HOW TO BE A GODLY FATHER
IN AN UNGODLY WORLD
GENESIS 5:21-24
Also read Heb.11:5-6 & Jude 14-15.
INTRO: Get the picture. It is an extremely hot day in a major desert city. The city bus is crowded. The people are tired and miserable. Suddenly, a young man begins cursing. It’s one cuss word after another. The bus driver looks in mirror and can tell the people are ashamed for him. When the young man got off the bus, the driver said,"Sir, you’ve left something." "What?!,"he asked."A bad impression", said the driver.----Fathers, what are you leaving behind? Your influence never dies. Good or bad, right or wrong-it never dies. Are you a godly influence on your family or negative-ungodly? I believe by studying the life of Enoch we can see how to improve and be a Godly father--be a Godly influence. You see-it’s simple. How to be a Godly father in an ungodly world is to simply "walk with God". Enoch walked with God.
Enoch lives in an ungodly world. Look at Gen.6:5.(Noah-his great-grandson).Jesus even gives us commentary on this-Matt.24. It is a pleasure oriented, pleasure seeking, self-gratifying generation. No thought of coming judgment. The Godly marrying the ungodly and the result is the destruction of the home. Sounds like the year 2000. The times are so evil that Enoch even went against the grain and preached against this evil-Jude 14-15.(key word there "ungodly". Enoch lives in an ungodly world, yet he walks with God. Fathers,yes,we live in an ungodly world, but we can walk with God,and be a Godly father. (All Christians-the same.) But that raises another question.
What does it mean to walk with God? Means several things (5 things)
1. WALKING W/GOD MEANS TO GO IN GOD’S DIRECTION vs.22
Now you’ve got to realize, that God’s direction is up, and man’s is down. Rom.3:23. And in order to walk in God’s direction we’ve got to turn around ie.repent. Walking in God’s direction, first, means a conversion experience. Enoch was born into sin as we all are. From all indications he had been living a sinful, wicked, ungodly life.--running around w/the ungodly crowd of his day. But something happened, that changed his life, that caused him to repent and go in God’s direction. Did you catch it. Note vs.22--Enoch walked w/God after he begat Methuseleah. After the birth of his first son, he turned his life over to God and began to go in God’s direction. When that baby was born it changed his life forever. (APPL) Listen, sometimes God puts a baby in a family just for that purpose. A baby can be the turning point in a person’s walk w/Christ. And if that baby will not bring you back to God, then nothing else will. For the next 300 years Enoch walks in God’s direction. Fathers, are you running w/ the ungodly crowd? I beg you to turn and go in God’s direction. The Bible says you must be born again.
2. WALKING W/GOD MEANS TO WALK BY FAITH Heb.11:5-6
We read Heb.11:5-6 that said,"By faith Enoch...had pleased God" Why? Because he had walked by faith. And w/o faith it is impossible to please God. What does walking by faith mean?
a. It means just that-"walking by faith".In fact IICor.5:7 says,"walk by faith and not by sight". Heb.11:1 says,"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Basically it is confidence that someone or something is reliable. And walking by faith means you walk forward in God’s direction w/total confidence in Him. You don’t have to see around the bends in the road, cause He does. Not by sight, even though the door may appear closed.
(EX)-Sandie walks by faith into Wal-Mart.....She has confidence those doors will open. Enoch did.Fathers do you? Christians are you? How do you do that?--the world says--and may even call it blind faith. Well we have a guide-compass-The Holy Spirit. (ex)--Just as the spirit of shopping leads Sandie towards those closed doors at Wal-Mart--(appl) the Holy Spirit leads us towards closed doors. Don’t fret. you don’t have to doubt the H.S.
So, walk in God’s direction, and continue walking in His dir. by faith and you will be a Godly dad.
3. WALKING W/GOD MEANS TO SHARE HIS COMPANIONSHIP 21,24
"Walk" is the Biblical expression for fellowship and obedience to the Lord. Walking w/ God means unbroken communion and fellowship w/ God. Note the text--"Enoch lived...vs.21 and vs.24--Enoch walked... That’s when you really begin to live, when you start walking w/ God. You walk w/Him & talk w/Him. Enoch was a walker and talker w/God. You see, a Godly father is a man of prayer. A man on his knees.--in order to be a Godly father in an ungodly world. Not only talk but listened. 2 way communication. We’ve already mentioned the H.S. is our guide-compass. Well the Bible is our map. "The Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path"Ps.119:105
(EX)-WWtrip down Hwy.64 reminded me of honeymoon 12 yrs. ago.....Memorize the Word, because if it gets thrown out-removed, then you’ve got it in here--heart.(Appl)--Fathers, do your children see you reading the Bible? Wife see you? See you pray? Some say too busy. Too busy for fellowship w/God. Enoch was busy too. He had a family to take care of. A job to go to. Preacher too. Yet he was able to keep up his walk w/God. Don’t have time....That’s right...You have to take time from something else. Listen the closer you walk w/God, the less room for anything to come in between you and Him.
4. WALKING W/GOD MEANS TO BEAR A STRONG WITNESS Jude 14-15
He preached hard against sin. His message condenmed sin. Not only did he preach w/ his lips, he preached w/ his life. His walk was proof of that. And he left a powerful influence behind. He left a legacy. And what a legacy. He did not live like others, therefore he did not die like others. Then his boy Methuselah cont. preaching that same message---"judgment is coming". Fathers, what are you leaving behind???
5. WALKING W/GOD MEANS TO ARRIVE AT GOD’S DESTINATION
vs.24 The Greek word for "he was not" (Heb.11:5) means he was no more...seen no more. He vanished. Translated. Translation is the taking of a word from one language and putting it into another lang. without changing its meaning. Enoch was removed from Earth. He had to get rid of this old body and take on a new but be the same person. Or to put it another way-Death is a river that divides this world and the world to come. And here we have a man that didn’t have to go thru it. God carried him over. God translated him-carried over. That’s what this old Latin verb means.
Appl. And my friends when you are a child of God, you want even taste death. Even though you’ll physically die, Christ will carry you over. As a Christian, never one milli-second w/out Christ.
CONCL:
Are you walking w/ God? The best way to describe it is like the little girl who come home from SS and told this story of Gen.5. "It seems that every day God would come by Enoch’s house and say ’Enoch would you like to walk w/Me?’ And Enoch would come out of the house, go down to the gate, and down the road w/God. He got to the place in his life, he enjoyed it so much, he’d wait at the gate everyday. And he and God would go for a walk. Then one day, God came by and said,’Enoch, lets take a long walk. I have much to tell you.’ So they were walking and walking and finally Enoch said,’My it’s getting late in the afternoon. I’d better get back home!’ And God said, ’Enoch, you’re closer to My home than you are to your home; so you come home w/ Me.’ So Enoch went home with God." I can’t put it any better than that. Fathers are you walking w/ God?
Christian are you walking w/ God. Or have you been going your own way. Repent today.
Lost--This is also a picture of the Rapture of the Chruch. Before the judgment of the Flood God removes Enoch. Before the Great Trib. God removes His Chruch. Are you ready????
6/17/00
Royce Hendry Sand Hill Baptist
