Please open your Bible at Hebrews, and Chapter 11, as we continue our series entitled Living by Faith. Hebrews 11, as we’ve seen, and as we’ve just heard, begins by telling us what faith is. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And the hoped for things that we are sure of, are the things that God has promised, and the unseen things that we are convinced of, are the things that God has revealed. So we have seen that faith believes what God has revealed, and trusts what God has promised. Now, what does it mean for us then, to live by faith? Well, in this chapter God teaches us by pointing us to real life examples of faith in action. And each of them in this chapter really highlights a different aspect of faith. Last week we looked at the story of Abel that highlight the great truth that faith listens to God. He was commended as righteous because of the sacrifice that God accepted. He offered a firstborn lamb from the flock, a life was laid down in his place. Abel’s sacrifice of course points us forward to Jesus, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Offering a lamb was a sign that Abel trusted the promise of God. And that promise of course was fulfilled when Jesus laid down his life for us on the cross. God gave his one and only Son as the sacrifice for our sins. Now we saw that Abel knew that a life needed to be laid down because God had revealed that way back in the garden when he made garments of skins to clothe Adam and Eve. God revealed the acceptable sacrifice and faith listens to what God has revealed. Now Hebrews 11 really paints a picture of what this life of faith looks like. And each of the characters adds more color fills out the picture of a life of faith and today we come to the story of Enoch where we learn that faith walks with God. Hebrews 11.5 by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him. Now the story of Enoch is found all the way back in Genesis and chapter 5 and you might like to turn back to that first book of the Bible with me now. God records there, you will see the generations, ten generations from Adam to Noah. Ten are recorded and we will look, God willing, at the story of Noah next week. Here we read about Adam and Seth and Enosh and Kenan and Mahalalel and Jared and Enoch and Methuselah and Lamech and Noah. Two questions, first, why are these names recorded? Well if you were to look at the end of Luke chapter 3, you will see that precisely the same list of names is recorded and these are the line of descent into which the Lord Jesus Christ was born. In other words, and this is very important, what matters about each of these men is their relationship with Jesus. What do we know about Jared? What do we know about Enosh? These were unremarkable lives. No great triumphs, no great disasters, just ordinary folks of whom the thing that is of eternal significance is their relationship to Jesus Christ. That’s the only thing that ultimately mattered about them. It’s the thing that will ultimately matter about each and every one of us. What will matter about you forever is not how many people know your name, not how many people will follow you on social media, not a list of great things that you may have accomplished. It is the relationship that you have with Jesus Christ. Second question, why did they live so long? It’s a very obvious question when you read from Genesis in chapter five. Look there, the lifespans of these generations are roughly 10 times as long, as a typical lifespan today. Look, Adam lived, verse five, 930 years. Seth lived 912 years. Verse eight, Enosh, verse 11 lived 905 years. So 10 times as long as we might expect a lifespan to be today. And it does seem that this was God’s provision for multiplying the human population in these earliest generations. After the time of Noah and the flood, what you find is that human lifespans come down very fast. It’s very different. And they come down rapidly to what we are used to today. Now, these first generations then lived for very long, 10 times, the lifespan that we have today before the flood. But they have one thing in common, and it’s very obvious it runs right throughout Genesis in chapter 5. Look at verse 5, verse six, all the days of Seth were 911 years, and he died. 21, all the days of Enos were 905 and he died. You read this chapter, and the phrase, and he died is like a grim drum beat that relentlessly continues throughout the entire chapter. It’s rather like when you’re on a train, and it gets up to speed, and you have that repeating sound of the wheels clicking on the rails, you know. And then he died, and then he died, and then he died, and then he died, and then he died. It’s right across the human race, with one exception in this chapter. You come to verse 24, and in the middle of this relentless rain of death, we read these words, enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Now by any standards, this is a wonderful and a remarkable story. Suddenly, there is a break in the dark clouds, light shines into the darkness, and we have reason to hope that the rain of death may not be forever. The story, of course, points us to the marvelous hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, who broke through the power of death and ascended into heaven. Now, this is the story that’s before us today. I want to make a number of observations from it. The first and the most important is that Enoch walked with God. Do you see that that is stated twice in these short verses? First, verse 22, Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah. Then, verse 24, Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Here’s the great thing for which this man was remembered. He walked with God. Now, what does it mean to walk with God? Well, to walk with God is very simply to live in a constant conscious enjoyment of the presence of God. Let me suggest just five things that it involves. First, it involves peace. