Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
Speaker: If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace. So glad you're listening today. We're going to be in Genesis again as we're continuing in our study. And we're going to be looking at one of my favorite biblical characters, Enoch.
Speaker: I really have learned so much about Enoch through the years. And so I want to introduce you to these this one little passage found in Genesis 5, verses 18 through 24, and help you to see some of the things that I've learned.
Speaker: But let me yeah first describe ah some beginning introductory things. We're going to be in the fifth chapter of Genesis, but the fourth chapter ah traces the descendants of Cain.
Speaker: But the fifth chapter of Genesis lists 10 generations of men who were born through the lineage of Seth. There's nothing spectacular in Genesis 5 as you see a similar pattern as a man lives, fathers his children, and then he dies.
Speaker: The same words, and he died, those three words, and he died, They are just written. I mean, they're in obituary columns. It's nothing to to see those words, but it's just that you begin to feel like, wow, that's just such a recurring pattern.
Speaker: You'll see it in chapter 5, verse 5, verse 8, verse 11, verse verse verse verse verse us life. so i mean there's nothing new there right ah we god gives us life You we were born, we live, we work, we love people, we love our families, and then we die. We finish out ah our our race that we're supposed to be on.
Speaker: But God did something unusual in one man's life in Genesis chapter 5. Instead of saying, and he died, our text for today records of only Enoch,
Speaker: Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.
Speaker: See the difference there? Wait a minute. What did it just say? he didn't have to die since God took him. That was exceptional.
Speaker: But what we can dig into this message is how did Enoch walk with God? It also says he walked with God and he was not, for God took him.
Speaker: But how did he walk with God? That's what I would like for us to explore as we look at this passage together. So let's dig in. Let me read the verses and then ah we'll look and see what God has for us today.
Speaker: When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
Speaker: Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died. When Enoch had lived sixty five years he fathered methuselah Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
Speaker: Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.
Speaker: So let's look at this passage real carefully and see what the Lord would say to us today. First, I want you to look at the father of Enoch, verses 18 and 19. The father of Enoch was a man named Jared.
Speaker: Jared may have been a man of God because he gave his son the name Enoch, which means dedicated. Dedicated. Jared fathered Enoch when he was 162 years of age.
Speaker: So he had time to learn things about life and about God before he started raising his son. So I would say i would have been in a lot better shape to be a dad if I were 162 years of age before I began to raise my two daughters. Of course, I don't know physically what I'd be like, but I know I would have had opportunities to learn. Let's put it that way.
Speaker: But after Jared fathered Enoch, He would have had a long time to influence his son toward the things of the Lord, since the scripture says that he lived 800 years after Enoch was born.
Speaker: Perhaps, perhaps now, Jared mentored his son well across those 800 years. Genesis does not always give the names of all the children born to a man and his wife.
Speaker: As a matter of fact, we don't even know the name of Enoch's mother. We do, however, know that there were other children born to Jared and his wife based upon what we see in Genesis 5, verse 19. And he had other sons and daughters.
Speaker: But let's look next at the funeral for Enoch's father. This is verse 20. Now, normally a father outlives his sons.
Speaker: It is rare, but in this chapter, there were only two pre-flood men who lived longer than their sons, Jared and Methuselah.
Speaker: Both lived longer than their sons, Enoch and Lamech. what what What this means is that perhaps Enoch never saw the death of a family member since Jared and Enoch's mother both lived longer than the time that Enoch was on this earth.
Speaker: The text makes it seem like Enoch was the firstborn of Jared's family. So they too most likely lived longer than Enoch.
Speaker: As a matter of fact, Adam was still living for 300 additional years while Enoch was still living, much less Seth and Enosh and Kenan and Mahalalel.
Speaker: But anyway, what I wanted you to see was how unusual this is that, you know, Jared would have been there that whole time while Enoch is living and how Enoch, he just wouldn't have seen a lot of loss, a lot of people dying.
Speaker: But let's move next to verses 21 and 22, where we see the family of Enoch. Enoch had his first child, Methuselah, when he was 65 years of age.
Speaker: He also must have fathered other children because verse 22 records that he had other sons and daughters. But something significant happened to Enoch when he became a dad.
