We shall now turn to that chapter portion of Scripture we read from Genesis chapter 5. And the focus of our meditation this morning will be in these verses from 21 to 24. And in these verses, we have the history and the life of Enoch. We shall read these verses as we go through, but what we have in these verses that we read beginning at the end of chapter 4 and going on to chapter 5 of Genesis We have a narrative and it covers several generations without saying anything really remarkable to us. It's an outline of those that came ultimately from Adam and then from the line of Seth. But as we said, we want to look at Enoch. We want to study this character this morning and see if we can draw some practical lessons for ourselves as we look at this notable individual here in Genesis chapter 5. And the title I'd like to give to our meditation this morning is Walking with God. Are you walking with God? Well, Enoch did, and he's got a lesson for us. all of us, he was able to walk with God. There's a number of things that we could, or at least one or two things that we could highlight from the whole text that we read that would be of profit to us. For instance there, if we look at chapter 5, verse 5, this is said of many of the people mentioned, Verse 5 at the beginning, and all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years. Nine hundred and thirty years he lived, almost a millennium Well, some, maybe the younger people in our midst, might be saying, well, this just doesn't happen. The Bible's got it wrong. The writer didn't write down exactly what is true. Or maybe years don't mean the same as they mean to us. Well, we don't accept these arguments or excuses. Adam lived for nearly a millennium, 900, what are we told, 930 years. How can that be? Here we are in the 21st century. What is the average lifespan? 70, 80, maybe a bit more, maybe less, but it's around that figure. That's what we get normally. How can it possibly be that people at the beginning lived for such a long period of time? And many of them did. We have them here in the Word of God. Well, God is sovereign. And if God wants them to live for 900 years, 1,000 years, 2,000 years, he can cause them to live. And of course, sin had come into the world by this time. That's why they had death itself. But sin is something that progresses. It gets worse. And as we go on, we'll find that the effects of sin continue to mar mankind, so that mankind is getting weaker and weaker because of the ongoing effects of sin. And that's one reason why they were able to live so long, because the effect of sin was there, but it wasn't as noticeable, as prevalent as it is today in our society. But I really don't want to focus upon that for a moment, because you can have your view on it, it doesn't really matter. But what I want to focus on when we read, and all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, here the Bible is teaching us something about life. It's teaching us about the brevity of life. Even if you live for 930 years, or even if you live for 9,300 years, what is that? in comparison to eternity. That's what we're meant to learn here. Because the Bible says, and all the days that Adam lived. We would say all the years, but no, the Bible says all the days of Adam. And you'll find that repeated as we go through it. You can look at it later on. You'll find it, and the days of Adam, and the days of so-and-so, and the days of so-and-so. It's reminding us, even then, even when people live far longer than we do, our lives are but days. That's what you're to measure your life as, days, not years. How old are you? 60, 70, 80, 90? They are but days. Oh, friends, we're all heading towards eternity. This is what this is teaching us. And in eternity there is no days. It is but an eternal day. And therefore, where are you going? Oh, is this not something to consider? Where are you going? Where will you spend eternity? Because we're made in the image of God and God is eternal. And therefore, we are eternal. Our soul shall live forever and ever. Once created by God, we are eternal. Not because of anything in us, but because we are made in the image of God. This is what is meant to teach us. We have here then, we meet Enoch. He's the seventh from Adam. And as one commented or said regarding all the others that are mentioned here, the rest lived virtuously or righteously, but he excelled. And you'll notice this too when you go through the narrative, if you read it closely. The commentator goes on to say, the others lived. You read it, the others lived. Verse three, for instance, Adam. And Adam lived 130 years. But what does it say about Enoch? He walked. There's a difference. Adam lived, lived out his life. But Enoch walked. That's the difference. He was walking with God. And that's what we want to meditate and focus upon this morning. I have four things that I wish to highlight. First of all, he walked with God. Verse 22, what does it tell us? An Enoch walked with God. Verse 24, an Enoch walked with God. We're meant to realize here was an individual who was different. He stood out. from the society that's all around us. We cannot really judge the people who are mentioned here. I don't know if we can call them righteous or not. People might argue over it, but nevertheless, Enoch was someone who rose above the example of that generation or that time span. He alone walked with God. Now, of course, as you know, friends, you hear it from the pulpit, not just here, but everywhere else you