Skip Heitzig - Enoch, Fact-Checking Your Walk
Tonight, our midweek service, we are going through the life of faith, and we call it Fact-Check. And we are in the Book of Hebrews once again, chapter 11. I'm going to make a prediction. I'm going to make a guess that your life was pretty busy before COVID-19, that your calendar was full, that you were wishing for more time on your hands, work was piling up, deadlines were all around you. And then this hit. Course, we've already talked a little bit about that on a number of occasions. But I love this story about a traveler who was deep in the jungles of Africa. He hired locals to carry his burdens for him. And they got up one morning, and they pushed long and hard.
They went all day long. And the traveler was very satisfied that they made good progress and was hoping that the second day would be just as ambitious. But the next morning, the locals just sat there and wouldn't budge. And the traveler who was hiring them to carry things and move it forward said, we've got to get going. Says nope, we're not going to go anywhere. And so when He asked why, the chief of that group said, we moved too fast on the first day, and now we're waiting for our souls to catch up with our bodies. I love that little story because even in Christian work, our souls need to catch up with our bodies.
You know, I've been pretty busy during this time, as most of my staff members have, maybe doing a few different items, but I'm studying just as hard, just as long. But I feel like the Lord is telling me, you need to sit as much as you can. And listen to me, I'm reminded of the Church of Ephesus. And Jesus commended them. And he said, I know your work. And I know that you labor, but I have something against you. You've left your first love, the love of a spouse, the intimacy of the walk. And perhaps one of the positive upswing side notes of the pandemic is that it helps us evaluate our priorities so that we get down to the irreducible minimum of what's truly important in life because there is, frankly, a lot of things that we have added to our lives that don't add up to a hill of beans.
They're not important at all. But we just get involved in them. And now they're stripped away from us. Our relationship with God can be boiled down to a simple concept. The concept is walking with God. That's it, in a nutshell. What is it to live the Christian life? It is to walk with God. So I'm hoping that, through this study, you will fact-check your spiritual life by means of cutting out things that are unnecessary that have just become baggage for you. The term "walk" is a biblical expression. It's found all throughout the pages of the Bible, Old and New Testament. It is a term that basically means your conduct or your manner of life. In Colossians chapter 2, verse 6, Paul writes, "As you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in him." Galatians chapter 5, "Walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the cravings or the desires of the flesh."
First John chapter 1, "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus Christ godson cleanses us from all sin." Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7, "We walk by faith and not by sight." What Paul means by that is that faith becomes the lens through which we view everything else. We view life, we view decisions, we view the world, even the pandemic, through the lens of faith. You know, I'm not a fan of pigeons. I've never liked them. I've always seen them as flying rats. I hated him at the beach. They were everywhere, and it just, they cluttered up everything. But what fascinated me is the way they walked.
And somebody explain this to me one time, says, you know why they walk so funny, is that pigeons are unable to focus while they're moving. And they need to bring their head to a complete stop, focus, move it again, and so they, you see them going back and forth, head forward, stop, backwards, stop, forward, stop, backwards, stop, et cetera. That's how they're focusing. I've discovered in our spiritual life, we have basically the same problem. It's hard for us to see while we're moving.
And so again, one of the things God has allowed us to do is to slow down, stop moving, catch our breath, let our soul catch up with our body, find out what God is saying to us personally. We need to stop between the steps, we need to refocus on our relationship to the will of God, pulling away needless, superfluous, superficial things that complicate our walk.
Now, with that as an introduction, I take it to Hebrews chapter 11, where we are in this lineup of a Hall of Fame, of Faith, or simply called the Hall of Faith. I'm going to read for context's sake, beginning in verse 1 down to our text, which is in verse 5 and 6. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."
"By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And though he being dead, still speaks." Now here's where we're going to look at tonight. "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and he was not found because God had taken him.' For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God.
