"Like Enoch Walked"

“Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

One thing the Christian must get very clear in his thinking, is that he will not die. Adam stood in his own righteousness, and the life he was given was based upon obedience. When he disobeyed his life was forfeited, for the wages of sin is death.

But Christ came in His righteousness, having life in Himself, and met all the requirements against sin by dying. In so doing, He destroyed the power of the devil, and in rising from the dead He made life available to all who believe in Him.

Satan can’t touch that! It is a perfect and finished work Christ did, and the believer must understand that once he has repented of sin and placed his faith in the work of that cross and in Christ’s bodily resurrection, and once he has been born from above, death is behind him.

Now of course unless we are raptured first there will be a ‘falling asleep’, as Paul called it, ‘sleeping in Christ’. But that is not death, for we who believe shall not see death. Because death is the wages of sin, and the question of sin for the believer has been dealt with and put away forever.

We have a beautiful example of this doctrinal truth in Enoch, who stands out in sharp contrast to all the other lives recorded in Genesis 5, in that he did not die.

As you read down through this chapter the sad end of each story is “he died” He had this many sons and daughters, and he lived this many years, and he died.

Until we come to Enoch. Now I want to point out here that he was the seventh generation from Adam. And it is very encouraging to see that death was not allowed to triumph over ‘the seventh’.

Now just in case anyone might read these verses and say, “Well, it says God took him. And I heard my dad say that about my grandfather. So how do you know he didn’t die?”

I would take you to Hebrews 11 verse 5. Let’s go there and look then come back.

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should 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 how was it he escaped death? How was it he was pleasing to God? By faith.

“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 seek Him.” (vs 6)

HE WALKED WITH GOD

I want to talk to you today, about the ways Enoch typifies the church. I want us to see that although we have very little information about him, the little that we are told speaks volumes about the Christian and his walk.

He ‘walked with God‘. What an amazing three words!

If Enoch’s life is a foreshadowing of the church, believers, how should we then be walking?

We are so anxious to put do’s and don’ts out there on a list and admonish folks to follow it. A Christian acts like this, and he doesn’t act like that. A Christian is expected to be a good witness; set a good example for others to follow.

But how much simpler we could make the whole thing, if we could say we ‘walk with God’.

The proper thinking and behaviors would pretty automatically fall into line, wouldn’t they?

Do you think Enoch literally walked with someone he could see? What we call a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ? Did He walk with Enoch the way He walked with Adam in the garden? Did He appear to Enoch the way He appeared to Abraham and Moses and Joshua and others?

I believe He did. Why not? Enoch was pleasing to Him.

So you might say, Enoch had an edge. It’s easier to be close to someone you can see. Develop a closer relationship with someone who is walking beside you and you can literally hear His voice. Right?

But Christian, He is in you!

He is in you. Jesus told His disciples while standing right in front of them, that the Comforter would come and would be in them. The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ. Himself God. So listen to me, if you’re a believer in Christ.

When you ignore the Holy Spirit who indwells you, when you walk through your day thinking only of and to yourself, like He’s not even there, you grieve Him. And when you have a thought of some spiritual way you should be reacting to life and you do not, you quench Him, because it is He who is speaking to your heart, saying, ‘pray’ ‘tell that person about Jesus’ ‘don’t respond to that man in anger, but in love’, and so forth.