Adrian Rogers - Learning to Walk with God
Now we're in the book of Hebrews. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, "Champions of Faith". And the champion that we're talking about today is a man named Enoch. And Enoch was a remarkable man. And I want to read first of all from Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5 and 6, "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". What better could be said about you or me today, that we just simply please God. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him".
Now, that's the New Testament commentary on the Old Testament story. Now let me tell you, even before we turn to the Old Testament, what we're talking about today is walking with God, walking with God. The title of the message, "Learning to Walk with God". Now, with that in mind, turn if you will please to Genesis chapter 5, because we're going to go back and forth from the New Testament to the Old and from the Old Testament to the New. Now, when you read Genesis chapter 5, it kind of reads like the obituary page in the newspaper. Look if you will in chapter 5 and the last part of verse 8, "and he died". Look if you will in the last part of verse 11, "and he died".
Look if you will in the last part of verse 14, "and he died". He died, he died, he died, he died. What a dreary monotony. All of these people, they lived, they breathed, they die, they die, they die. But there's one man, his name stands out like a gardenia in a desert. It doesn't say anything about this man dying. Look if you will please in Genesis 5 verses 21 through 24, this is the man Enoch that we're talking about today. "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. 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".
Nothing here about his death. We learn in the New Testament that he was translated that he should not see death. And Enoch, way back over here in the book of Genesis, is a picture and a prophesy of the rapture of the church. He was just caught up to Heaven without dying. You see, the Book of Genesis is the seedbed of all prophecy. In last week's message, "The Blood Makes a Difference," we talked about Abel and Abel's lamb, and that was a prophecy of what? Of the old rugged cross, the Lamb of God dying for the sin of the world. Today, we're going to see Enoch and we're going to see the translation of the saints. Are you ready for the rapture? Are you ready for Jesus to come? Are you ready to be swept up into Heaven like old Enoch was so long ago?
"Some glorious morning sorrows will cease; some glorious morning all will be peace. Heartaches all ended, school days all done; Heaven will open, Jesus will come". I'm telling you it's going to be glorious. "Some golden daybreak Jesus will come; some glorious daybreak battles all won; He'll shout the victory, break through the blue; some golden daybreak for me; for you". Enoch pictures all of that. But the main emphasis is his walk with God. If you walk with God, you'll please God. As a matter of fact, this is what God wants of you more than anything else, and that is that you will simply walk with Him. Put in your margin Micah chapter 6 and verse 8, "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God"? And Amos 3:3 says, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed"?
What a fellowship, what a joy divine, walking with our Lord. Now, is Jesus Christ a bright, living reality to you? I mean, can you say it, say it and mean it, that you walk with Him? I'm not just talking about coming to church and worshipping Him. You say, "Well, I go to church to worship God". Well, in a sense you do, but come up close and I want to tell you something. You need to bring your worship to church. You know, sometimes I hear preachers get up and pray, and I don't, really, I'm not a judge of someone else's prayers, or shouldn't be anyway, but, they say, "Now, Lord, we come into Your presence this morning," and they pray some eloquent prayer. "We come into Your presence this morning". Well, I wonder, where have you been? We live in His presence! We don't just come into His presence.
Now don't over-interrupt what I'm saying, but sometimes, you know, I'll be sitting up there, maybe as a guest preacher, and the preacher over there will seem relatively normal. I'm going to be the guest speaker, we're talking and having a good time fellowshipping in the Lord, and he seems to be perfectly normal. But then he leaves that seat and walks from here to there and something happens, and the guy who seemed normal over there stands up and begins to talk like he's got a steeple stuck in his throat. And, you know we come to church and somehow we act different in here. Well, I'm not saying we ought not to act reverently in here, but there can be joy in here, there can be happiness in here, there can be felicity in here.
Sometimes people, you know, they want us when we come in the church service to get kind of like we've come to a funeral. They say, "You know, we have come to worship God". There's nothing wrong with that. The Bible says in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I'm God". The Bible also says in Psalm 47:1, "Clap your hands, all ye people". In First Timothy chapter 2 verse 8 the Bible also says, "We're lifting holy hands to God in prayer". The Bible also says in Psalm 66 verse 1, "Make a joyful noise". Ecclesiastes 3 verses 1 through 8 tell us, "There's a time to weep, there's a time to laugh, there's a time to cry," there's a time to shout, there's a time to stand, there's a time to be on our face before God, but I'm telling you, folks, that in here and out there are not to be all that different. We're to be walking with God every day, every step, 365 days a year we are to be walking with God.
