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How to Live Forever
Genesis 5:21-24 Hebrews 11:5
By all accounts, Ancestry.com is one of the most popular sites on the web. It’s the world’s largest on-line family history resource with 6+ billion documents.
Family trees or genealogies are found in the Bible, as well. In Genesis 5 we are given a very limited and select glimpse of our earliest ancestorsbetween Adam and Noah. Only 10 snapshots or generations are featured. Andyet, remarkably,each of the patriarchs highlighted lived upwards of 10 times as long as most live today.
There is one exception to this pattern. In this selective sampling, one man lived a relatively short time,then he suddenly departed. We are told this man walked with God during a time when almost no one else did.
Who was this man? This morning our “Living Your Faith” messagefrom Hebrews 11 focuses on Enoch. He may be one of the lesser-known members of the Bible’s hall of faith. But the lesson he offers is priceless. Follow along onyour back-page bulletin outline. Here’s a first truth to note: Like Enoch, to live forever, we must trust God.
1. To live forever I must trustGod.
Recently I was reading about Whitaker Chambers, who was still living 50 years ago. As a young man, he was a convinced Communist and an embittered atheist. But in his book Witness, Chambers tells how his life began to change.
He tells of watching his baby daughter one day as she dribbled pabulum over the tray of her high chair. Chambers found himself staring with fascination at his daughter’s tiny, intricate ear. It seemed to him a marvel. Only a planner could have planned that ear. And so the simple but profound experience of becoming a parent and father set Whitaker Chambers on the road to belief.
You may recall our Christmas Eve service,when Ashley Stine sang the song, “A baby changes everything.” Indeed, that seems to have been the case for Mr. and Mrs. Enoch, as well. Let’s read aloud together the first two verses of our text from Genesis 5. “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” (Genesis 5:21-22).
The birth of his son was apparently a turningpoint in Enoch's life, because the Bible says that after he became Methuselah’s dad, he began to walk with the Lord. That makes sense, doesn’t it?
There’s something about kids that draws you closer to God or at least sends you to your knees, right? Could it be that raising a newborn son in such a godless world drove Enoch to seek the Lord's help?
Let’s remember that Enoch lived during the period just before the universal flood. This was a wicked and sinful time on earth. There is a brief description of it in Genesis 6, in which God says “man’s wickedness on earth” had become great “and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (v. 5).
Could it be that when Methuselah was born,God made Enoch aware that a great judgment on human wickedness was coming? We don't know, but we do know that the arrival of this baby changed Enoch's life.
Kids have a way of humbling us, don’t they? It’s genuinely humbling, not only to see the intricate design of an infant’s ear, but to realize our own limitations, our pride and sin and self-centeredness. It isn’t easy to yield to the needs and cries of another—but a loving parent does just that. A wise parent will also rely on God for help with the daily demands oflife.
Of course, whether you’re a new parent or not, there are many roadblocks to relying on God. One difficulty many of us have is simply believing that God can be trusted. Like Enoch, we live in an evil and broken world. We can become accustomed to bad news and suspicious of good news. We can even prefer our own skeptical, cynical views to the hope set forth in the Gospel. Trust in God involvesa change of heart and mind.
It means turning from our own efforts and trusting what God’s Son has done for us. God won’t force Himself on any of us. But when a person opens his or her heart and mind to God, they will discover a sense of peace, forgiveness, purpose, love and hope like they’ve never felt before. Perhaps that describes Enoch’s journey, as well as your own— I hope so!
The Bible tells us that after Enoch believed God he began to walk with God. Here we find a second truth to note: Like Enoch, to live forever, we must walk with God.
2. To live forever I must walkwithGod.
Let’s read aloud the next two verses of our text in Genesis 5: “Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis5:23–24).What does it mean to walk with God?
First, it means walking by faithwhich means to trust and depend on God. Although we’re often told to be self-reliant and to figure things out for ourselves, when it comes to the biggest issues of life—as well as the small ones—we need to know who to trust. The Bible tells us not to trust our own understanding, but to trust God and seek God’s guidance. This was Enoch. For 300 years this godly believer lived by faith, not by sight.
Second, walking with God means to walk in holiness. The Bible tells us that God is holy, and those who want to have fellowship with God must be holy, as well. The Apostle John puts it this way: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:5–7). To be holy is to be set apart. It’s to have a pure, sincere and honest faith and trust.
