Faithbook #2 - Enoch

We continue our study of God’s Hall of Faith. Today, we look at the life of Enoch, who was taken to Heaven without dying…a beautiful picture of those who know the Lotd when Jesus comes! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Oh, hello, and welcome to the Old Pastor New Fire Podcast. My name is Randy Helms, and I'd like for you to take your copy of God's perfect, holy, inerrant, infallible word and turn with me to Hebrews chapter eleven. Hebrews eleven. While you're finding that, let me welcome our new listeners this week from Southfield, Michigan, Jonesboro, Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Omaha, Nebraska. We're glad you have found our weekly podcast. Well, you've all heard of Facebook, I know, but I call Hebrews 11 Faith Book. This is God's hall of faith, if you will. Those that walked by faith. Last week we looked at Abel, and now we're going to continue with verses five and six and see Enoch. Now Enoch's name literally means dedicated one or consecrated one. In other words, Enoch was totally sold out for God. Now look in Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. And he was not found. God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. Verse six says, But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that comes to God must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So let's look further at this man of faith, Enoch, in Genesis 5. Now you may want to hold your place here. We'll come back to Hebrews 11 in a few moments, but go to Genesis 5 and let's revisit the story of Enoch. I want to give you a couple of very interesting facts about this man Enoch. First of all, there are only two men of whom the Bible says walked with God. Genesis 5.22 and Enoch walked with God. Genesis 6.9, Noah walked with God. Now there have been others that may have walked before God or after God or in the presence of God, but only these two men, Enoch and Noah, are said to have walked with God. Second of all, Enoch is one of only two men that lived but did not die. Genesis 5.24 says, Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. You know, we've got astronauts and cosmonauts. Enoch became a was not. God took him. Over in 2 Kings 2.11, the Bible says that Elijah and Elisha were out walking and talking together one day, when suddenly it says there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and parted them both, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. So Enoch and Elijah are the two that lived but did not die. Enoch never had to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. There was a father and his young son walking along the beach one day, and they saw a dead seagull lying on the beach. The son asked his dad, Dad, what happened? The father wanted to begin to explain about the process of death and dying, so he gently began to say, Well, son, that bird flew up to heaven. And the son said, And God threw him back? Well, Enoch flew up to heaven, but God didn't throw him back. No. He placed him in Faith's Hall of Fame. So now let's look in Genesis 5, verse 21. And Enoch lived sixty five years and gave birth to Methuselah, became the father of Methuselah. For sixty five years there was nothing special about Enoch's relationship with God. But read on in verse 22. And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah. The turning point in Enoch's life didn't come at age 25 or 35 or 45 or even 55. Excuse me. Enoch began to walk with God when he was 65 years old. Now there's an important lesson for us right there. The Bible doesn't say Enoch lived 65 years and started drawing social security and then he died. It's not what it says at all. The Bible says that Enoch didn't even start living until he was 65. Some of you listening to this today, the devil's told you, well, you're old now, you're used up. You can't do anything else for God. You know what? If you are retired, you've got more time to serve Jesus now than ever before. After 46 years of ministry, I have retired from pastoring, but I've not given up ministry. I'm able to reach more people on this podcast now, different areas now than I ever could pastoring a local church. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and then he moved next to an elementary school and started having kids. Boy, that's a man with a vision, isn't it? And the very first kid he had was a boy by the name of Methuselah. This baby changed this man. You know, I've seen that over and over and over again as a pastor. Here's a couple they date in high school. Maybe they go to church, maybe they don't. They get married, they get busy. The church doesn't seem to be much of a priority to them anymore. And so they turn their back and they walk away from God. But then they find out they're pregnant. They discover they're going to have a baby. They look at the world they're living in and walking in, and they decide they don't want to raise a baby in that kind of world, so they get back in church and they draw near to God and begin to walk with God afresh and anew. I love that song that comes out at Christmas time about Faith Hill. It says a baby changes everything. How true that is. I remember when our children were born, Josh and Amber. Josh was our firstborn. I was so proud of our children. I'd go around and tell everybody about our babies. When Josh was born, I'd say that's my baby. My baby. My baby. But when he started crying at three o'clock in the morning, I'd punch Ivy and say, Hey, your baby is awake. I never got the hang of changing those diapers. I heard about one man shortly after the birth of their new baby. The mother had to go out and do some errands, so the proud father stayed home to watch his brand new infant son. Soon after mama left the baby started to cry. The father did everything he could think of, but that baby just would not stop crying. Finally, Daddy got so worried he decided to take the baby to the doctor. After the doctor listened to all that the father had done to get the baby to stop crying, the doctor began to examine the baby's ears, his chest, down to the diaper area, and when he opened the diaper, he found the diaper was indeed plum full. Here's the problem, the doctor said. He just needs to be changed. Well that confused father said changed. But the diaper package specifically says it's good for up to ten pounds. So when