Speaker: It had a great impact upon his faith, according to what is written in verse 22. You see, Enoch gave his son a name that means much. and ah much It's called much and death, which means death, and shalak, which means to send forth.
Speaker: So much death is going to be sent forth is what the name Methuselah would mean in Hebrew. But since the year Methuselah died, God sent the flood.
Speaker: Many believe this was a prophecy, that when Enoch gave Methuselah his name, that it was almost like a prophecy. God gave him insight that sometime during Methuselah's days, that he's going to see the flood when many people will die. It's like an incredible thought when you think about it.
Speaker: But I wanna go mostly to the faith of Enoch, the faith of Enoch that's mentioned, i feel, in verses 22 and 23. You know, like Abel, Enoch is mentioned in the hall of faith with a tribute to his walk of faith in Hebrews 11, verses five and six.
Speaker: So let me read those two verses to you. It says in Hebrews 11, verse five, going into verse six, "'By faith Enoch was taken up "'so that he should not see death, "'and he was not found because God had taken him. "'Now before he was taken, "'he was commended as having pleased God.'" And without faith, it's impossible to please him.
Speaker: For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. You know, in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7, it states a truth about living for God when it says, for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Speaker: And so what Hebrews 11, verses 5 and 6, what it's confirming for us, even in the New Testament, is this. This man, Enoch, he was a man of faith.
Speaker: His walk with God increased or built within him faith. Twice our text tells us Enoch walked with God. It says that in Genesis chapter five, verse 22. says it again in verse 24.
Speaker: Do you know that there's really only one other person in scripture who it actually says they walked with God? You can read about him in Genesis 6, 9.
Speaker: It was Noah. I wonder if maybe either Noah or Enoch came up with that old song that it was an old gospel song called Just a Closer Walk with Thee.
Speaker: Who knows? I don't know. But how does the Bible describe someone who walks with God? Well, I put together a few verses that all use that little word, walk.
Speaker: And I discovered the following things that are found throughout the scriptures. Let me share those with you just in case you're interested in what should a person's life be like when they're walking with the Lord?
Speaker: Well, here's the first reference that I found. Romans 8, verse 4, and Galatians 5, verse 16, and again in verse 25, both say that we should walk According to the Spirit.
Speaker: To walk according to the Spirit. So someone who walks with God is going to walk with their life ah ah guided by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker: But 1 Corinthians 7, verse 17, tells us something else. Not only will they walk according to the Spirit, they will also walk in contentment.
Speaker: I believe that someone who walks with God, they're not someone who doesn't feel satisfied, someone who's always having to buy more things so that they feel good about themselves.
Speaker: No, I think that they have an inner contentment that helps them to say, you know what? I have so much that God has given to me in my walk with Him.
Speaker: I don't have to have all the things that this world is trying to sell. So, The person walking with God is going to walk according to the Spirit. The person walking with God is going to walk in contentment. But like I said earlier in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, the person who walks with God is going to have to learn to walk by faith, not by sight.
Speaker: Ephesians 2.10 tells us a fourth thing. Walking with God means to walk in good works that God has planned for us before we were ever born.
Speaker: Do you know that God has a plan for you? And as you walk with Him, He will help you to stay on target with what that plan was before you were ever born.
Speaker: So I love that, that God says, okay, I've already planned some good works that I want you to fulfill as you go through your life. But Ephesians has some more things to tell us from this word walk.
Speaker: And that is, if we walk with God, we also should walk in love. Ephesians 5.2. And the word love often in the New Testament is the word agape, which means we walk, we live with an unconditional love.
Speaker: I think that's powerful whenever you think that, okay, if I walk with God, He energizes me, He equips me that I would have capacity to love people unconditionally.
Speaker: I think that is an amazing experience, walking with God. But Ephesians 5, verse eight and nine bring up yet another thing, not just walk in love, but walk in the light.
Speaker: Walk in the light. I think whenever it refers to walking in the light, it means that we're walking in the light of God's truth. We're walking in the light of what pleases Him.
Speaker: And so that's definitely another thing that ah would bring God glory as we walk in the light. We live in the light. We live in the truth that God has revealed in His Word.
