want me to walk today? Dear Lord, I'm not asking you to go my way with me.
[31:09] I'm asking you, which way are you going? And by the way, I'm going to walk with you.
[31:22] Austin Miles wrote a song, you know it well. Now don't worry, I'm not going to try to sing it, okay? I see some of you cringing, okay?
[31:35] I came to the garden along while the dew was still on the roses. And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses me. And he walks with me.
[31:47] Think about that. God, sovereign, almighty God. And he walks with me. And he tells me I am his own.
[31:59] And the joy we share, as we tell you that, none other has ever known. He speaks and the sound of his voice. It's so sweet the birds hush their singing.
[32:11] And the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing. I'd stay in the garden with him, though the night around me be falling.
[32:23] He bids me go through the voice of Lord. His voice to me is calling. And he walks with me. And he talks with me.
[32:33] And he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share, as we carry there, none other has ever known. Are you walking with God?
[32:48] By the way, it doesn't matter how old you are, or how young you are. Children can walk with God. Teenagers can walk with God. Young people can walk with God.
[33:00] Even old people can walk with God. Amen. are you walking with God? Let's pray together. With their heads bowed and their eyes closed.
[33:12] I wonder if there was somebody here tonight that you have never made your peace calling assured.
[33:29] I wonder if there's somebody here tonight that you're not positive, you're not 100% sure that if you died tonight or if Jesus came tonight neither one of them could happen to any of us tonight.
[33:44] What if tonight you've heard the last sermon you'll ever hear? Do you know for sure you're saved and going to heaven? How many of you could say with me tonight?
[33:57] Brother says there's a lot of things I don't understand, a lot of things I don't know. But one thing I know for sure, when I breathe my last breath or when Jesus comes again, I have biblical reasons for knowing that I'm saved and I'm going to heaven.
[34:15] If that's your testimony, lift your hands real high in the air and leave them up there, will you? I'm sure that if I died tonight or Jesus came tonight, heaven would be my eternal destiny.
[34:28] thank you may put your hands down. I wonder if there's anybody here tonight and say, Brother Sis, I could not lift my hand. I don't know for sure that I'm saved and going to heaven.
[34:44] My dear friend, I've got good news for you. The Bible says of Jesus, he came unto his own and his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them gave you the power to become the sons of God.
[35:00] The Bible says the wages of sin is death. But there's a wonderful conjunction there. But the gift of God, the gift of God is eternal out through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[35:12] By the way, when somebody offers you a gift, you have two options. You can receive it and it will be yours. Or you can reject it and it will not be yours.
[35:24] have you trusted Christ as your Savior? Do you know for sure you're saved and going to heaven? If you don't, this would be a good night to settle that. If you have questions, doubts, you ought to come and let Brother Cornwell or someone else take the Bible and show you how you can know you're saved and going to heaven.
[35:48] Maybe you're saved but you're not walking as close to God. Somebody wrote a song years ago, just a closer walk with thee. By the way, you can't get too close to God.
[36:02] Just a closer walk.