"But without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." Enoch, not much is known about Enoch, and that's because his story is very scant. It does not occupy much space in the biblical record. For a lot of people, it's an obscure name in a list. Here's an interesting note about Enoch. He's an Old Testament figure, but more is said of him in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. So in all, in the Bible, there are five passages about Enoch. Two of them are just genealogies that mention his name.
That leaves three passages of real significance. Genesis chapter 5, that's the source. Hebrews chapter 11, that's our text. And Jude, the little Book of Jude, verses 14 and 15. Those are the passages on his life. If you were to add up the number of words devoted to Enoch, 51 words are in the Old Testament. 94 words are in the New Testament.
That's why I say he's an Old Testament figure, but more is said of him in the New Testament than the old. So we're going to look at his life. He's mentioned here in Hebrews 11. He's in the list that the author gives of examples of those who live by faith. But we're going to go back to the source, Genesis chapter 5, and consider the background of what he's writing about and look at a few things, the life of Enoch, the legacy of Enoch, and the lessons of Enoch. Very, very simple outline.
The life of Enoch is given to us in Genesis chapter 5. I'm going to begin in that chapter in verse 18. I'm going to mention and not really talk about all these names or ages and why they lived so long. Done that before. But it says, "Jared lived 162 years and begot Enoch. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with God. And he was not, for God took him."
Now, Genesis chapter 5, which is the source chapter, covers a span of 1,500 years. It is a genealogical record. You might call chapter 5 of Genesis the "and he died" chapter, because that's the recurrent phrase. It lists like, nine times it says, this guy did this and then lived that long, and he died. And then this guy did this and lived this long, and he died, and he died, and he died. It's just fulfilling what it says back in earlier chapters. In the day that you eat of this fruit, you are going to die. Death entered, death spread, and death reigned. So here's the record. 1,500 years, and everyone mentioned here died, everyone except one. And that is our hero. That is the man of the exception, and that is Enoch.
Now, Enoch was not known for building anything, like an ark, like Noah. He didn't found a city like Cain did or Nimrod did, also famous Old Testament early patriarchal personages. He's not known for that. Enoch was really an ordinary guy who served an extraordinary God. I've used that phrase before, but I want to sort of tap into that. He was an extraordinary man, and I'll say this, he had an extraordinary relationship with God because of its simplicity. He had an extraordinary relationship with God because of its simplicity. Simply put, he walked with God. That was his testimony. He walked with God.
I know a lot of people are attracted to sensational testimonies that people have, I was a drug addict, I was a murderer, I bought and sold people, and I did this. And then God's got a hold of my life. All those are great testimonies. I love a good story and a good testimony, no matter what it is. But perhaps the most dramatic testimony is an everyday person who walks with God every day. I think that's a powerful testimony. What's your life? I walk with God. Oh, really? Yeah, I do it every single day, month after month, year after year, throughout a lifetime. That sort of sums up Enoch.
Now let me give you a little sketch of this man. Enoch lived in challenging times. What do I mean? He lived after the fall, so sin entered the world. That complicates things. And he lived right before the flood. And we get the idea that Enoch, at some point, made a choice to be obedient to God, to walk with God, to follow God, when no one else was doing it. He becomes the exception during that time. He didn't always walk with God. There was a particular time, if you read the text carefully, that he decided, I'm going to start walking with God now. I want you to see it. Look at it again, verse 21, "Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years."
He had a wife and kids. That'll do it. That'll do it. That sort of wakes people up. I've noticed this a lot, people get married. They're young and fancy-free. Then they start having children. And they go, you know, I think I need to give them a moral underpinning. I was raised with one. I strayed from that, but I think I need to get back to church and get my kids involved. They want to leave something with their children. It could simply be that Enoch knew he was surrounded by an ungodly world, and he decided now is the time to make a stand. I need to live differently, I need to think eternally.
