This morning, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 5. Genesis chapter 5, as we read the chapter, considering in particular one individual spoken of in this chapter among the many, the man Enoch. And I'll give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. Genesis 5. This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them, male and female, and blessed them. When they were created, he called them man. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh, and after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. And after he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. And after he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared, and after he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died. When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God, then he was no more, Because God took him away. When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters altogether. Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed. After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died. After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. May God add his blessing to the reading of his word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, we read this account of Adam's line, and we are amazed by the long life that the first men enjoy. What captivates our attention, it's always at least captivated mine and probably the boys and girls too as we read it this morning, what captivates our attention is that we read, well, he lived 930 or 912 or 800 or 969 years. And if my math is correct according to the figures the Bible gives to us, think about this. Adam was 874 years old when Enoch's grandson, Lamech, the father of Noah, was born. Seems like a whole history away, doesn't it? And as well, Adam was 57 years, he had died only 57 years before Enoch was taken to be with the Lord. And he died only 126 years before Noah was born. You see, to us who are amazed when someone in our day lives to be 100 or even 95 or 90 years of age, when we hear 900, 800, 700 years, it seems like an eternity. It is a history in and of itself. It's something that we cannot even begin to fathom. But as we read this account, beloved, what ought to capture our attention is not how old the first men lived. But that sad refrain that we hear again and again with basically each one of them, and then he died. This is in the context, you see, of the outworking of the curse of sin on the human race. The wages of sin, we notice, were vividly being paid out by way of physical death, even upon that which we call the righteous line of Seth in contrast to Cain's line. Seth, as the Bible says, who was a son in Adam's own likeness, in Adam's own image, which meant that Seth too was conceived and born in sin. God's Word was indeed true. You sin, you die. But then in the midst of this recurring refrain, then he died, all of a sudden, there's a gravestone missing. The gravestone of Enoch. It's not there. We read of his birth, like in our day, you could go to the county courthouse and you could find a record of his birth certificate, but you would find no corresponding death certificate. In the midst of this outworking of the wages of sin, with Enoch, God points to his purpose through the seed of the woman. He points to the truth of his Word, the Gospel. Through Enoch, he gives hope of life in the midst of death. Enoch represents God's plan to conquer death, to restore fallen man. Enoch pointed to Jesus Christ, the work that he was to accomplish, the life that he was to bring. And at the beginning of a new year, having been reminded over the past several weeks of the Savior who was born, that man no more may die, having been reminded of God at what we call Christmas time, that first Christmas, acting in history through His Son on behalf of His people. And before we settle into that same old routine at the beginning of a year with broken resolutions, and before we in this place particularly turn our attention back to Hosea, which we know is a book of judgment, and a book which clearly shows the need for our salvation and the need for the coming of the Messiah. May we this morning see in Enoch the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we see through Enoch an example of the believer's response to the gospel as we are to be encouraged and challenged in our walk with the Lord. God blesses Enoch. He blesses him first of all for walking with God. And we know that in order to walk with God, you can only walk with God by faith. He was walking with God by faith, which implies reconciliation with God. Amos 3, verse 3 asks, how can two walk together unless they be agreed? And the answer we know is they can't. If there is no agreement, there will be no harmony. And when it talks about Enoch walking with God, it's talking about his way of life. Walking with God. You cannot walk with God without agreement with Him. And we're not talking about a compromising agreement with God, where both sides give in a little bit in order to make the relationship work. That's how it often must work between us as human beings. But in this case, it's all God's way, period. We are to walk in agreement with God, in agreement with what God has said. Enoch, like his fathers before him and like his sons after him, Enoch was a sinner. But one who had been transformed by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, one to whom a new heart had