Speaker: But Colossians 1.10, one of the prayers that the Apostle Paul said he would pray for new believers was that they would walk in a way that pleases God.
Speaker: So when someone's walking with God, they're not going to be able to walk with God and displease him because he's going to correct him. So Colossians 1.10, but it's mentioned again in The same thing is said that when we walk with God, we're going to walk pleasing God.
Speaker: You know, Ephesians 5.15 says that we walk in wisdom. 3 John, this is a small epistle toward the end of the New Testament, but 3 John verses 3 and 4 speak about walking in the truth, walking in the truth.
Speaker: And there's such joy whenever we see our children walking in the truth. But 1 John 2, 6 says that we should walk like Jesus walked.
Speaker: So, so many verses. I encourage you, if you're ever looking for a word study, that you just want to look up a certain word and go to all the different references where that is mentioned.
Speaker: I encourage you to go to the some of the epistles, some of the ah New Testament letters that are written, and and just look up where walk is used in each one of those. And I think you'll be inspired.
Speaker: But I'm so inspired by Enoch because Noah, he walked with God. But now we see that Enoch, he also is walking with God. But could it be that some of those men like his father, Jared, did they teach him how to walk with God? Did they teach him, you know, one of the things you want to do, Enoch, as you're growing up and as you're living your life and raising your own family now, you want to make sure you're trying to listen to God, try to keep in step with Him.
Speaker: So the faith of Enoch is definitely another dimension that we could learn from Enoch, but also the faithfulness of Enoch. Verse 22, you know, there are some who walk with God for a few weeks, a few months, or maybe a few years.
Speaker: But how long does the Bible say that Enoch walked with God? In verse 22, Get this, 300 years.
Speaker: I would say that's definitely a record for discipleship, wouldn't you? i mean, the writer of Hebrews wrote oh a special word of commendation that was inspired by the Holy Spirit and was ascribed to Enoch by the Lord. And here's what it says.
Speaker: He was commended as having pleased God. Boy, I don't know about you, but I would love to have God say, you know, even after my life is complete, you know, to say, from the time he trusted me until his last breath, Victor tried to please God.
Speaker: I think that's the main thing God's looking for. It's like faithfulness. Would you say that's a longing that you have in your heart? I'm not saying I always please God, but my heart longs to please God.
Speaker: because I want to be humble and to walk with him faithfully. But verse 24 brings us to that unique experience that Enoch had with the Lord when it says Enoch walked with God. That's right.
Speaker: But then it goes on to say, and he was not faithful. for God took him. What in the world is it talking about? What does it mean when it says that God just took him?
Speaker: Well, I wanted to introduce you to another passage of scripture where I think something similar is going to happen, and that's the rapture of the church.
Speaker: I want you to listen to what is written in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses through what says. here's what it says But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Speaker: For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Speaker: For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive Verse 1.
Speaker: will not precede those who have fallen asleep for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of god and the dead in christ will rise first then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
Speaker: And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. These are encouraging words because they're words of hope. They give us hope for what happens after death.
Speaker: What happens when this whole world ah comes to an end, when Christ returns? How is that going to happen and what will happen on that day? Well, what it's saying is those who've already died, who had trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior, they're going to come back with Jesus in the air, in the clouds, it says. And those of us who are still alive, we're going to leave the earth. We're going to leave the ground.
Speaker: And we're going to meet them in the air. And I'm just thinking, that's impossible. If you've ever seen me play basketball, you would know I'm not really known for how high I can jump. And so what an incredible thing.
Speaker: But, you know, only two men were miraculously taken from the earth rather than dying by natural causes. other than the Lord himself. Of course, Jesus, he ascended back to the Father. But if you're not counting Jesus and you're saying, were were any other people on this earth ever taken up like Enoch?
Speaker: Well, definitely Enoch was the first one, but another man was snatched by the Lord while he was still living. Do you know who that was? the Old Testament prophet Elijah.
Speaker: He also was taken. If you want to read 2 Kings 2, verses 9 through 12, you'll see that a chariot of fire came down and just took Elijah the prophet up to be with the Lord. It's an incredible thing that he experienced as well.