I live in a wicked environment. And the idea of raising kids in that environment makes me want to walk with God. Now let me turn this to a personal question. If you could live 300 years, not that you'd want to, but let's say you could live 300 years. Let's say you did live 300 years. What would your testimony be? After living 300 years, would you be able to survive all the corruption and corrosion that is in the world? And could it be said of you you've walked with God that long?
Now, some people hear that, and they go, well, it wasn't as corrupt back then as it is today. Really? I mean, it was so corrupt that God drowned the entire world in a flood. That's pretty corrupt. Now, we know that God will judge the world one day in a similar manner, though not by water, but by fire. But that hasn't happened yet. It was a very wicked generation. The very next chapter says how wicked it was, that God saw the intents of man's heart as being evil continually. But here's the deal, a person who walks with God doesn't follow the crowd if the crowd's going the wrong way. If everybody's going that direction, and it's the wrong direction, a man or a woman a faith says, no, not going to walk with them. I don't care what they think or what they say or how they'll ridicule me, a person of faith will go against the stream, go against the flow, because they're going the wrong way. And so they want to go the right way.
I have a story that I've loved for a long time about a spider who built a beautiful web in an old home. "And he kept it clean and tidy so that flies would patronize it. The minute he got a customer, he would clean up on him or attack him and eat him up so the other flies wouldn't get suspicious. Then one day, a fairly intelligent fly came buzzing by the clean spider web . Old man spider called out, 'Come on in. Have a seat.' But the fairly intelligent fly said, no, sir. I don't see other flies in your house, and I'm not going in alone. But presently, he saw on the floor below a large crowd of flies dancing around on a piece of brown paper. He was delighted. He was not afraid if lots of flies were doing it. So he came in for a landing. And just before he landed, a bees zoomed by and said don't land there, stupid. It's flypaper. But the fairly intelligent fly shouted back, 'Don't be silly. Those flies are dancing. There's a big crowd down there. Everybody's doing it. That many flies can't be wrong.' He died on the spot."
Fairly intelligent, but not smart enough. A wise person will not go with the crowd if the crowd is going in the wrong direction. Enoch walked with God when the world was not walking with God. Something else to note about him, not only did he live during challenging times, but Enoch was a prophet, according to the Bible, according to the New Testament.
Remember I said there's more written about him in the New Testament than the old? Jude, who happened to be the brother of Jesus incidentally, half-brother, wrote a little epistle, one chapter called the Book of Jude. He talks about Enoch. And according to Jude, Enoch preached a message as a prophet to his generation. I'm quoting now from Jude, verses 14 and 15. It says, "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with 10,000s of his saints to execute judgment on all.'" Here's a guy who lived before the judgment of the flood. And he predicted there is a coming judgment.
How did he know there was a coming judgment? I believe God gave him a revelation through which he named his son, it says here, Methuselah. Now we read Methuselah, and the only thing most people know about Methuselah is he's the oldest guy in the Bible, 969 years. But the name Methuselah means "man of the sending forth," or another way to translate it, "When he is dead, it shall be sent forth." So the idea is he's proclaiming a judgment is coming. He names his son, "When he is dead, it shall be sent." What's interesting about that is if you do the math and you calculate the 969 years of Enoch, you discover the year he died is the exact year the flood was sent.
The year he died is the year the flood was sent. So here's the idea, he is not going to die. And when he, for a long time. And when he does die is when the judgment is coming, and that's when the flood was sent. So as Enoch walked with God, God revealed that to him, that judgment would come. Now, I don't know how you raise a kid like this, because I think if you're a Mr. Enoch or Mrs. Enoch, you don't want let your kid go out of the house because you want to do everything you can to forestall judgment if when he dies judgment is coming, right? It's like, oh, he got a cold. Oh my goodness, right? This could be it. He got COVID, you know? Because the judgment is coming when this guy kicks the bucket. I'm sure all the neighbors wanted to babysit him, give him vitamins, do everything they can to keep this kid alive. But Enoch was a prophet, the Bible says, and he proclaimed and looked forward to a coming judgment. And that's even seen in the name of his son.
