Walking with God

Walking with God
Genesis 5:21-24
August 29, 2021

Introduction

1. When it comes to the Christian life, what does “authentic” look like?

2. I ask the question because I believe our hearts long for what is real and authentic.

3. The standard for Christian faith and practice is and must be the Bible.

4. So, what does the Bible say about having an “authentic relationship” with God?

5. Tonight, we are going to read about a man who had an authentic relationship with God.

6. The writer of Hebrews said this man was one “of whom the world was not worthy.” (Hebrews 11:38)

7. As we look at his life, we will uncover life-transforming principles from God’s Word to help us walk with God in a way that is real and authentic.

Genesis 5:21-24

Context

1. When it comes to genealogies in the Bible, many people just skip to the next chapter.

2. Yet, biblical genealogies are filled with wonderful treasures just waiting to be discovered.

3. For instance, in Genesis 5:1 we are taken back to the first two chapters in Genesis, when God created Adam and Eve.

4. In verse 3 we are told that Adam’s son, Seth, was made in the “image” or “likeness” of Adam.

5. But it is not until we read verse five that we realize the innocence of Genesis 1 and 2 is gone, for in that verse we are reminded of Adam’s fall when we read, “Adam died” at the age of 930.

6. Why did the Bible record Adam’s death?
a. Because God always keeps His word.
b. God judged the first couple for eating the forbidden fruit which resulted in Adam’s death; a judgment that all of creation still endures to this day.

7. In Genesis 5, there is a clear pattern of life followed by death which is unbroken until we read verse 21.

8. Here we are told of a man who lived and did not die because “he walked with God.” His name was Enoch.

Transition – Why was Enoch different? What can we learn from his life to help us walk closer with God? First, we will walk closer with God when we. . .

I. Do Life with God

A. Doing life with God is a choice

1. Enoch lived in dark, corrupt times.
a. God was all but forgotten during the days of Enoch.
b. Human life was not valued so murder and immorality were the norm.
c. The world had a one-track mind; to satisfy self and glorify self.
d. It was a world that was willfully rushing head-first towards judgment.

Genesis 6:5-6, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

2. But it appears that something changed in Enoch around the time of his son’s birth.
a. For the first 65 years of life, Enoch just walked.

APPL – Many people live their lives this way. They get up, fight through the day, and then go to bed. Repeat. Wake up. Fight! Fight! Fight! Go to bed.

b. After his son’s birth, Enoch “walked with God.”

3. Something had stirred within Enoch.
a. Maybe it was holding his son for the first time and realizing he was raising him in a wicked world. Enoch wanted to give his son more than what the world had to offer.
b. Maybe it was talking with Adam, who would have been 687 years old at Methuselah’s birth. Imagine what their conversations were like.

• “What was it like when you saw grandma Eve for the first time?”
• “What was life like before you ate the forbidden fruit, when you and grandma walked with God in the cool of the day?”

c. I believe the key to understanding the transformation in Enoch is found in the name he gave his son.

• “Methuselah” has been taken to mean one of two things.
• The first meaning is, “When he is dead it shall be sent.”
• The second meaning is, “Man of the dart” or “spear, javelin, arrow.”
• Both appear to warn of a future judgment.
• Methuselah lived 969 years, longer than any other person in the Bible.
• When one calculates the year of his death, it matches the year when Noah’s flood began. “When he is dead it (i.e. judgment) shall be sent.”
• A dart or arrow was used as an instrument of death or judgment.
o Remember, after the flood God promised Noah that He would never flood the earth again.
o So God gave Noah a sign, a rainbow, an arrowless bow pointed away from the earth, a symbol of peace between God and man.
• Putting this all together, Methuselah’s name was a prophetic warning, “In the day of Methuselah’s death, the arrow shall be sent.”
• And the length of Methuselah’s life was a sign of God’s grace, an opportunity for people to repent.
• So, the day of his death was a fulfillment of Enoch’s prophetic warning, judgment day had come.

Hebrews 9:27, it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment

4. The message was not lost on Enoch for he made a choice which changed his life forever.
a. Some choose to live for themselves.

ILLUS – Rich and I seeing wild animals in Kenya.

b. But Enoch chose to do life with God, to stay close to God.

Philippians 1:21, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

B. Doing life with God is personal

1. Enoch “walked with God.”
a. Only three times is this phrase used in the Bible.
b. It is said of Enoch twice in four verses, emphasizing the uniqueness of Enoch’s life with God.
c. Was Enoch successful in passing on his faith to his children? The answer is “Yes” for the third reference for “walking with God” is linked to his great-grandson, Noah.

Genesis 6:9, These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

2. Walking with God means. . .
a. Enoch was living a life reminiscent of life before the Fall, “walking in the cool of the day” with God. (Genesis 3:8)
b. This means Enoch invited God into his life, twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Transition – A similar picture is seen in Psalm 23, when David says the Lord is his Shepherd. . .

Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

3. Walking with God means complete devotion to God.
a. The name “Enoch” means “dedicated” or “initiated.”
b. Enoch “dedicated” himself to the highest honor offered to man, to know and walk with God.

ILLUS – The media fawns over the rich, powerful, and famous.

Philippians 3:8, More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

c. For Enoch, it was a relationship that lasted for 300 years on this earth before God said, “Come home!”

ILLUS – While pastoring a Calvary Chapel in East Dallas, Texas a dear brother continually reminded me that the Christian faith is about a relationship with God, not man-made programs or the latest fades.

Romans 8:15, For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

1 John 3:1, See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.

Transition – Let’s look at things from God’s perspective. The Bible makes it clear that. . .

II. Walking Closer with God Pleases God

A. Faith in God pleases God

1. You cannot have a true relationship with someone unless there is trust.
a. A relationship will never go deeper than the level of trust one has in his or her heart.
b. After the Fall, man’s trust in God was shattered because Adam and Eve believed the enemy’s lie:
• God is a liar.
• God has character issues.

Genesis 3:4-5, And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

c. But Enoch went against the tide of public opinion and trusted God.
d. So, God let the world know that He was pleased with Enoch.

Hebrews 11:5, 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 he was taken up he was pleasing to God.

2. This means that only faith pleases God.

Hebrews 11:6, 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.

a. In fact, anything other than faith is sin.

Romans 14:23, . . . whatever is not from faith is sin.

b. We must believe God exists.
c. We must believe that God rewards our faith in Him.
d. What was Enoch’s reward?
• Enoch was the first to be raptured to heaven; no death.
• Enoch had a testimony that God was pleased with him.
• Enoch knew his God and lived with his God.

APPL – Now we are getting at the real purpose of life; to know God and live with God so that we may one day hear Him say, “You did life right because you did life with Me!”
B. God wants to start walking with you

ILLUS – I love making memories with my kids Silverwood Rides.

APPL – If I love spending time with my kids, imagine how much more our Good Father loves doing life with us.

1. The relationship was fractured at the Fall.

Genesis 3:8-9, And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

2. But our relationship with God does not have to remain fractured.

3. In fact, God has been reaching out to us ever since the Fall.
a. God wanted to walk with Israel.

Leviticus 26:3, 12, If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out. . . I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

b. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ so that we may walk with God.

John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

c. Now, God invites us to walk with Him.

1 John 1:5-7, This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Conclusion

J. Oswald Sanders wrote, “Everyone of us is as close to God as he wants to be.”

• Do you want a closer walk with God?
• Will you accept God’s invitation to do life with Him?

Revelation 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.