And that's what I want to talk to you about this morning; walking with God, because when you walk with God you will please God. Now what is the life that walks with God, and, therefore, the life that pleases God? First of all, it is a life of faith. Now notice chapter 5 verse 24, this is Genesis, "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took Him". That is, God raptured him. And then in Hebrews 11 verses 5 and 6, "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 then the next verse says, "And without faith it's impossible to please Him".
Now it's very obvious, it's very obvious that it takes faith to walk with God. The walk with God, the first step is the step of faith. And where did Enoch get his faith? Where will you get your faith? Well, the Bible tells us clearly and plainly in Romans 10 verse 17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God". What you hear is the Word of God. You cannot have faith without hearing from God! You cannot! You must hear from God. Now, the word here for, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God," it's not talking about the word, the logos. It's talking about the rhema. It is God is speaking to you personally. God is speaking to you intimately. It may be through His Spirit, it may be through the Bible, but God has spoken to you.
Now, you'll never walk with God, you'll never have faith until you hear from God. Sometimes we get the idea that a man like Enoch way back here in the book of Genesis, he didn't know anything. Friend, Enoch was prophet. Put in your margin Jude 14, "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, 'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.'" You talk about a prophet. Here was a man who was a contemporary of Adam. He was a contemporary of Adam. Get that now. And he looked down through the tunnel of time and he saw Jesus Christ coming with ten thousands of His saints. That's what the Bible says. Enoch prophesied, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints".
Here was a man full of the Word of God. I want to remind you that he was a contemporary of Adam. As a matter of fact, Adam was 622 years old when Enoch was born. That means Adam was just in the prime of life. He lived for another 308 years. And Enoch and Adam were contemporaries. And so it seems normal to me to think that perhaps one day Enoch talked with Adam. God walked with Adam. The Bible says in Genesis 3 verse 8 that, "God walked with Adam in the cool of the garden". Can you imagine Enoch and Adam having a conversation? Remember, they were contemporaries for hundreds of years. Enoch says, "Look, there's Adam, there's Adam. Hey, Adam, Adam, come over here. I've been wanting to ask you a question, Adam. Adam, what was it like in the Garden of Eden? Adam, tell me about it. What was it like when you walked with God"?
Adam's eyes fill with tears, his chin begins to quiver. "O Enoch, we walked together, side by side. We walked in majestic meadows. Oh, we climbed mountains together, through luscious forests we walked hand in hand. We talked, we laughed, we fellowshipped. Enoch, it was paradise to walk with God". Enoch was a man who heard from God, he knew God, he became a prophet of God and his walk was a walk of faith. Do you have that kind of faith? That's why I'm preaching this entire series on heroes of faith. I pray that when this series is over, your faith will be so rich, so strong, so true, so Godcentered that you will be able to say, "Jesus Christ is a bright, living reality to me". "And I walk with Him, and I talk with Him, and He tells me I am His own. And the voice I hear falling on my ear," is His voice.
Now, to walk with God is a life of faith. Got it? Okay. Now, because it's a life of faith, it's a life of fellowship. Notice again in Genesis chapter 5 and verse 22, "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters". And then notice in Hebrews 11 verses 5 and 6, the New Testament, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation," that is, his rapture, taken to Heaven, "he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him". Enoch walked with God. To walk with God is a figure of the most intimate fellowship with God.
Remember Micah 6 verse 8? "He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God". Why did God save you? Why did Jesus Christ step out of the glory, come to this earth; bathe this world with His blood, why are you redeemed? Why are you here today? Well, you ask the average person, "Why did God save you"? And they'll say, "To serve Him". Friend, if God had wanted servants, He could have gotten a lot better people than us. Angels will serve Him much more obediently than we do. Angels are perfect servants if that's all He wanted. Servants. Why did God save us? To be servants? No. To be scholars? No. Let me show you something that's going to jolt you here. I'm going to read you something that Karl Marx wrote. Karl Marx.
Do you know who Karl Marx was? I don't believe one man in all history has ever caused so much sorrow, so much brutality, so much death, so much war, so much confusion as this one man, Karl Marx. He was evil epitomized. Keep that in mind and I'm going to read to you an essay that Karl Marx wrote. He wrote this in a Bible school in Germany, and it was on the subject "The Union of the Believers with Christ". Here's the words of Karl Marx, "If we examine the history of man's nature as an individual, we constantly observe the spark of divinity in his breast, the enthusiasm for what is good, the struggle for wisdom, the longing for truth, and are being smothered by the flames of desire and greed. The zeal for virtue becomes deafened by the tempting voice of sin and turns into a mockery as soon as we feel the full impact of life.