And then a third factor about Enoch, and probably the most interesting to most people, is that Enoch didn't die a physical death. It says in Hebrews 11, our text, verse 5, "By faith, Enoch was taken up. He was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. For before he had taken him, he had this testimony that he pleased God." Now, that's explained back in Genesis chapter 5. So if you go back to Genesis chapter 5, it says that. It says, "Enoch lived so many years." But verse 23, "All the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not." And that's a funny little phrase. It's like, one day, there he was. And the next day, there he wasn't. You're just like, well, where's dad? He didn't come home for dinner. And where's my husband? And he just was gone. And it says in Hebrews, "The Lord took him." And it says that here in Genesis, "God took him." He didn't die.
Now, back in Hebrews, where we started, where it says, "By faith, Enoch was taken away." That little phrase "taken away" means to be carried over or to be carried across. Or you could translate it, as some do, he was suddenly transferred. A sudden transfer from earth to heaven. So God carried Enoch over death, sort of like picking him up off one shore and moving him over onto another shore. You might say that his is the longest walk anyone ever took with God, because it's still going on. He just kept walking with God and walking with God and walking with God and walking with God and walking with God every day, consistently. And then God just took him to heaven.
Enoch was the subject of a Sunday school class. And the teacher tried to explain it to the kids. The kids came home. And one set of parents asked their daughter, so what was Sunday school about? She said it was all about this guy named Enoch. And so they said, well, tell us the story. And here's her explanation. There was a man who, every day, went out to walk with God. And one day, they walked together. And they walked until it was almost dark. When this man started to go back, God said, hey, Enoch, you've walked with me so long, and you're so far from home, why don't you just come home with me? And he's been with God ever since.
I like her explanation. I think that's beautiful. He just walked with God and said, walk with me into heaven. So he's on earth one moment. Next day, boom, gone, and instantly in heaven. So Enoch didn't die. He becomes the exception to the rule then. It's appointed onto every man once to die. Not him, he hadn't died yet. There's all sorts of theories about him I'll spare you. But let me throw a suggestion out to you. Enoch becomes a type of believer who will be alive on Earth in the future when God calls that generation home. It's coming. The Bible does predict that, that there will be people who will miss death altogether.
First Corinthians chapter 15, Paul says, "Behold, I show you a mystery. We will not all sleep or die, but we will all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye." Then he drills down on that. First Thessalonians chapter 4, that some will be instantly transferred to heaven. Listen to his words. "We who 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."
Now go back to our text, and it fits. "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death." It would not be a stretch to say he was raptured, because he was. He was just instantly taken into heaven. So that's the life of Enoch. Let's consider the legacy of Enoch. And that takes us back to our text in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5. "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death. And he 'was not found because God had taken him', for before he was taken, he had this testimony." And what's the testimony? What does it say? "That he pleased God." He pleased God. That is the summary statement of Enoch's life. That is the epitaph on the tombstone, even though he didn't have a tombstone. That's a good one to have.
If you want an epitaph, if it's true, this is a good one. He or she pleased God. That's the summary statement of his life. You say, now wait a minute, Skip, that can't be the summary statement of his life. You told us earlier the summary statement of his life is that he walked with God. That's right. They're one and the same. To walk with God is to please God. In fact, let me show this to you. When the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, Septuagint version is a Greek version of the Old Testament. They took the text of the Old Testament, the Masoretic Hebrew text.
And a group of scholars, 70 of them, that's why it's called Septuagint, translated it from Hebrew into Greek. They translated the Hebrew of Genesis chapter 5 where it says, "He walked with God." They translated it, "He pleased God." So to the translators, to walk with God is exactly the same as pleasing God. It means one and the same thing.
Now, here's to me what is exciting. We get a little insight into pre-flood spirituality. OK, hang with me on this one. This is pre-flood spirituality. This is antediluvian spirituality. And if you go back, and if you just think, what would really early spirituality look like, Old Testament spirituality, some people say, well, if it's Old Testament, it's got to be harsh and legalistic and a whole bunch of rules and sacrifices. No. Spirituality, in its earliest years, was just walking with God.
