Genesis 5 - Walking With God

Thomas S. Myers

Walking With God

Genesis 5

            Note with in Genesis chapter 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20

And he died... and he died, ....and he died.  It reads like an obituary column.  One wonders whether it is worth reading.  And if you are reading the Bible through in a year, you may be tempted to skip this section of Scripture.  But it is a mistake to ignore these genealogies because they were placed here for a reason. 

            Some scholars suggest that what we have here is not individuals, but clans, family groups.  They say the years that are given are the grouping of the entire clan.  But what they fail to realize is that these names are real individuals.  Seth the son of Adam is clearly as an individual.

ADAM             - MAN

SETH               -  is APPOINTED

ENOSH            - MORTAL

KENAN           - SORROW;

MAHALALEL- THE BLESSED GOD

JARED            - SHALL COME DOWN

ENOCH           - TEACHING

METHUSELAH - that HIS DEATH SHALL BRING

LAMECH        - THE DESPAIRING

NOAH -           - REST OR COMFORT

            Man is appointed mortal sorrow; but the Blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing rest.

            Some you may be wondering, did people really live to be 100's of years old?  Yes they did. 

ILLUSTRATION:  Canopy Theory.

            So they did live longer, but death was still there.  Death still had a claim upon all. 

And old legend tells of a merchant in Baghdad who one day sent his servant to the market.  Before very long the servant came back, white and trembling, and in great agitation said to his master, "down in the market place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and when I turned around I saw it was Death that jostled me.  She looked at me and made a threatening gesture.  Master, please lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to avoid her.  I will ride to Samara and there I will hide and Death will not find me."

            The merchant lent him his horse and the servant galloped away in great haste.  Later the merchant went down to the market place and saw Death standing in the crowd.  The merchant went over to death and asked, "Why did you make a threatening gesture?"  Death said, "It was not a treating gesture, it was a look of surprise.  I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samara.

            The Bible says, Genesis 3:19

19 By the sweat of your face

You shall eat bread,

Till you return to the ground,

Because from it you were taken;

For you are dust,

And to dust you shall return." NASV

            But as you keep reading in Genesis chapter 5, someone doesn't die. 

Genesis 5:21-24

21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.  NASV

            "GOD TOOK HIM..., what does that mean?  Turn to Hebrews 11:5

Hebrews 11:5

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 his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

NASV

            God took Enoch, physically, bodily to heaven.  Enoch didn't die.  He walked with God, and God took him home.

            Let's look at the life of Enoch. 

FIRST -- THE WORLD THAT ENOCH LIVED.

            Did you know that Adam was still living when Enoch was born?  Most people do not realize that Enoch lived during the lifetime of Adam.  Adam was 622 years old when Enoch was born. 

            Let's look at the world in which Enoch lived.  What was it like to live in the times of Enoch?  Look at Genesis chapter.

A.  THERE WAS THE DECLINE OF THE               FAMILY.

Genesis 4:19

19 And LAMECH took to himself two wives....  NASV

            What was God's plan for marriage?  It has always been one man and one women until death due them part.  But in Enoch's life time they were getting married and getting divorced.  And getting married and getting divorced.  and if that wasn't enough they were now getting 2 wives.

            What I am says is this, that the family life had deteriorated in the time of Enoch.

B.  THERE WAS AN INCREASE IN CRIME. 

Genesis 4:23-24

23 And Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah,

Listen to my voice,

You wives of Lamech,

Give heed to my speech,

For I have killed a man for wounding me;

And a boy for striking me;

24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."  NASV

            Listen to this guy Lamech.  His life was marked by violence.  Now why did the Holy Spirit record all this?  It was to let us know, that the same mess that Enoch lived in is the same mess that we live in.  And yet he still walked with

Go

SECOND -- WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WALK WITH GOD?

First, it means he went in the same direction God went.

            He was moving the way God was going.  The man who walks with God is the man who knows which way God is going and goes the same way.

            The problem we have today is that people do not know which way God is moving?

            `What direction is God moving?  God moves always in unswerving hostility toward sin.  He is opposed to that which destroys and wrecks human life.  No matter how good it looks, no matter how attractive it seems, how luridly it is painted, God is against it.