Our hearts, reason, history, the Word of Christ all call out to us loudly and convincingly to tell us that union with Him is absolutely necessary, that without Him we would be rejected of God, that He alone is able to deliver us. Once a man has obtained this virtue, this union with Christ, he will await quietly and composedly the blows of fate. He will bravely oppose the storms of passion and endure undaunted the rage of the wicked. For who can crush him? Who can rob him of his Redeemer"?
Now think about that. That's a great essay. That sounds like it written by one of the saints, one of the great preachers, one of the heroes of the faith. It was written by Karl Marx. Do you know why he wrote it that way? Because he was brilliant. Had he been writing on history, his answers would have been just as well. He would have made an "A" in whatever subject. The problem was he did not know Jesus Christ personally. He did not know what he was writing about. He left Germany. He became an atheist. He also wrote Das Kapital, the bible of Communism.
And again I say he soaked the world with blood. God is not looking for scholars. God is not looking for servants. God is looking for men, women, boys, and girls who'll walk with Him, who know Him intimately. You know what sometimes frightens me is that you may sit and listen to me preach and understand what I say and not know the One I preach about, not know the Lord Jesus Christ personally. So it is a life of fellowship, to walk in the light, as He is in the light, and to have fellowship. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way. Again, I want to ask a question: is Jesus Christ real to you?
Third thing about this life: it is a life of faith. And, friend, it is a life of fellowship, and it is a life of faithfulness. Now look if you will in Genesis chapter 5 verse 22, "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters". Three hundred years! 109,500 days Enoch walked with God, day in, day out, good days, bad days, cold days, hot days, hard days, happy days he walked with God. And he didn't do it in a monastery. He had a family. He had a job. He had a home. He had children. He had all of this. And he did not do it in some golden age, some easy age. As a matter of fact, he lived in a day of apostasy. He lived in the day that the Bible in Matthew 24 verse 37 calls, "the days of Noah," when people were so wicked that God is getting ready to destroy the world.
You say, "Well, Pastor Rogers, Enoch didn't have any problems. Those people back in the Bible, they breathed different air than we did". No, they didn't! Don't tell me that your problems and your environment keeps you from walking with God. You say, "Well, Pastor Rogers, you don't know. You're a preacher. You don't have any problems". Let me give you a little poem on problems. Problems, I've got 'em, You've got 'em, Adam had 'em. We all have problems. Enoch had them. But Enoch walked with God for three hundred years in a day of apostasy. And in Matthew 24:37, the Bible teaches that, "As it was in the days of Noah," and that's when Enoch walked with God, so will it be when Jesus comes again. You have the power to walk with God today. You have absolutely no excuse.
Have you ever passed one of these big atomic power plants that produces electricity; you know, the ones with the big, funnel-like coolers there, and so forth? Well, in the truest sense, they do not produce power. None of them do. All they do is release the power. The power there is in the uranium. It's not produced; it is just simply released. It's in the molecular structure of this universe. You see, when you have the Lord Jesus Christ in you, you have everything you need. You have all that you need, and you have it continually to walk with God. And so, because of that, you're to be faithful. God have mercy upon you if some days you walk with God and some days you don't. Enoch walked with God for three hundred years.
Now here's the next thing I want to say about walking with God. Number four: to walk with God is a life of fruitfulness. Notice again in Hebrews 11 verses 5 and 6, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation," that is, before he's taken out of this world, "he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him". It's so obvious this man had a testimony. This man had a testimony. He was a prophet. His walk with God spoke to the godless age in which he lived. He was a fruitful man. Again, I remind you of Jude 14, "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, 'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.'"
Do you know when Enoch began to walk with God? Now, about the first 65 years of his life he doesn't seemed to have walked with God. There was something that happened in Enoch's life. He had a crisis. You can read about it in chapter 5, Genesis chapter 5 verse 22, "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah". "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah". Enoch comes home one day and his wife is sitting in the corner, knitting a sweater. And he says, "Sweetheart, you knitting a sweater for yourself"? She holds it up. "Oh," he says, "That's too small for you, sweetie. Are you going to a shower"? She says, "No". He says, "Well, who you knitting that little sweater for"? She says, "Come over here, Enoch, I want to tell you something". She whispers, he says, "Oh my, ha, ha, oh my. You don't mean it! We're going to have a child"!