go, the ungodly cannot walk with God. They are contrary to God. Amos tells us, we looked at this when we studied the book of Amos, that minor prophet, Amos chapter three, verse three, can two walk together except they be agreed? Enoch, whatever he was, he was a believer. He was one who could walk with God, he sided with God, he aligned himself with God, and the ungodly cannot do that. And you cannot please God unless you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it doesn't matter what you are, it doesn't matter how educated you might be, It doesn't matter how much money you might give to the cause, if you're not right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot walk with God. You're walking contrary to God. Well, let us ask ourselves then under this heading, what is it to walk with God? Enoch walked with God. Well, someone who's walking with God is someone who has God before him at all times. When he gets up in the morning, he thinks of God. When he goes about his work, he knows that God is there. He knows that God's eye is upon him. He can never escape from God, and indeed, he doesn't want to escape from God. He's living his life in the full understanding that God is there. He is omnipresent, and he is watching over him, and the believer delights in this, and therefore, he's free to go anywhere, and he's not embarrassed wherever he goes. He takes God with him in some sense. And he's not afraid, because God is before him at all times. And he lives in communion with God. Even when he's out and about, he's offering up prayers. He meets a colleague, he offers up a prayer. What can I do? How can I speak to this individual? He's in a shop. He's speaking to the assistant. He wants to be able, in some sense, to communicate the gospel. He's in permanent communication with God. His mind is heavenward. That's what it is to walk with God. It is to make God's word our law, our rule book. It is to order and direct our lives according to the word of God. We don't want to deviate from it. We recognize this is wisdom. This is God's wisdom for us. This is how we are to please God in our day and generation, regardless of where we live, regardless of where we work, regardless of our companions. This is our rule book. We go to the word of God. That's what happens when you're walking with God. You don't put it aside. It's foremost. It's uppermost. It takes priority in your life. And someone who is walking with God has a goal and has an end in mind. What is it? Is it heaven? No. No, it's not. It's the glory of God. He goes out. What does he want to do? He wants to live his life and to be consumed with this desire that God, his great Savior and Lord, that he might be glorified in our day and generation. That's what motivates the Christian. That's what's motivated the person who is walking with God, who has a living relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. we could say, and it would not be wrong, that he's in love with God. Very often, we never associate religion or Christianity with love. Well, if that's your viewpoint, friends, you haven't understood the Bible. You haven't understood the gospel. You don't understand God. God is love. And whatever Enoch was, he must have been someone who loved God, for he walked with him. He didn't just go through duties. He didn't just turn up at 11 o'clock on the Lord's day to morning worship or six o'clock in the evening for evening worship. No, his whole life in one sense was a life of service. It was a life of worship. It was a life devoted and dedicated to almighty God. To that end, he fulfilled and knew something of that first catechism, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. He was going to glorify God on the earth, and therefore he was going to enjoy Him forever in heaven, because he always had God before him. And notice again, as someone pointed out, he did not walk after God, no, but with God. We hear of people following, and it's good to follow. We are to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it does seem that Enoch was a step ahead. He was really intimate. With the Lord his God, he was walking with them, not just following, but actually walking with them. And someone has said also, this was the part of the office of a priest. A priest was one who had to walk before God. I'm going to quote from 1 Samuel 2, verse 30. It's part of a revelation that the man of God gave to Eli. Eli was the priest in Shiloh, and Eli was a good person to a certain extent, but he honored his sons above the Lord his God. And because of that, he was going to be removed from the priesthood. And his family would be removed from the priesthood, and it would be given to another one. And the man of God, when he brought this message to Eli, part of the message says in verse 30 of chapter 2, 1 Samuel, wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me forever. That's what the priest should do, should walk before me forever, walk before God. And he was going on to tell him, no longer. He's going to destroy his family. Why? Because Eli did not walk with God as he should have. And therefore, we find here that Enoch walked with God. And we're inclined to believe that he was, in some sense, a priest, certainly a priest to his family, and maybe to that generation. Such was his close walk with the living God that he sought to bring others into that close walk with God also. And of course we know, if we go to the New Testament, we know that in Jude we're told something about Enoch. In