            And the man who walks with God is the man who walks in unswerving hostility toward sin in his own life and refuses to make up with it or permit it to rule or to reign.  That is the first thing in a walk with God.

Second, it means to keep in step.

            You cannot walk with somebody if you do not keep in step with him.  Sooner or later there comes unbalance and you bump into him, or he bumps into you.  Therefore there must a keeping in step.

            You see a walk is a series of steps where you may trip and fall.  A walk is not like moving on one of these endless belts.  It is not always smooth.

            Have you ever analyzed your walk?  Every time you take a step you almost fall.  You allow your body to go off balance and then you catch yourself with your other leg.  Then you shift to that and you almost fall again, only to catch yourself. 

            That means if God is not there to support and strengthen you, down you go.  You are counting on him to come through and to keep you steady.  That is what a walk with God involves.  It is always a walk of venturing out.  It is forever moving at the same pace God moves.  It means taking a step when God insists.

            I have discovered in my own life (and see it reflected in many others) a tendency to want to sit down after I have taken a step and rest awhile.  We all feel God pressuring us to do something -- take a new step, stop this, start that, or venture out in a new direction -- and after God pushes us awhile, we do it. Perhaps we have been resisting for quite awhile before, but then we take the step and we feel good. We have accomplished something. Then God comes along and says, "Now I want you to take another step." And we say, "Oh, no, Lord. I had a hard enough time taking this one.  Just leave me alone now for awhile.  You walk on for a bit and then come back."  But the worst thing that can happen to us is for God to do exactly that.

            That is what he did with the children of Israel when they came to the edge of the Promised Land.  He said, "I want you to walk with me into the land." But they said, "No, not us.  You go by yourself but we're not going."  So God said, "All right, then you will wander for forty years in the wilderness until you come back to this same place.  I'll leave you alone.  If you don't want to go in, you don't have to go in."  But that is the terrible thing about God, he gives us what we want.  If we want it badly enough he will let us have it, and it will be the worst thing that ever happened to us.  But Enoch was a man who had learned to move as God moved, and to walk in step with him.

The third thing is that there was no controversy between them.

            They were in agreement. "Except two be in agreement, how can they walk together?" says the Scriptures {cf, Amos 3:3}. They must be in agreement.  And this is how we must be. There must be no controversy between us if we are going to walk with God, but we must agree with things as he sees them.

            If you want to walk with God you must see things as he sees them.

            Do you know how long Enoch walked with God?  For three hundred years he walked with God, and this is the same activity to which we are called.

            The conversion of s sinner take a moment, but the growth of a saint takes a lifetime.

THIRD -- WHAT WAS IT THAT MOTIVATED ENOCH TO WALK WITH GOD?

            I think there were 2 things that caused Enoch to walk with God.

A.  THE BIRTH OF A CHILD.  

Genesis 5:22

22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. NASV

            Something happened in his household.  A child was born.

            Enoch came home from work one day and he saw his wife knitting some socks.  And he asked his wife, "Say, arnt those socks a little too small?"  She replied, "Yes there are too small for you.  Were going to have a baby.

            There is something about having a newborn that moves one towards God. 

B.  THERE WAS A WARNING FROM GOD.  

Genesis 5:21

21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.  NASV

Genesis 5:25

25 And Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech.

Genesis 5:28-29

28 And Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. 29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed. NASV

            Do you remember what the name Methuselah means?  It means

METHUSELAH - that HIS DEATH SHALL BRING

            Do you know what happened when Methuselah died?  On the very day that he died, God sent the flood.  You can check it out. 

            Is it wrong to use fear to motivate people?

Doctors use it.  Dentist use it.  The state uses it.  Insurance companies use it.  And God uses it. 

FOURTH -- THE DEPARTURE OF ENOCH.

Genesis 5:24

24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.  NASV

Enoch went to heaven without dyeing.  Turn to Hebrews 11:5

Hebrews 11:5

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 his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

            A little girl was telling the story of Enoch.  She said, "Enoch and God went for a walk one day.  And they walked, and they walked, and they walked, and they walked.  Finally it got dark.  and Enoch said to God, "I have to go home."  But when he looked back towards home, he discovered he was too far from home.  So God told Enoch, "Why don't you just go home with me?"