It's simple. God was a companion with them. Remember what it says about Adam and Eve in the garden? "God walked with them in the cool of the day." Don't you love that? I take a walk early in the morning. I like to walk a few miles a day, and I get up really early and do it. It's the cool of the day, and I always think about, Lord, I'm walking with you in the cool of the day. This is cool. And so that's the idea of early spirituality, is just hanging out with God, daily intimate communion with God. That's how spirituality was defined in the earliest revelations of it.
Same thing also in the book of Genesis with Noah. In Genesis chapter 6, we are told, "The Lord saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Verse 8, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Verse 9, this is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God."
Noah walked with God. There it is again. Also with Abraham, Genesis 17, "The Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless." In Genesis 24, Abraham sends out a servant to find a bride for his wife. "The Lord before whom I walk will send his angel with you and prosper your way." Same language. It's just so beautiful and stripped down. And it's the essential of what a relationship with God is. What is it like to relate with God? Please God, walk with God. That's simplicity. I love that. You see, a walk with God is different from a jog with God or a chat with God or a weekly visit with God, let's go have our weekly hour with God.
A walk with God is consistent daily, 24/7. He, you let Him in on everything. You are walking with Him. You're always in His presence. It's not like a radio playing in the background. You know the tune, man. You're part of the tune. So again, I want to turn this around to you personally. What about you? Are you walking with God? That is, are you living to please Him? Would that be your legacy, that you are pleasing Him? Because here's what you have to realize. God does not exist to serve you. The universe is not some cosmic playground where you're here now, and you're here to discover who you are and your uniqueness.
No, you are here to find out who God is and to live to glorify Him. And when you do, that's when you find out who you are and what He can do through you. Revelation chapter 4 sums it up, "The anthems of heaven, the people in heaven and the beings in heaven, save for thy pleasure all these things were created." Jesus said, "I always do those things that please Him." Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 5, "We make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to the Lord." Let me tell you why this is so crucial and why it is really the irreducible minimum.
When pleasing God becomes the determining factor for your life, everything else is easy. When pleasing God becomes the determining factor for, I'll even say this, for the decisions in your life, life becomes easy. What would God do? What would God have me do? What is the Lord's will in this? When everything is sort of compared to that as the standard, everything becomes easy. Remember what Jesus said? Seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will be added to you. All you have to do is seek His kingdom, look for His glory, live to please Him, live to walk with Him. The rest will just fall into place.
It's all you have to do. It's that simple. Live to please Him, walk with Him. George Mueller, one of my heroes in the faith, said 90% of the difficulties in life are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When that's the disposition of our heart, Lord, I don't exactly know what your will is, but whatever I find it out to be, that I'm going to do. See, now you're living to please him.
That's fact-checking your spiritual life. Are you fact-checking your faith? Let it be that simple. I'm going to walk with Him. I'm going to live to please Him. So that's the legacy of Enoch. He pleased God, walked with God.
Then we're left with a third. And that is the lessons of Enoch. We looked at his life and his legacy. Now there's a couple lessons that the author is playing off of in the next couple of versus. Our next, the last verse, the next couple of sentences, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, he says, "But without faith it's impossible to please him." So here's two men of faith, Abel and Enoch. Look at their faith.
Here's the guy who entered into faith, that's Abel. Here's a man who walked in faith, that's Enoch. And then he springs off that. He says, "But without faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is", number one. And number two, "that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." So those are the lessons of Enoch, the only way to please God is faith. To walk with God, you have to first come to God. To come to God, you have to first believe God. To believe God, you have to first believe in God, right? That's the starting point. You have to believe that He is.