And they did have a child, and do you know what his name was? Methuselah, Methuselah. Now what do you know about Methuselah? Well, Methuselah lived longer than any other man who ever lived, is that not right? How many years? 969 years Methuselah lived. Nobody ever lived as long as Methuselah. Listen to the Word of God, we're going to find out in just a moment that Methuselah lived for 969 years. Now why did they name this little boy Methuselah? I've seen a lot of boys and girls named a lot of things. I've not yet ever met a man, a child named Methuselah. Doubtless somewhere in this world of many people, somebody's named a child Methuselah, but they probably don't know what the name means.
Let me tell you what the name Methuselah means. It means, "When he is dead it will be sent". Can you imagine naming a child, "Hey, When he's dead it will be sent, would you get me a glass of water"? That's his name: When he is dead it will be sent. What will be sent? The flood. You see, when God is going to send judgment, He always sends warning first. Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His secret unto His servants, the prophets". You see, Enoch was a prophet. Enoch said, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints". And God also told the prophet Enoch that the flood is coming, and when your baby dies, the flood will come. Don't you imagine every time Methuselah had sniffles Enoch got a little concerned? He said, "Son, be careful when you go out and play. Listen, this world is not going to hold together any longer than you hold together".
Now you understand the reason that Methuselah lived as long as he did, 969 years. Why? Because of the patience of God. The Bible says in Second Peter chapter 3 verse 9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His word as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish". It was a wicked age. It was a wicked age and God wanted more people to be saved. And so God is saying, "Methuselah, live on, live on, live on," and God is giving mankind one more day, one more chance. But the flood came when Methuselah died. I can prove that. Let's do a little arithmetic. Listen, Methuselah was 187 when Lamech was born.
Now Methuselah, look in Genesis chapter 5 verse 25, "Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years and begat Lamech". So Methuselah, the little baby, has his first son, he becomes a father, Methuselah becomes a father when he's 187 years old. Okay, got it? Now watch this. Now go down to Genesis chapter 5 verse 28. His first son was Lamech, and now notice verse 28, "And Lamech lived an hundred and eighty and two years and begat a son and called his name Noah". Now Methuselah become, becomes a father when he's 187 years old. Then 182 years later he becomes a grandfather. Now if you add those two together, 187 and 182, you have 369. Now, who was his grandson? His grandson was Noah. All right. You got that? Now let's look in Genesis chapter 7 and verse 11, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of Heaven were opened".
This is speaking of the flood. Now what do you have? Well, you have 187 years, Methuselah becomes a daddy. 182 years later he becomes a granddaddy. 600 years after that, the flood comes. Add them up together and it makes 969 years. That's the reason Methuselah lived as long as he did, and that's the reason that we understand the meaning of his name, "When he is dead, it shall be sent". When Methuselah died after 969 years, then the flood came. What does that tell us? It tells us, friend, of the accuracy of the Word of God, but it also tells us something of the great love and patience of God, but it also warns us of the wrath of God. And just as it was in the days of Noah, it's going to be in our day. The flood did come. God was longsuffering. 969 years, but yet the flood came.
And I want to say to this generation, even now the raging waters of God's wrath are furiously pounding against the dam of His mercy. One of these days, the dam of God's mercy will give way to the floods of God's wrath, and I don't know when it's going to be. But I know that one day, perhaps soon, Jesus is coming. So why, why did Enoch walk with God? Well, Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah. He saw the end. He was moved with fear. You say, "I don't believe on a religion built on fear". I do. The Bible says in Psalm 11:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Not the end, but the beginning of wisdom. The man who does not fear God, who does not fear judgment, does not have a modicum of sense. Jesus said in Matthew 10 verse 28, "Fear Him who is able to destroy soul and body in Hell". Fear him. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".
Do you fear God? The fear of God is love on its knees. Sometimes you preach on Hell and people say, "Well, I just don't believe in frightening people". I'd rather frighten you into Heaven than lull you into Hell. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". "When he is, when he's dead, it shall be sent". I'll tell you, when he had a child, it changed him. When our first son was born, it changed me. I was already saved. But I got on my knees and prayed, "Oh God, oh God, I don't want to do anything to cause this child to stumble". I want my children, all of them, and my grandchildren to believe in my God. An old man walking a lone highway, came at evening, cold and gray, to a chasm vast, deep, and wide through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim, for the sullen stream held no fear for him. But he turned when he had spanned the tide and built a bridge on the other side.