been given, and one who had been given that blessed gift of faith. And having received that gift of faith, that means then that Enoch knew God. Now Enoch, we know, is included in the record of the heroes of faith that we find in Hebrews 11. And if you recall that chapter, over and over again, that history lesson of the Old Testament of God's people, over and over again, it says, by faith, Abraham, by faith, Enoch, by faith, David, by faith, so on. But as we read it, and we'll read the section in just a second on Enoch, as we read it about him, we notice that he didn't build a huge ark. He didn't kill a giant with only a sling and a stone. He didn't kill a thousand Philistines with only the jawbone of a donkey. It does not seem that he did any sort of great physical act that God used to restore or to reform his people. Yet he stands out at the very beginning of Hebrews 11, verses 5 and 6. By faith, Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. he could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith, it is impossible to please God. Because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Enoch knew God. He knew the Word of God. He believed that God is real. That he exists. In the midst of a wicked world of idolatry that was only getting worse. He believed that the Lord alone is God. He believed that there is no other. He believed that only this God is the God of salvation. But it also means trusting God. Faith not only knows God and agrees with His Word, but it trusts Him. Enoch knew the promise of God, the gospel he had given earlier in Genesis 3.15 of the seed of the woman who would come to crush the seed of the serpent. He believed that promise. He was justified by faith in the promise Christ to come. In the promised Savior, Enoch's sins were forgiven and he was declared righteous in God's sight. The only way that he or we can walk with God is to be in a right relationship, that relationship of agreement with Him. And by faith then, Enoch pleased God. Walking with God by faith pleases Him. God is pleased by those, as the writer of Proverbs says, who trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And He will make your paths straight. What a beautiful definition of walking with God. To trust in the Lord with all your heart. And to lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. And He will make your paths straight. That described Enoch. Because he also pleased God by walking with Him in obedience. That obedience which is the outflowing, the fruit of faith. He agreed with the law of God. He desired to do that which was pleasing to him. That's the response of God's grace. His gospel poured out and applied to the hearts and lives of his children. One who recognizes God's saving grace delights in the law of God, desiring to live in God's way, knowing that it's for our good, striving to walk with him by faith, in obedience, continually. And that again describes Enoch. That was his way of life, boys and girls. There was a consistency in his walk with the Lord. He didn't just walk with him once in a while or when he felt like it. He didn't just look to him in difficult times when he couldn't make it on his own. But he walked with the Lord daily. The text does not say that he lived and died. It says he walked in the present, continually, in an ongoing way. For Enoch, living, was walking with the Lord, openly, in the mainstream of society, before the eyes of a watching world. He was not a closet Christian. He was not a secret believer. Some suggest that in order for him to have walked this way that we are describing, that he must have withdrawn from society, like a recluse or a monk or a hermit of some sort who tried to escape the evil appetites and the wicked menu that this world has to offer up. However, Enoch was a family man with a normal family life. The Bible says, the text says, he had other sons and daughters. The epistle to Jude speaks of Enoch as a preacher of the coming judgment. He did not escape the world, but he engaged the world with the Word of God. Enoch, like the psalmist of Psalm 46, found God to be a refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble. And he found Him to be this in the midst of a world that was increasing in wickedness as time moved ever closer to the time of the great flood. And he could confess with the psalmist in Psalm 62, my soul finds rest in God alone. My salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress. I will never be shaken. And beloved, this is the call of God for all whom He restores to Himself. By faith in Jesus Christ. To all to whom He gives that blessed, that great gift of salvation that will never be taken away from us. As believers, we too are called to respond to such a great salvation by delighting it, by striving to walk with God. It was commanded of Israel. In Leviticus 26, it says they were to follow His decrees and be careful to obey His commands. And see, that remains the standard for the believer's life today. In Micah 6, verse 8, we read, He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. And Paul says to the Colossian believers, to those who knew they couldn't do it on their own, who knew they needed another, he says, in light of this great salvation, so then just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. And Paul gives the warning to the Ephesian Christians in Ephesians 5, look carefully then how you walk. It's also