By Faith Enoch

Hebrews 11:5-6 “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 is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Hebrews 11 - Examples of an Enduring Faith

We are not those who shrink back in times of trouble - this is what

By faith Abel worshiped; by faith Enoch walked.

What does it mean to walk with God?

How is faith essential to this walk as we draw near to God?

Enoch: An Undying Faith

Enoch’s Walk

A son of Adam (7th Generation - If you include Adam) a sinner deserving of wrath, but he found favor in the grace of God

Gen. 5:21-24 He walked with God; Hebrews 11:5-6 he pleased God - why the difference and what it means

The Hebrew says walked with God, the Greek translation (septuagint) avoided anthropomorphism - pleased God. A Clue: Walking with = pleasing

What does it mean to walk with God

In the OT, only Noah is also said to walk with God - everyone else is called walk before God or walking after God

Walking with God is intimate, built on a relationship

Walked with God” is metaphorical and indicates that Enoch had a lifestyle characterized by his devotion to God. The sense of “walk” (hālak) in its verbal stem indicates a communion or intimacy with God.

Kenneth A. Mathews

How can we please God

By keeping His word, by trusting his promises, by honoring and seeking Him, daily looking to God… we could go on.

Key: (v6) Without faith it is impossible to please God

Enoch’s Faith

He trusted in the promise of God given to Adam

This is what God commended in Abel, he looked to another for his righteousness

We’re not told in Genesis or Hebrews what it was about Enoch, how his faith was demonstrated, other than he walked with God

We do know that He looked to the coming judgment of the Lord against the wicked

Read Jude 14-15 “It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.””

He preached this, to the world that had turned from its creator God, calling them ungodly, destined for destruction

Enoch recognized the failure of men and women trying to live their lives apart from God and His will. By faith he walked with God on this earth at a time when sin and corruption were wildly rampant all around him.

Enoch’s daily walk was a walk of faith, a walk of fellowship with God. What the Scriptures are trying to say to us is this: If Enoch could live and walk with God by faith in the midst of his sinful generation, we likewise should be able to follow his example because the human race is the same and God is the same!…

A. W. Tozer

Without faith - it is impossible to please God

Faith that God exists

God is = I am

Faith that God rewards those who seek him

God is a promise making, and promise keeping God

Enoch’s Reward

He was taken up, translated

He did not see death

From this existence to the eternal existence. Only Elijah shared this translation. There was no funeral, they could not find him. They searched. You can imagine, Methuselah comes wakes up to find, Dad didn’t come home last night...

This is the hope of the gospel -

We are like Enoch, following Eph 2 - by nature children of wrath, but we have been made alive with Christ by faith

Christ died for us, so that we might live for him

Col 1:17 - we have been transferred from domain of darkness to the kingdom of the son

The promise of the day of the Lord -

Those who are alive then will not die, but will be changed

Walking with God

Requires Faith

Prov 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not our own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him…

2 Cor 5:7 we walk by faith, not by sight

Mindful that God is, and He is with you.

Do you spend time each day, at the beginning, middle and end of the day in the awareness that you are before the face of God. Do you stop and ask, If I am walking with God, would I say, do, think, watch, or listen to this with God? Seeking God, who is our reward.

Desiring more of God, more of Christ, more of His Spirit in your life… A growing appetite for the spiritual, to be in God’s word, to worship and fellowship with other believers, to strengthen and nurture your faith and the faith of those around you. This is his reward. Do you trust Him to lead you, to work through you to share and live out the gospel, to risk this life for the life to come - does how you live today require faith in God? Are you walking with God in faith?

Requires Repentance and Holiness

Agreement with God - Amos 3:3

We run ahead, thinking we know better; we turn to the right or left, looking for alternate ways; we drag our feet, reluctant to follow - This not walking with God

Turning from sin, and to a life that reflects our holy God

If we claim to have fellowship with God yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth - 1 John 1:5-7

Obedience to God, holiness in Him, pleases God

Do you have a growing love for the gospel, a deeper recognition of your need for it, a deepening hatred for your sins, and a maturing love for Christ your Savior. Do you spend time in repentance, and plead the shed blood of Christ who now lives to intercede for you? Do you put off the deeds of darkness and put on the works of light, standing firm in the faith, remaining pure from the stains of sin, showing your love for Christ in obedience? Are you walking in repentance and holiness

Requires Stamina

Enoch walked with God 300 years - its not even a Marathon, its a walk.

We are looking for quick fixes, short bursts, but the genuine Christian experience is a long obedience in the same direction…

We need steady, faithful people who know God and are coming to know him better day by day.

Are you walking, day in and day out, with God

Seeks Reward from God Alone

We seek God’s pleasure and approval, not man

When we walk with God we will be rejected by the world, we will walk across the grain, stand firm when the ground shakes.

Run for the prize, train myself so I’m not disqualified

The joy of the lord is our strength, our ability to stand

Seeking the reward, the commendation, the blessing of our Lord

Do you walk with God with an eye to his promised reward, competing for that crown