Speaker: But my point is this, God can do it. And not only Can he do it? He has done it and he will do it in the future.
Speaker: And so that's something that we can look forward to as 1 Thessalonians exhorts us, encourage one another with that. So that's something we can look forward to.
Speaker: But there is one other thing that Enoch is famous for, and you would have to go to ah Jude in the New Testament, right before the book of Revelation. So it's almost at the end of the Bible.
Speaker: So go all the way from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, not the book of Revelation, but just before it to the small letter of Jude. And there's a reference here that takes us back to Enoch.
Speaker: So let me read that for you. It's Jude verses 14 and 15. Listen to what it says. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of his holy ones to execute judgment on all.
Speaker: And to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they've committed in such an ungodly way. And of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Speaker: Wow, I mean, this is really new information. If you were just reading through Genesis and you didn't put together these cross references, you might never know that this was written in the inerrant, infallible Word of God. Like God's Word always tells us the truth.
Speaker: And so this is an amazing thing that we learn about this man, Enoch. And keep this in mind. Enoch lived, Enoch prophesied, ah Enoch walked with God. he raised his family before there were any scriptures.
Speaker: Like, you know, this is before Moses wrote those first five books of the Bible. And so this is way back there. This is before Job. This is incredible that this early, there was a man walking with God.
Speaker: And that there was a man who spoke for God. And Jude was inspired to write of a special prophetic role that Enoch was called to fulfill in Jude verses 14 and 15.
Speaker: He was giving a brief glimpse of the return of Christ as given in passages like 2 Thessalonians 1, verses 6 through 8. So it's just incredible when you realize, what? i don't I can't believe this. Let me read those verses for you from 2 Thessalonians 1, verses 6 through 8. It's going to sound a lot like the prophecy that the Lord entrusted to Enoch back in the book of Genesis. Here's 2 Thessalonians 1, verses six through eight.
Speaker: Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey Isn't that
Speaker: and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed isn't that incredible I mean, to me, I'm just thinking God's word fits together so perfectly. God tells us the truth and helps us to know this is what we need to heed when we're going through life. So I just encourage you, why don't you join with me as together we can try to follow in the biblical footsteps of Enoch.
Speaker: This man walked with God. We don't know for sure that his father, Jared, had mentored him, but I can guarantee you this. Enoch, having walked with God and raising Methuselah and other sons and daughters, I guarantee you it it made a difference in the way he raised his children.
Speaker: Why don't you let your children know that your heart's desire is to walk with God? Your heart's desire is to please God. Why don't you be willing to share what you've learned about God?
Speaker: I mean, I cannot imagine the people of Enoch's day Whenever he was sharing with them, there's going to come a time when the Lord is coming back and he's going to come back in fire and he's going to bring judgment upon those who are ungodly and those who are saying things against him and so forth.
Speaker: But wouldn't that be a great incentive? Say, Lord, help me to share the wonderful news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have great news for a lost world, right? Because here's the thing, Enoch didn't know that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was gonna come to this earth and he was gonna take the punishment that my sins deserve, the punishment that your sins deserve, the punishment that the whole world's sins would were going to deserve.
Speaker: He was gonna take it upon himself. And in place of all of that sin, he was going to credit to our spiritual account righteousness, a perfect life that Jesus lived. To me, yes, it's wonderful that Enoch was given incredible insight into the future to declare to a lost world, you're going to be accountable to God for your sin.
Speaker: But how much more should we walk with God every day and be willing to share as his spokesman, just like Enoch, from the freshness of our walk with God, we should overflow and say, let me share with you the wonderful news that the world is going to stand accountable to God, just like Enoch and other places in the Bible, just like it says, but What you don't know is that Jesus took the punishment for our sins on that cross.
Speaker: What a wonderful man Enoch is. Let's pray together. Lord, I thank you so much for leaving this wonderful man's example in scripture of Enoch.
Speaker: how he walked with you. Lord, help each one of us to walk with you, to walk with you by faith, to walk with you and please you, to walk with you sharing with those around us, and to also walk with our family one step at a time, one day at a time.
Speaker: Bless all my friends, oh Lord, as they walk with you this week. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Thank you so much for listening. God bless you.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