translated, how you live. Not as unwise, but as wise. We were reminded last Sunday evening by Reverend Overman that we have everything in Christ. We have that salvation. And for this life, we need wisdom, the Bible says. That wisdom, which is the wisdom of God's Word, God's Word is to be our guide and our standard as per the psalmist in Psalm 119. How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your Word. Beloved, this is to be our delight. This is to be our practice to walk in agreement with God, with the God who saved us, to walk in agreement with Him in the choices we make, for example, as college students who are away from home. Many have left again for the next semester or quarter. Some of you are still here leaving tomorrow or leaving in a few days. Can you say this of yourself, that you walk with God in agreement with Him in all the choices that you make, away from the watchful eye of your parents? Can you claim that you are pleasing and what you do is pleasing to God? We are to walk in agreement, to be our practice, to walk in agreement with the God who saved us in our business decisions, beloved. When it comes to the friends and the fellowship with which we surround ourselves. When browsing the internet. When spending time alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend. When deciding what college to attend. When deciding whether or not to attend worship on Sunday morning or Sunday evening. Of course, there are so many ways we could sit here and try to apply how it means to walk with God. One commentator, I believe, says it, sets a foundation, says it beautifully. Marcus Dodds in his book on Genesis. It's a rather lengthy quote, but I think it's worthwhile if you would allow me. Bear with me as I read it. the phrase, he's talking about the phrase, Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. The phrase is full of meaning. Enoch walked with God because he was his, God's friend, and liked his company because he was going in the same direction as God and had no desire for anything but what lay in God's path. We walk with God when He is in our thoughts, in all our thoughts, not because we consciously think of Him at all times, but because He is naturally suggested to us by all we think of. As when any person or plan or idea has become important to us, no matter what we think of, our thought is always found recurring to this favorite object. So with the godly man, everything has a connection with God and must be ruled by that connection. When some change in his circumstances is thought of, He has, first of all, to determine how the proposed change will affect his connection with God. Will his conscience be equally clear? Will he be able to live on the same friendly terms with God? And so forth. When he falls into sin, he cannot rest till he has resumed his place at God's side and walks again with Him. This is the general nature of walking with God. it is a persistent endeavor to hold all our life open to God's inspection and in conformity to His will, a readiness to give up what we find does cause any misunderstanding between us and God. A feeling of loneliness if we have not some satisfaction in our efforts at holding fellowship with God. A cold and desolate feeling when we are conscious of doing something that displeases Him. This walking with God necessarily tells on the whole life and character. as you instinctively avoid subjects which you know will jar upon the feelings of your friend, as you naturally endeavor to suit yourself to your company, so when the consciousness of God's presence begins to have some weight with you, you are found instinctively endeavoring to please Him, repressing the thoughts you know He disproves, and endeavoring to educate such dispositions as reflect His own nature. It is easy then to understand how we may practically walk with God. It is to open to him all our purposes and hopes to seek his judgment on our scheme of life and idea of happiness. It is to be on thoroughly friendly terms with God. That is to be our desire as those who have that great salvation in Christ Jesus. And it comes with the promise that when we fall, and we do, we struggle with sin daily. When we fall, we know that that sin that we commit daily does not again separate us from God, from His favor, but God picks us up. He restores us to the path, and at times He carries us. Because God restores His people through Jesus Christ by faith in order to take His people to Himself. God blessed Enoch, secondly, by taking Enoch to Himself. Enoch walked with God, then he was no more because God took him away. God took Enoch to himself as a reward, but not a reward earned by Enoch. It was not a reward that we think of, but it was a reward of grace. It was a reward earned for him by the promised Savior to come, Jesus Christ. But no doubt, a reward that was looked forward to by Enoch. Enoch was taken, beloved, not because he walked with God. But he walked with God because God saved him. He saved him in order to take him. We know that the Bible speaks of the glory of heaven as a reward for those who give evidence of true faith in Christ's salvation by walking with him. Yet it is only earned and given by Jesus Christ. And God's promise to those He saves, as David says in Psalm 23, is that you lead me in paths of righteousness with the guarantee that I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Enoch truly did not see