this baby was born, Methuselah, it marked a turning point in the life of Enoch. That's when Enoch started walking with God. Now the baby's name Methuselah means when he is dead, it will come. What will come? When Methuselah dies, something will happen. What is it? The flood. When Methuselah died, the flood came. That's why, by the way, Methuselah lived so long. Methuselah lived longer than any man in the Bible. Because he knew that when Methuselah died, that the world was going to be destroyed by flood, so he just prolonged Methuselah's life. He just kept letting Methuselah live on and on and pushing back his death in order to put off the judgment of that fatal flood so folks would have an opportunity to get right with God. Isn't that just like the Lord? Well, 2 Peter 3.9 says that he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Ladies and gentlemen, our God is a good God. He doesn't want anybody to perish. He doesn't want anybody to die and go to hell. And so he allowed Methuselah to live 969 years, almost a thousand years, in order to give this wicked world more time to repent. Well, let's read on in Genesis 5 24, and it says, And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Instead of entering a tomb, he experienced a translation. He reached down and took a man, body and all, straight into heaven. Enoch went to heaven without having to die. Can I tell you that's a picture of what's going to happen any moment when Jesus comes again? All of us who are alive that are saved will not die, but will immediately, like Enoch, will go to heaven. And because, listen, in that day when that happened, just as it was with Enoch, the Bible says this corruptible, listen to it, must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But it goes on to say, But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, Paul says, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And Jesus said, He that lives and believes in me shall never die. I want to show you something very interesting. Look back now to our original scripture back in Hebrews 11, verse 5. It says, By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. And boy, I like this. Underline this, and was not found. Because God had translated him. He wasn't found. What does that mean? That means people were looking for him. God reached down into the wicked world, grabbed Enoch, and all of a sudden there was a tremendous sense of loss that swept throughout his home, his community, where he worked, where he worshiped. People went to look for him, they couldn't find him. God had taken him. Can I tell you today if there is somebody who really walks with God, the world will despise them? I've learned in forty six years of ministry, if you walk with God, you spend time with God, try to be a person of love and integrity. There will be those that will hate you and despise you and dislike you. They'll talk about you. Oh, you know, I sure I like old Randy, but you know he really needs to loosen up a little bit. Did you know he actually reads his Bible and prays every single day? D'you know he actually thinks we ought to come to church on Sunday? You know Randy actually thinks that tithing still applies today? He really thinks we ought to be telling folks that we work with and hang out at the ballpark with about Jesus? Why he won't even have a drink with us. I don't know who he thinks he is, but I'm getting where I don't like being around him anymore. I'm sure they said all those kinds of things and worse about Enoch. But once he was gone, they missed him. Saved and lost missed him. As a matter of fact, he was missed so much they looked everywhere for him, but they couldn't find him because God had honored his faith and translated him and took him straight to heaven. Verse five. For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. Underline that. See, Enoch was pleased to walk with God, and his walk was pleasing to God. Hey, I want you to hear this. If you please God, it doesn't matter who you displease. I I don't care what you say. That point preaches itself. I'm going to say it again. If you please God, it matters not one bit who you displease. The question here today on this podcast, how can you and I walk in such a way that we are pleasing to God? Well, Paul wrote in Ephesians 5 15, see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise. How can we be pleasing to God? How can we have a wise walk? There it is in the next verse in Hebrews eleven, verse six. Without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that comes to God must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. Hey, that one verse, I want to break that one verse down. Three things about pleasing God. First of all, the great impossibility. He says without faith it's impossible to please God. Then the great imperative, for he that comes to God must believe that God is. And then the great incentive, that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. Enoch received his reward. He became the first to live and never to die. You see, Enoch lived in a day much like the day you and I live. Wickedness, evil, surrounding gloom. But understand this, because he walked with God, he left this world of surrounding gloom and experienced sudden glory. From surrounding gloom to sudden glory. One minute he was here, the next he was there, walking down streets of gold. Enoch walked with God. And finally it was getting late in the day. Enoch said, God, I'm gonna getting late, I'm gonna go home now. I believe God looked at Enoch and said, Enoch, son, we're we've walked. We're a lot closer to my house than we are to yours. Why don't you just come home with me today, son? And he did. He took one step on earth and the next in heaven. Lord, I thank you for everyone listening to this podcast today, and I pray that you would use something that's been said to speak into the deep recesses of every heart. Lord, we know in this wicked world that we live in that any moment Jesus is going to come and take those of us that are saved to heaven. We're listening for the sound of the trumpet. As I often say, when we hear that toot, Lord, we're gonna scoot. We're ready to go. And I pray in the time we have remaining before you come, you would help us to do as Enoch and walk with you, thereby pleasing you in all we do. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.