That doesn't mean that you just believe there is a supreme being up there named God, or there's some being, I don't know what He's called, because a lot of people say, oh, I believe in God. I believe God exists. The idea of what the author of Hebrews is saying is you have to believe in the right God. See, if you look at that sentence again, the emphasis there is on the word "He." "Without faith it's impossible to please Him. He who comes to God must believe that He is." You have to believe that the God of the Bible is the real God, that this God is the right God, the real God.
Now, a lot of people say, well, I've looked for God. I've never found him. Somebody said, well, what about an atheist? Atheists can't find God. Listen, atheists can't find God usually, not always, but I found often for the same reason criminals can't find policemen. They're not looking for Him. When you're not looking for Him, you don't find Him. If you seek him, the Bible says, you will find Him. If you've got questions, there are answers. And they will lead you to God, the right God. So you have to believe the God who is God. And who is that God? He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the trinitarian God of father, son, and Holy Spirit. You have to believe in the right God and come to the right God. I used to work in the medical field before I became a pastor. And I remember working at a little hospital in California called Westminster Hospital. Doesn't even exist anymore. But it was a little hospital. And I was call, I was on call that night in the radiology department. And a woman came in on a gurney, a little bed. And she had, she was nervous. She didn't know what was wrong with her.
And she had a stack of books. It was funny because one was on Buddhism, one was Christianity, one was, all the different religions. And it's like, she wanted to say, I believe, but I don't know what I believe in. But I'm just sort of covering all my bases. And so it was a really good opportunity for me to just engage in a conversation. So you have a lot of these books. What are you reading? What peaks your interests? Well, I'm studying comparative religions, and I'm nervous, and I'm praying. And I'm crying out to every, she said every expression. And so it was really great to find out where she was coming from and to draw her toward the Lord during that evening.
So that's number one. Believe that He is, that you have to believe in the right God. Number two, not just believe in God actually, but to believe in God personally, that there is a personal God, that he is a rewarder, it says, "of those who diligently seek Him." In other words, God is personal. God will reward, God will provide salvation to anyone who seeks. That's the idea of this verse. Only a personal God can reward. By the way, only Christianity shows God as a rewarder. There's a lot of religions that show God as a punisher, a cosmic policeman.
But our God shows that God is a God of judgment, but He is a rewarder, one who blesses and provides those who diligently seek Him. Only a personal God can reward. A force cannot reward. A higher power cannot reward. A great uncaused cause cannot reward. Only a personal God can reward, just like when my puppy does something, and I reward him, or when a child does something and a parent rewards him. It takes a person, and God is personal. Proverbs 8, verse 17, "I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me." That's God as a rewarder.
Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek for me with all your heart." That's God as a rewarder. David knew that and said young Solomon, his son, 1st Chronicles 28:9, "If you seek Him, He will be found by you." So we come to God in faith. You believe that God exists, but you believe in the right God, the God of the Bible. And you believe that He's a personal God because when you seek Him. He will provide salvation for you, and you'll enter into a relationship with Him where you can walk with Him.
God's personal. Did you know that Albert Einstein believed in God? People think he's the smartest guy ever. He believed in God, but Albert Einstein did not believe in a personal God. Einstein said, and I quote, "Certainly, there is a God." That's Einstein, smart guy. "Certainly there is a God. Any man who doesn't believe in a cosmic force is a fool," said Einstein. "But he concluded by saying, "But we could never know him," end quote. He's saying, I believe in God, but God is unknowable. God is not personal. He's wrong on that account, smartest guy in the world is dead wrong. God is not only somebody you can know, God is somebody you can please. You can walk with. He is personal, and he is active in the life of his creation.
So to say that God doesn't exist is fake news. To say that God is not personal and active is also fake news. That's where you need to fact-check. God is not aloof God's not distant. We don't believe in a deistic God, God wound things up and just sort of stepped back. And I've had, I've read where people say, theologians. Yeah, God didn't even know coronavirus was coming. That's saying coronavirus is God or the devil is God or somebody else or something else is God to say that. God is sovereign. God is everything in control. And it's fake news to say God doesn't exist. It's fake news to say God is not active, and God is not personal. He is.