death. Hebrews 11 verifies, Genesis 5, 24, that God did not take Enoch away by death as some teach. God took him away. It's also translated in some versions, God took him up. Very clearly, the writer of Hebrews says, he did not die. And the idea in the original language of Genesis is to take to one's self. God took Enoch to himself. Enoch did not taste death like Elijah did not taste death. As someone has said, he changed places from here to there. But he did not change company. The same company he enjoyed as he walked this life, he continued to enjoy in the very presence of God. And as God took Enoch to himself, that pointed to God's promise that the seed of the woman would be victorious over Satan, sin, death, and hell. Again, Enoch was under the same curse of death. That's what he deserved. And the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 2 says that Satan held the power of death. That death which was terrifying for mankind. And that physical death which Paul says is the last enemy that we still face. That last enemy which will be defeated when Jesus comes again. And there is that resurrection of our bodies. That last enemy which we no longer are terrified of. But through Enoch, God shows that he provides a way out. Enoch points forward to Jesus Christ and our benefit in him that God, not death, is the final, ultimate power because Jesus Christ destroyed the power of Satan, sin, and death. And because of the saving work of Jesus Christ, God takes the believer at death to himself in glory, just as he took Enoch to himself without death. And by taking Enoch to himself, that anticipates as well the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus Christ, whose tomb does not say, here lies Jesus of Nazareth. But instead his tomb says, he is not here, because he is risen, just as he said. And this taking of Enoch as well anticipates the believer's life, body and soul, beyond the here and now. A beloved, in the context of the outworking of sin's curse on the human race, as those around Enoch were dying at a ripe old age, he who walked with and lived for God in this life was taken as a young man. You say, well, he was 365 years old. How do you call him a young man? Well, compared to the others listed, he was only a little over a third their age, like us. maybe being 25, 30 years old, God took him as a young man to live in the very presence of God. And Enoch's translation to heaven was proof of God's gracious intention to undo for His people the effects of the curse, giving them new life. But for those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in Him alone and who give evidence of not believing by not walking with God in this life. They will be forever separated from Him. Because to live opposed to Him now, as we sing, to live apart from God is death in one of the versions of Psalm 73. To live opposed to Him now points to living without Him forever. But those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God, those who respond to His call and trust in Him, those who walk with God by faith today that faith in the sufficient work of Jesus Christ that alone saves me that faith that is evidenced by living for and representing Him in this life those who walk with God by faith today enjoy a foretaste of that day when our faith will become sight living in His glorious presence forever All because Jesus Christ walked for us the way of punishment and death for our sins so that just as Enoch escaped physical death by the mercy of God, we might escape eternal death and instead walk with God forever. Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to walk with God. Enoch is an example to us of what Jesus Christ came to do for us, to conquer death and to give life forevermore. But he is also to be an example for us of the believer's response to that great gift of salvation, freely given, that will never be taken away, that will never be lost. And therefore, may this be, may it indeed be our New Year's resolution to walk with God. But even more than that, may this be our life's resolution may this be our desire both today and always so that our lives by the grace of God might give the psalmist testimony in Psalm 73 yet I am always with you you hold me by my right hand you guide me with your counsel and afterward you will take me to glory Amen let's pray together dear heavenly father as those who know clearly our sin and misery and how sin came into the world and into the human race we are amazed that you had determined so long ago before the foundation of the world to save a people for yourself that even in the midst of the fulfillment of your word that the day you sin you will die that you gave hope of life forevermore through one man named Enoch and Father we thank you too for that precious gift that we can claim and confess and we thank you for the new desire that you have given to us as your people to live for You. Indeed, it's not always easy. As we go forth from day to day, we are so grateful, Father, that You have given to us a righteousness that is not our own, a righteousness that we cannot lose because if we could, we would. But You've given to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And therefore, too, in response to that, Father, You've given us a desire to live for You and to walk with you more closely day by day. Lead us and guide us according to your steadfast love and your tender mercy. For Jesus' sake, amen.