Leaving A Legacy: Walking With God

Intro: Genesis is a book of beginnings. Here in the fifth chapter of Genesis it is called the book of generations of Adam (5.1). However, as you take a stroll down the verses of chapter five it is more like taking a walk through the cemetery. Again and again we read and he died, and he died, and he died. It has been called the desert of death. Here it seems there is no purpose or promise other than death and taxes. But if you look close enough in the desert of death there is a lily of life. There is a bloom in the barrenness. The name of that flower is Enoch. Here in the Old Testament we have only 51 words about this man. How can we learn about leaving a legacy in so few words? We also have ninety-four words in the New Testament that tell us about the legacy of faith that Enoch left. How can we learn anything from 145 verses in the Bible. Remember that we are told of the creation of the universe in 31 verses in Genesis chapter one.

Man has the problem of using many words and saying little. God has the ability to say volumes with simple words.

Some examples: John 3.16, John 11.35 Jesus Wept, Genesis 1.1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God can say so much with so few words. Here in this barren desert of death he says there is hope, there is life.

Hope is found in four simple words, “Enoch walked with God.” The real measure of our life is not how much people say about us when we are gone instead, it is found in what is said about us.

I. By faith we can know God

If you look closely at what 5.21, 22 you find out that Enoch was just like us. Enoch did not always walk with God. The Bible clearly says that he lived 65 years became the father of Methuselah and then walked with God. What made Enoch turn toward God and away from the world? What could have impacted him in order to change the way he walked. In the Bible and the ancient world walk tells us about one’s continued course of action, and life in other words the habitual habit and manner of your life. Something happened to change the manner and habit of Enoch’s life. Can we find out what it is form the Bible? Certainly we can!

A) The Danger of walking without God

The answer is found in the name of the child that Enoch fathered. You may know that Methuselah is the said to be the oldest person that ever lived. Methuselah is said to have lived 969 years and he too succumbed to the desert of death. But what else can we find out about Methuselah’s name. Methuselah means “When he dies it will be sent, or it will come.” But what was to be sent? Methuselah was the warning of the great flood to come and judge the world of its sin and rejection of God. How can we know this? Listen closely for just a moment.

Genesis 5.25 tells us Methuselah was 187 years old when he became the father of Lamech.

Then the Bible tells us that Lamech was 182 when he became the father of Noah. Whne you add 187 and 182 you get 369 the age of Methuselah when Noah was born. When did the flood come? Genesis 7.11 in the 600th year of Noah’s life. When you add 600 and 369 you get 969 which is the age of Methuselah lived according to Genesis 5.27.

Methuselah was the warning to Enoch. Enoch was shown the danger of walking without God. It was the birth of His son used to prophecy his need for God. In the same way Immanuel, Jesus, God with us, it was His birth that showed us the need for a Savior, our need for God.

B) The Declaration of walking with God

Genesis 5.22 “Then Enoch walked with God.” After realizing the danger of walking without God and receiving the grace of God Enoch walked with God.

All of us must declare like Enoch I walk with God. How do we do that? We first recognize that we are sinners. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. We confess we are sinners agreeing with God’s assessment of us and we confess Jesus as Lord.

We declare our walk with God through Baptism. We follow in scriptural Baptism as an outward sign of an inward change. It is not only by our words but by our actions that we declare our walk. Enoch Walked with God. His manners and habits changed. He was no longer conformed to the world but was being shaped by the hand of God.