Can A Man Walk With God Today?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
My Pastor is teaching a class on “The Heroes of the Faith” this past Tuesday in Bible College, and the entire class is character studies from Hebrews 11, and the springboard for last Tuesday’s lesson was:
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
And one of the points in the lesson that really got me thinking was this:
Enoch had to please God before he was rewarded…He was rewarded by not having to experience death; he was raptured away, taken away, Hebrews says “translated…and was not found...”
Translated in that verse carries the idea of “moving something from one place to another.”
What happened was God moved Enoch from earth to Heaven…The Bible says one of these days, I’m going to be caught up in the air with the Lord and other saints…and so shall we ever be with the Lord!
By the way, that’s what we are waiting for right now folks if you’re saved. I’m waiting on the day that my Savior comes through the clouds and takes me away.
When you look at our text today, you can see that Enoch did not just walk with God a day or two and please God…
And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Enoch walked with God all of his life, and the Bible says he pleased God…
But notice when he walked with God…It was the time right before the flood. This would have been the time when people were absolutely wicked; as our text puts it in chapter 6, verse 5: “…the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
But even with that information, we find two men here; the only two men this statement is made about in all the Bible…Look
Genesis 5:22 - “…Enoch walked with God...”
Genesis 6:9 - “…Noah walked with God.”
What I want to preach on for a bit this morning is the thought of “Can A Man Walk With God Today?”
The Period when Enoch and Noah Walked with God
The Period when Enoch and Noah Walked with God
It was a time of Spiritual Crisis
It was a time of Spiritual Crisis
The people rejected:
The people rejected:
The moving of God’s Spirit
The moving of God’s Spirit
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
God's spirit would not always strive with man. God had enough of the wickedness of men and gave mankind a deadline to repent, 120 years. The word strive means "judge, contend, or restrain." The Holy Spirit is the restrainer of sin in the world. Our Lord is patient and longsuffering. Yet, if we persist to resist the Lord and be hard-hearted, God sometimes lets us have our own way and lets sin take its toll on our lives. In Hosea 4:17, God said, "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." When that happens, when God leaves men and women to themselves, they cannot be saved...He gives sinners opportunity to repent. But he will not always call. The day is coming when God will shut the door of mercy.
The Message of God’s Servant
The Message of God’s Servant
And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
We know that the people rejected the message of God’s servant because for 120 years, Noah worked and preached and after all that effort, the only converts he had were to members of his own family…Surely he became discouraged and frustrated, but he stayed the course and maintained his commitment to the Lord. What a wonderful testimony!
The Means of God’s Salvation
The Means of God’s Salvation
What was the means of God’s Salvation - It was the ark…All they had to do is get on the ark! We think that sounds so simple, but it’s just as simple today, what’s the means of God’s Salvation today? Believe! Simply Believe in the work of salvation that Christ did for us!
That He was born of a virgin, walked this earth for 33 years and gave His life willingly on the cross for our sin, was buried, but didn’t stay buried for on the third day, He got up from the grave; and today He’s alive forevermore!
People rejected the means of salvation back then, and they still do today...
Think about this...
It was a Time of Social Corruption (Always Follows Spiritual Crisis)
It was a Time of Social Corruption (Always Follows Spiritual Crisis)
They had moral bankruptcy
They had moral bankruptcy
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
It was a Time of Sovereign Curse
It was a Time of Sovereign Curse
God saw
God saw
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Nothing escapes God…God knows what was going on back then, and He knows what’s going on today…Notice four words in this verse that we need to pay attention to; underline these…(Great) (Every) (Only) (Continually) - Those four word reveal the condition of the human family that was upon the earth…Because of this:
God sorrowed
God sorrowed
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
This is the first occurrence of the word grieved in the Scriptures. God was grieved over the sin of man and it repented the Lord that He made man. God was disgusted with man's devilish deeds. The Hebrew word for grieved means carve, fashion, worry, pain, sorrow, or anger.
What made God this way? The corruption of mankind.
God said “I’ve had it!”
God said “I’ve had it!”
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Just as God once flooded this world in a storm of wrath, one of these days, He’ll consume this world and all who reject Him in vengeful, flaming fire.
Today, while we are here, there is still hope though for God is a gracious, patient God...
It was a Time of Sweet Communion
It was a Time of Sweet Communion
Preacher, after all you just went through, how in the world can you even say that? Because even in the midst of all of this…Even without a Bible…I think we tend to forget that sometimes; even without a printed Word of God - Noah walked with God.
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Can a man walk with God today? Absolutely! Yes! Because we know that the days in which we live are very, very similar to the days in which these men lived...
I will say this about the day in which we live; I don’t think it’s ever been easier to access filth - You know, when I was a boy, they still put the dirty magazines behind the counter and covered them up and there wasn’t any way I was going to get access to them, but today, we give our children smartphones and you can access any kind of filth you want in about 1.5 seconds...
Now that I’ve got the foundation built, let’s look at how can a man walk with God today?
The Plan for Walking with God
The Plan for Walking with God
To walk with God, there must be:
A Meeting Place
A Meeting Place
God meets man at the blood!
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
A Marked Path
A Marked Path
You must walk by the Word...
NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
A Mutual Place
A Mutual Place
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
The Price of Walking with God
The Price of Walking with God
God’s Word is clear that there is a price when it comes to walking with God...
The very first message I preached was titled, “Counting the Cost” out of Luke 14…Jesus tells a parable there about building a tower and how you don’t go build something without first taking an account of what it will cost you first. Likewise, making a decision to follow Christ is a cost that needs to be counted...
Martin Luther said, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”
There is a difference between those who follow Christ for fishes and loaves (the crowds who just want to be fed), and those who follow Christ with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
Control of the flesh
Control of the flesh
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
We don’t like not being in control; our flesh wants control, not the other way around…If you’re going to walk with God, you must get control of your flesh. We must walk in the Spirit, and give control over to God!
Separation from the family
Separation from the family
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
This doesn’t refer to literally hating your family, but it simply means GOD FIRST! Even over yourself - it goes back to subduing your flesh! A Christian’s devotion to God should be such that, by comparison, looks as if everything else is hated...
The Payday for Walking with God
The Payday for Walking with God
Noah enjoyed…the sweetness of fellowship, the salvation of his family, and the security through the flood because he walked with God...
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Conclusion
Conclusion