"Old man," cried a fellow pilgrim near, "You're wasting your time with building here. Your journey will end at close of day, you never again will pass this way. You've crossed this chasm deep and wide, why do you build this bridge at eventide"? The builder lifted his old, gray head, "Good friend, on the road I've come," he said, "There followeth after me today a youth whose feet must pass this way. This stream, which has been as naught to me, to that fair-haired boy may a pitfall be. He too must cross in the twilight dim, I'm building this bridge for him". It's good to see family sitting together, a father and sons. Why? Because we have those who are coming after us. "Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah". I beg you, dads, I beg you, mothers, in the name of Jesus! Walk with God.
If the next 20 years change as much as the last 20 years, I don't know what the world's going to be like. I look at my little granddaughter, if Jesus tarries, what will her life be like? "Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah" because he saw impending judgment, and his life was life of fruitfulness. He lived for God. He pleased God. Are you walking with God? Would to God that we all had that testimony that Enoch had. Well, let me wrap this up and just simply say, like Enoch, we're waiting for the end of the age. And like Enoch we're to be expecting the Rapture. Remember Genesis 5 verse 24, "And Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him". And the Bible says in Hebrews 11 verses 5 and 6, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death". Not a tomb, but a translation. It was sudden. It was instant. God took him. And the Scriptures that I read to you said he was not found.
Do you know what that means? They looked for him. They couldn't find him. One of these days they're going to look for us. They're going to wonder where we are. Unsaved husbands will say, "What happened to my wife"? They'll go to bed that night and reach over in the middle of the night. She'll be gone. An unsaved mother will go in to change the diapers on a child. The child is gone. People on an airplane, suddenly there is no pilot. You say, "Pastor Rogers, that sounds so strange. It sounds so supernatural". You got it. Luke chapter 17, listen to it, verses 34 and 35, "I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left".
First Thessalonians 4 verses 16 through 18, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord". This could happen at any moment. Just like Enoch was taken after having walked with God, we could be taken at any moment. And if you're left behind, if you're not saved, left behind, you'll march with the armies of the beast to Armageddon. The saints will have been raptured out and gone to Heaven. Now Enoch was transformed into the likeness of his Lord in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Why? Because he had this, this testimony that he pleased God. And what does the Bible say? Says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him".
Well, you say, "Pastor Rogers, that's all very good and well, but how do I know it's true? How do I know it's true"? Well, I'm not dependent upon me to convince you. You see, before I came out here, I got on my knees and prayed. And by the way, I didn't get on my knees and pray so I could tell you about it; I got on my knees and prayed. I prayed that God would anoint me with the Holy Spirit, because you see, I can preach truth, but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth. The Holy Spirit of God will testify to you that what I say is true. The apostle said Acts 5:32, "We are witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him".
I'm not depending upon oratory or trickery or manipulation. Anything I can talk you into, somebody else can talk you out of. But if you want to believe, you can. Remember, faith is not wishful thinking. Faith is not "name it and claim it". Faith is not a leap in the dark. Faith is taking God at His word, listening to the Holy Spirit who says, "This is true". Therefore, you have no excuse. You can't say, "I can't believe," for God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. God will enable you to believe. Is faith a gift of God or something you do? It is both. Breathing is a gift of God. God gives you lungs and God gives you air. But you can smother if you wish.
And I'm telling you, friend, that God has given you all you need to believe. And I promise you on the authority of the Word of God if you'll just say, "Lord, speak to my heart," He'll do it. He will do it. Friend, He will do it. It's not an emotional feeling. Your emotions are the shallowest part of your nature. It is an awareness that this is true and you need Him. There is nothing better that could be said about you or me than that you walk with God, and there's nothing your children need more than a man for a father who walks with God and a godly mother who walks with God. You say, "It's too late for me. My family is hellish". Then why don't you today put a new branch on the family tree and give your heart to Jesus? Let's bow together.
Father God, I pray that men, women, boys and girls today will say an everlasting "Yes" to Jesus Christ. Lord that you will just open hearts. And Lord, that you will teach them and help them to believe and to be saved.
And precious friend, if you want to be saved will you pray this prayer:
Lord God, I'm a sinner and I'm lost and I need to be saved. Jesus, You died to save me and promised to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You, Jesus. Right now, I open my heart. I receive You into my life as my Lord and Savior. Save me, so I can walk with You right on into eternity. In Your name I pray, Amen.