And He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So ask yourself, are you seeking God? Are you walking with God? Could that describe your life? Could you actually say, yeah, that sums my life up, I'm a person who walks with God, I'm walking with God. Maybe it would be more appropriate to say, you're not walking, you're casually meandering with God, aimlessly bumping around here and there, but not walking with Him. I read an article that was interesting that said 87% of Americans own running shoes but don't run. I wonder how many Christians have Bibles who don't walk.
He walked with God 300 years. It's that simple, intimate consistency with God. I rad a story, I read a little article about this flea in Africa called jiggers. It's in South America, Central America, and sub-Saharan Africa. And I forget the scientific name, but these are little bugs that they get into animals and people, and usually around their toenails, their feet. And so what they do is they burrow themselves into the skin, and they lay eggs. And the eggs hatch at night. And when they hatch, they grow. And when they grow, an infection sets in. And that creature becomes unable to walk. One traveler said that he was in Africa and saw a tiger so infected with these jiggers, these fleas, its paw became so swollen, it couldn't move or defend itself.
Get that picture in your mind, child of God, can't move, can't defend itself. Is there something that has crept into your life, burrowed its way into your life, into your spiritual walk, some distractions? Let the Lord pull those away during this time. Maybe you can't walk well enough. So Enoch becomes a great example of a fact-check. Don't complicate your life with God. Let it become down to just a life of faith where I walk with God every day just to please him. It's that simple. Walk with God and be free.
I'm going to lead us in a word of prayer. But I know that I'm speaking to somebody who have not been, has not begun a walk with God yet. You're tuning in, and I'm glad you are. You're watching on a computer screen or by television, or you're listening by radio. Or maybe you have come to church before, maybe a lot, maybe sort of like you own running shoes, but you don't run. You have a Bible, you don't walk. You're not walking with the Lord. You're not living to please Him. Listen, that can change. And it can change right now on this Wednesday night or whenever you're seeing this archive service. You can have a personal relationship with God so that your life is transformed, He gives you joy, but then you live to please Him.
And the joy just gets more joyful, gets better and better and better. Listen, I have walked with the Lord for a number of years, and they haven't, not always been wonderful, but the Lord's been wonderful. They've been hard times, they've been wonderful time, good times. And I have not always been as consistent as I want, but I'll tell you what. It's real today as it was the day I asked Jesus into my heart. He changed me, and He's continuing to change me. He brings me a sense of peace and purpose, as well as joy and hope. And you can have that.
That's not just religious talk. That's not just church talk, oh, yeah, that's what they say when the music is playing and he's got a bible. Listen, it's real. Well, I don't know if it's real. Well, you'll never know it's real. You'll die not knowing it's real unless you try Him. It's like the man who walked up to a atheist who is spouting off why God doesn't exist. And he walked up to the front of an auditorium. And he was speaking, and he started peeling an orange and eating it in front of the crowd and in front of the speaker. And then he shouted up to the speaker. And he said, let me ask you a question. The orange that I'm eating, is it sweet or sour?
And the speaker said, I don't know. What a stupid question. How would I know that? He goes, you'd never know it unless you tried it. And you'll never know how sweet Jesus is until you try Him. You've got to receive the gift, man. You've got to peel it open, you've got to take a bite. You've got to taste and see the Lord is good because He is good. But you've got to make it personal. If you want to do that, do it right now. Say this prayer, mean it from your heart. Say:
Lord, I've blown it. I'm a sinner. I admit it. I know that. Forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe in you, God. I believe in the God of the Bible. I believe you sent Jesus to this earth to pay for my sins, to be raised victoriously from the grave, and he lives right now. I turn from my past. I repent of my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior, I want to follow Him as my Lord. And I want to walk with him, like Enoch, every day of my life. Help me to do that, to keep it simple, to keep it real, in Jesus' name. Amen.