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, you remember? But, when they sinned, they hid from him. Now, you can’t walk with someone when you’re hiding from them. To walk with God means that you are at peace with him. It means that any known sin in your life has been confessed, and it has been forgiven. And you are at peace in the presence of God because you have nothing to hide from him. Second, to walk with God involves purpose. Walking always involves movement in a particular direction. If two people come to a crossroads, one wants to go one way, the other goes the other way, well then by definition they cannot walk together. Amos says, can two walk together? How can two walk together, unless they are agreed? So to walk with God then is to go in the direction that he is going. So for example, God is the great peacemaker, and when we seek to make peace, we are walking with him. God is merciful and God is just, so when we do justly and when we love mercy, that’s when we are walking humbly with our God. Then walking very obviously involves progress. Walking isn’t sitting, and walking isn’t sprinting. What is walking, it is a slow steady movement forward. And to walk with God, therefore, does not mean that you’re perfect, doesn’t mean that Enoch was, but if you’re walking, you are making progress. That’s why Paul says, I press on. I’m straining towards the mark. I’m not there yet. But I am seeking to move in the direction that God is calling me. Walking isn’t always easy. If the wind’s against you, you may need to lean into the wind. You may feel that you’re making progress very slowly indeed, but at least when you’re walking, you’re moving forward. Forth, it involves the greatest privilege. Think about this. Walking with God. Now what could be a greater privilege than that? What could compare with the creator of Heaven and Earth, the Sovereign Lord of the Universe, who is your Heavenly Father, so intensely interested in your life, so intimately involved in all that concerns you that He would choose to walk with you. And then think of the pleasure involved. If you want to get to some place fast, go in a car. But if you want to enjoy a place, get out of the car and go for a walk. Because when you get out of the car and go for a walk, you will see things that you would not see as you’re just driving by. You will smell things, you will hear things, you will touch things. Walking with God is the greatest pleasure. David says this to the Lord. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Now that means more than that heaven is a place of great happiness. What He says is pleasures are found at your right hand. And those who walk with God tastes these pleasures on earth before they ever arrive in heaven. So there is this conscious, constant constant enjoyment of the presence of God. That’s what walking with God is. It is a taste on earth of the joys of heaven. It involves peace and progress and purpose and privilege and pleasure. Enoch walked with God. Second observation, Enoch walked with God in the light of the coming judgment. Enoch walked with God in the light of the coming judgment. Now the early chapters of Genesis really chart the growth of sin in the world and its devastating effects. Remember, Adam and Eve had disobeyed a single command of God and you might think, well is that really such a big deal? Well, you read the chapters of Genesis, the early chapters and you see what a big deal it really was. Because just one generation, they give birth to this little lad Cain and the world’s first baby becomes the world’s first murderer. Now 10 generations are recorded here from Adam to Noah. And by the time of Noah, we read in Genesis chapter six and verse five, that the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that every intention of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. Now Enoch was the seventh of the ten generations from Adam to Noah. You can be pretty sure that if wickedness has absolutely filled the earth by the tenth generation, it was pretty rampant already by the seventh. And that is confirmed by a prophecy, a word spoken directly from God through Enoch that is recorded in the Little Letter of Jude at the end of the New Testament. Enoch was given a prophetic glimpse of the day of the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he will bring judgement, he will establish truth, right every wrong and bring the whole world to justice. And we read in Jude that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, and here’s what he prophesied in his day, saying behold, the Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones to execute judgement on all and to convict all of 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. Now, notice that the word ungodly or ungodliness occurs four times because that was the environment in which Enoch lived. Enoch was surrounded by people who had no place for God, people who spoke against God, people who were defiant towards God, and that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? And here’s the encouragement for us, that in such a world, Enoch walked with God. That’s what he did, and that is what we are called to do today. Now, Enoch did live with a profound awareness that judgement was coming, and we know that not only because of the prophecy that is recorded in Jude, but there may also be a hint of it in the name that Enoch gave to his son. A.W. Pink says that the name Methuselah, which Enoch gave to his son, can mean, when he is dead, it shall be sent. That’s a strange name to give to your son. When he is dead, it shall be sent. And Pink suggests that perhaps Enoch gave this unusual name to his son because God had revealed to him that when Methuselah died, the flood would come. And that of course, is exactly what happened. The flood came in the 600 year of Noah’s life and if you compare that with the long years of Methuselah’s