Jude chapter 1, well there's only one chapter, Jude verse 14, And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. Now, we don't need to bother about the interpretation of that, but we believe that was Enoch talking about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what we want to derive from that text is quite clear, that if we believe that Enoch was a priest, he was also a preacher. He was also a preacher. Enoch also, the servant from Adam, prophesied. He preached. This is how close he walked with God. He was both a priest and a preacher. A preacher of righteousness, just like Noah was also. And we'll notice him in days to come. This was a man, if you like, who was in the nicest possible sense of the meaning. He was consumed with God, consumed with his glory. He delighted in the Lord his God to such an extent that he did not just simply follow God, but he walked with him. Well, secondly, We want to notice the change. Verse 22. We find, verse 21, for instance, Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methuselah. Methuselah was going to be the man who would live the longest recorded life in the Bible. But verse 22 tells us, and Enoch walked with God after He begat Methuselah. There seems to have been a change. For 65 years, maybe Enoch was just like the others, round about him. But when Methuselah came, he changed. We're not told exactly what happened. All we know is he went up a level. His devotion went up for whatever reason, well, we might have one or two reasons. The Bible might hint at one or two reasons. Methuselah, the man who lived the longest recorded life in the Bible, what does his name mean? Well, it can mean man of the dart or man of the javelin. It can also mean, he dies. Or it can mean, ascending forth. Some are inclined to believe that when Methuselah came along and when he was named, that his name, one of the meanings, he dies, it's pointing forward to the flood that was going to come. ascending forth. God was going to do something in the time or the times of Methuselah that somehow awakened Enoch so that he began as a believer we were inclined to believe but when Methuselah came along it was as if God had given him a message that things are going to change that God is going to do something terrible glorious wonderful he's going to reveal his holiness and his hatred against sin and this is what brought Enoch to this realization that now he's going to walk ever closer with God than he ever did before, because there was going to be this great time that was going to come in the future. And if we like, Enoch ordered and directed his life in the light of that. According to the scholars, it would tell you that Methuselah died the same year that the flood came. Scholars are not agreed. Did Methuselah die in the flood or before the flood? But they all agree. that he died the year that Noah's flood came. Well it seems that coming of his son and the naming of his son was something that spurred on Enoch and prompted him to take a look at his life and to take a look at what he's doing. Maybe he was kind of half-hearted before Maybe the things of God didn't really bother him before. Oh, he may well have been a believer, but he was very non-committal. He was maybe a nominal believer. Do we not have many of them? Things changed. Methuselah came, and it was a wake-up call. Enoch, get your life in order. Look at what's going to happen. God is going to do something terrible, awesome. Because of the wickedness of mankind, something arrested his attention, and he began to be more devoted to the cause. Could this be said of you? Has God interfered in your life and shaken you from your complacency? Something's happened. Maybe the loss of a loved one. Maybe something that's happened to yourself personally. A health issue. A financial issue. a relationship issue. You've been shaken out of your complacency. You have been confronted with God. God is speaking to you. In Providence, he is speaking to you. Why is he speaking to you? He's speaking to you that you might begin to walk with God, that you might take on board the lesson here. Enoch lived for 65 years. Then something happened. It's high time something happened to you, sir. It's high time something happened to you, madam. What more has God got to do? We cannot limit the power of God, of course not. But God is speaking. God is speaking to us all. God is speaking to this nation. God is speaking to this world. God has never stopped speaking. And we've stopped listening and stopped heeding. Well, it's high time we took a shake to ourselves. It's high time this great change came upon us. And we began to walk with God, just like Enoch. Thirdly, we would notice the continuance We're told here in verse 22, Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years. 