life, you will see when you put the numbers in Genesis chapter five together and add them all up, you will see that God sent the flood in exactly the year that Methuselah died. When he is dead it shall be sent. Enoch, the world as you know it is going to be washed away. It is to be washed away. And I’m going to let you in on a secret as to when it will happen. When your son dies, the judgment will come. Now Pink asked this question. If that revelation had been given to you, what effect would it have on you? Every time the boy takes sick, you’re going to say this could be the end of the world. When he is dead it shall be sent? You would live in the constant awareness that it could come at any time. Enoch knew that the judgment of God was coming soon. He knew that he had to be ready to meet with God at any moment. And in the light of that Enoch walked with God. Now do you see how that speaks to us today? Are we not in precisously the same position. It is appointed to man once to die and after that is the judgment. And not one of us knows where that is, today, tomorrow, ten years, whatever. Therefore at all times we must cling to Jesus Christ as our Savior. We must walk with God by faith so that we are always ready to meet Him by sight. Enoch walked with God in the light of the coming judgment. Third, Enoch walk with God after he became a father. Notice Genesis chapter five and verse 21. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah. So it seems that the responsibility of becoming a father caused Enoch to feel that he needed God in a way that he had not really felt before. Now, some of you might think that 65 sounds quite old. But at this point, remember in the scale of things, these folks are living typically 10 times as long as a regular lifespan today so at 65, Enoch was about one fifth of the way through his lifespan. So, a person a fifth of the way through their lifespan on a normal span today might be around 18 years old, I guess, so here then is a young man who suddenly finds himself in a place where he knows he needs the help of God as he had never quite seen or felt it before. Somehow, Enoch had got through his early years without too much trouble, always believed in God, always come to worship, always offered the right sacrifice. But when Methuselah was born, Enoch knew that he needed help and he began to walk with God. Now, maybe some of us today know what this is like. Something big changes in your life. You have a new responsibility. You’re not in the position that you were in before. And suddenly, you have an awareness, I’m out of my depth. Has it occurred to you that God may have pushed you out of your depth so that you will seek him in a way that you have never really done before? You become a father and a mother. You find yourself saying, God has given me this wonderful gift of a child, if I’m to raise a child in this ungodly world, I’m going to need strength, I’m going to need wisdom, I’m going to need patience, I’m going to need to have a really pure heart. But how am I going to get these things? I can only get them from God himself, I need to walk with him. So Enoch walked with God. He walked with God in the light of the coming judgement, he walked with God after he became a father, and then fourthly, Enoch walked with God until God took him home. This was the pattern of his life after Methuselah was born, not just for a short time, we’re told, verse 22, Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methusaleh, 300 years, that’s the rest of his life. Enoch walked with God, verse 24, and he was not, for God took him. Here’s something that I find fascinating, and I think there are some significant things here for us today. Genesis chapter five is a chapter of numbers. You can just see that looking at it. And there’s every accountant knows the numbers always tell a story, and I want to make two observations from the numbers here today. First, Adam was still living when Enoch was born. And you can have some fun if you’re inclined to just adding up the numbers perhaps later today, but if you add the ages at which each of these patriachts became a father, just put them end to end, you will find that from Adam to the birth of Enoch was 622 years. That’s 130 plus 105 plus 90 plus 70 plus 65 plus 160 to 622 years. Then we’re told in verse five that Adam lived for 930 years. So clearly, Adam was still living when Enoch was born, More than that, Adam was still living if you add the numbers further when Enoch’s son Methuselah was born and he was still living when Enoch’s grandson Lamek was born. In other words, nine generations, imagine this nine generations were all living at the same time. Adam lived to see his great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren. That is an awful lot of birthdays to remember. Nine generations living at the same time. Second, Enoch was taken soon after Adam died. Now again this is just very clear from the numbers in Genesis chapter five. Adam died after 930 years. And if you add up all the numbers you will find that Enoch was taken up to heaven after 987 years. So this was soon after the death of Adam and before any of the others listed in Genesis chapter five had died. Now as you think about that, imagine the impact of the first recorded natural death in the bible. Remember, Abel had died, but he had been murdered, and that had happened before Seth or any of the other characters listed here in Genesis chapter five had even been born. But at some point Adam began to get weaker, and can you now picture Seth and Enosh and Kenan and Mahalalal and Jared and Enosh and Methuselah and probably little Lamech as well. And they’re all gathering around the old man. And they knew what death was because they’d seen it in the world of the animals, but they’d never seen it in a man before. And then the first man died and all the others are looking and saying, oh. This is what’s going to happen to