300 years. You know, many people have prompts from God. The conscience is pricked, maybe at a gospel message sermon, or maybe something in providence has pricked the conscience of the unbeliever, or even the believer who's backsliding. God has spoken, your conscience has been pricked. But what has happened? You've gone out to the church, Nothing's changed, nothing at all. Only momentarily you've been affected. By the time Monday comes, you're back in your old ways. You sat in the house of God and you said, well, I'm going to seek the Lord. I'm going to be more diligent about the means of grace. I'm going to read his word. I'm going to turn to prayer. I'm going to be more devotional. I'm going to seek the Lord. I'm going to walk closely with him. Monday, Tuesday comes, and you're back in your old ways. Well, that was not the case for Enoch. We're told that he walked with God for 300 years. What does this tell us? It tells us, above all things, that the root of the matter was in him. God truly did a wonderful work in him, whatever it was. It wasn't temporary. We know what happens. Jesus told us about the parable of the sower. You know, what does that parable teach us? If anything, friends, it teaches us what happens when the gospel is preached in a congregation. It's not telling us about the wide world. The sower, what does he do? He goes out and he sows his seed. Where does he sow it? He sows it in the congregation. And do you know the real sad thing about that, friends, about that parable of the sower? That where he sows it in the congregation, where the word is proclaimed, only one group actually benefit. Three others don't. That's an awesome thing to consider. We might think the parable is talking about the world. No, it's not. It's talking about where the gospel is proclaimed. The gospel's not proclaimed in the world, is it? You won't get the gospel in the pub or the dance floor, or you won't get the gospel in the shopping malls. No, you get it in the house of God, and there the sower is sowing the seed. He's sowing it indiscriminately. But there's only one group that benefits, who bears fruit. The others, well, you have the stony heart. What happens? The devil comes along and takes his seed. Takes it out of the heart. Doesn't bear fruit. Others are choked by the things of this world. Others give up because of persecution. Evidencing the fact that the root of the matter is not in them. Well, that was not the case with Enoch. When Methuselah came, Enoch turned over a new leaf. A life walking with God for 300 years. And friends, notice this, because I know some of you are saying, oh, it was easy for Enoch. No, it was not easy for Enoch. It wasn't easy for Enoch at all. He lived in terribly wicked times, like the times that we live in today. We'll read about it when we consider the flood. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every thought of the imagination of his heart was only evil continually. That's the environment that he lived in. That's the environment that you live in. It's never going to be easy to walk with God. Never! Never has been, never will be. But you know, friends, the Bible's true. The word of God is true. The words of Christ are true. You need to take them on board. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Enoch walked with God for 300 years. 300 years. He that endures to the end shall be saved. Never easy. You'll never hear easy believism from here, friends, never. Oh, in one sense, the gospel is easy. Believe upon the Lord Jesus. Trust upon him. Trust upon what he has done. Take your eyes off yourself. Crucify your self-righteousness. Look to him. Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. but I am God and there is none else. That's what he says. But it's never easy to take up the cross. It's never easy to be aligned with Christ. It's never easy to walk with God. All Christians can comfort one another and help one another, but it's never easy, never. But Enoch walked with God 300 years. Finally, We have his removal, verse 24. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Don't ask me to explain what happened here. God did a wonderful thing, a miracle. This man never died. This man was taken into glory. Again, as Mr. Henry says, He did not live like the rest, so he did not die like the rest. That would be a wonderful thing to put on his tombstone. He didn't live like the rest, and he didn't die like the rest. And of course, there is no tombstone. He's not there. He's in heaven. And as someone else has said, what a short life, a year of years. What are we told about him? 365 years he lived. A year of years. The book of Hebrews fills in a wee bit more concerning his translation. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found. It would indicate that people looked for him Well, we saw him walking down the street yesterday. We saw him going to his home. We saw him just about doing his work yesterday. We saw him, he went home and he went to sleep. Now we can't find him, he's gone. Maybe the righteous looked for him because God had translated him. Maybe it was the wicked who were looking for him. Did we not believe, did we not say, did we not state earlier on that he was one who prophesied about the second coming of the Son of God? Was he not a preacher of righteousness in his day? Did he not upset many sinners with his word, with his proclamation? They were looking for him. They wanted to get him. They wanted to silence him. But he could not be found because God took him. God knows how to look after his people. God has a wonderful imagination. You look at creation. You see all the animals. A divine imagination saw all these things and brought them all into being. God has never flummoxed. God never has to scratch his head in any sense. He knows what he's doing, and his people will be protected. This is what happened here. He did not walk with God. He did not walk with God, and he was not, for God took him. Well, the day will come, friends, when God will take us all. It would be a good thing for us if he took us when we're walking with God. Well, now's the time. Are we walking with God? Today is the time. Now is the hour that we might be found walking with God. Amen.