me. It’s the first awareness of death in the Bible. Death by natural causes. Death by the passage of years. But God is full of grace and of mercy, and soon after the death of Adam, the first death by natural causes and before anyone else in this list has passed that way, God gives this wonderful sign that one day the power of death will be broken. Death, you see, is like a river that separates us from the presence of God in heaven. All of us have to cross the river, but Enoch did not go through it. God, as it were, picked him up and just took him across it. Enoch walked with God, verse 24, and he was not for God took him. Hebrews 11 verse six says Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him and God is giving, do you see, to all these other men this marvelous assurance that one day even death itself will be conquered, Enoch was taken. And then, of course, as we stare back into the midst of the earliest history we find ourselves saying, well, how in the world can that be? And the answer of course lies in the Resurrection and the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to which the story so clearly and so wonderfully points. Our Savior broke the power of death when he rose from the grave and the Scripture tells us that he was taken up into heaven, Acts chapter one and verse 11. And he says, I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again and take you to be with myself that where I am you may be also. You know, death for a believer whenever it comes is Christ taking you home. Most of us will be taken through the river. Those who are alive when Christ returns in glory will be taken across the river without ever going through it. Either way it is Christ who takes us up and we will be at home with him. Enoch walked with God. He walked with God in the light of the coming judgment, he walked with God after he became a father and he walked with God until God took him home. And here’s the very last thing today Enoch walked with God by faith. Of course that’s the central emphasis of Hebrews and Chapter 11 that we’re looking at and immediately after telling us the story of Enoch it’s applied in this way. Hebrews says without faith it is impossible to please him that is God for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Now here’s what it comes right home for us you see we’re looking at this marvelous story. Enoch walked with God well that’s wonderful for Enoch what has that got to do with us? Well do you see how Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse six applies to us directly after telling us about Enoch Hebrews says whoever, whoever would draw near to God. This is not just something for Enoch years and years and years ago this is for us today here’s an open invitation as inclusive as could possibly be the word whoever, whoever would come near to God. You want to walk with God you want to know the conscious enjoyment of his presence yes this is open to you how? It’s open to you by faith. Notice what Hebrews says in particular if you would come near to God if you would walk with him if you would live in the conscious enjoyment of his presence two things you must believe that he exists now there’s clearly more to that than believing that there’s a God whoever would draw near to God literally translated must believe that he is, he is and there’s a clear allusion there to the wonderful revelation that God gave to Moses when Moses said, what is your name? And God said, I am who I am and Hebrew says if you’re going to walk with God if you’re going to draw near to him you must believe that he is who he says he is in other words, don’t go looking for a God of your own imagination God has made himself known in the scriptures and supremely in the Lord Jesus Christ and if you want to walk with him you must begin here by believing what he says about himself and second, if you would draw near to God and this is open to any person if you would draw near to God walk with him as Enoch walked with God then you must believe that he rewards those who seek him in other words there really is something for you to do here. You must seek him. Walking with God doesn’t just happen. There’s an intentional activity on your side as well as on the side of God who draws near to you, you must draw near to him you must seek him. So it’s no use saying if God wants me he can make himself known to me. No, God has made himself known to you in Jesus Christ and our calling, your calling is to seek him. This is a constant theme of the scripture. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek then you’ll find. Knock and it will be owned to you for everyone who asks receives and to the one who seeks he finds and the one who knocks it will be opened. Or back in Isaiah in chapter 55, seek the Lord while he may be found. That’s now, because he’s made himself known in Jesus Christ. Call upon him while he is near. That’s now as he speaks to us in and through his word. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. And as you seek the Lord, he gives you this marvelous promise. He rewards those who seek him. You say, what is the reward? The reward of seeking God is finding him. God is the reward of all who seek him. God says to Abraham, do not be afraid. I am your shield and I am your very great reward. God has revealed himself in the scripture and supremely in the Lord Jesus Christ so that all who seek him will find him. You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart, let’s pray together. Father, we marvel at that amazing promise that you, the invisible and inscrutable God who would be beyond our knowing if you had not made yourself known should have so revealed yourself to us in Christ and so drawn near to us in Christ that we by your gracious invitation may, in faith, draw near to you and know the conscious enjoyment of your marvelous presence. May it be so, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.