Third, walking with God means that we walk inagreementwith the direction that God sets.
When Enoch walked with God, he was no longer resistant or rebellious. Instead, he delighted in being directed by the Lord. As David proclaims, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:3-4).
When we walk in agreement with God we’ll come to know Him and love Him and honor His way more and more as time goes on.If we walk with God, we will be opposed to that which God calls “sin.” But if we’re not walking with the Lord, then sin won’t seem so bad, and more and more we’ll cozy up to it.
In our age, one way we cozy up to sin is by calling it by some other name. We call sin a “personal failure” or a “simple mistake of judgment.” We call pride “self-esteem,” selfishness “fulfillment,” lust “an instinct.” Those who cheat in business rationalize this by saying that they are “protecting their own interests.” Persons who commit adultery sometimes call it “an attempt to save their marriage.” And those who abort an unborn child call it a “personal choice.”
How offensive we must be to God, who is not taken in by our re-labelling, but who calls sin, sin and evil, evil. To walk closely in faith, holiness and agreement with God, we must seek to see life as God sees it. This takes us to a thirdtruth. Like Enoch, to live forever, we must please God.
3. To live forever I must pleaseGod.
Let’s read aloud our text from Hebrews 11: “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”(Hebrews 11:5). Lord willing, we will focus on this in much greater depth and breadth next Sunday.
This morning let’s begin by exploring what it means to please God -- for Enoch and for each of us. It seems that after his first child was born, Enoch made God the compass point, the true North, of his life. Enoch embracedGod’s leading and revealed truth. In other words, Enoch believed. It began in his head and heart, then his belief led Enoch to action.
The Bible saysthat Enoch walked with God. Notice that there’s no suggestion that he walked with God now and then, or only one day a week, or only when he felt like it, or on a seasonalor fair weather basis. No, the Bible simply says that Enoch walked with God. He walked with God in faith, in holy living and in agreement with God. And so, the Bible says that Enoch pleased God in what he did. What could be a better legacy? What could be a greater tribute than at the end of your life or mine someone might honestly say that you and I pleased God?
If that’s to be the case, if you and I please God, you can be sure there will be times that we’ll not be pleasing to others – to those who have no interest in God or in walking with God.
By the time Enoch died, by the sheer probability of birth and reproduction, there were likely hundreds of thousands, if not more of Adam’s descendants on earth. These were Enoch’s relatives. Of Enoch Jude writes, “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him’” (Jude 14-15).
Enoch called his contemporaries “ungodly,” and we can be sure this was not popular. Imagine how difficult it must have been to walk with God during those years before the Flood, when vice and violence were common, and few believed and walked with God. Yet Enoch sought to minister and live out his faithamong his contemporaries and extended family. It was to them he spoke of God’s coming judgment. In time the judgment of the Flood did come; but the greater judgment Enoch announced is yet to come. It will occur when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, leading the armies of heaven and condemning Satan and his hosts.
Enoch’s life and witness remind us that, God helping us, we can be faithful to God. No matter how dark the day or how grim the news, we have the promise of our Lord's return to encourage us and motivate us to live for Him.
One day sin and evil will be judged and God's people will be rewarded for their faithfulness, so we have every reason to be encouraged as we walk with God. Although Enoch may not have pleased his contemporaries or even his cousins, he pleased God. May it also be true for us!
This takes us to a fourth and final truth: Like Enoch, to live forever I must go home with God.
4. To live forever one day I must gohomewithGod
The end of the story is that the day came in Enoch’s lifewhen God simply took him home. We can imagine, perhaps, that God and Enoch had been together, maybe out walking, and God simply said, “Enoch, let’s not go back to your place tonight. Why don’t you just come home with me?” And so he did.
Within the genealogy of Genesis 5, the phrase “and he died” isn’t used of Enoch, because Enoch is one of two persons in Scripture who never endured a physical death. Both Enoch and Elijah, of whom we read in 2 Kings 2, were taken to heaven alive.
Why should God have acted this way? The Bible says, “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24). Martin Luther in his commentary states that God took Enoch to show that death is not the end but rather “there has been prepared and set aside for humankind another and better life than this.” Indeed there is! Like Enoch, God’s call and claim upon our lives is this:
First, believe in God. Admit your sin. Ask for God’s forgiveness. Accept God’s solution to your greatest need—His Son, Jesus as your personal Savior.
Second, walk with God in faith, holiness and agreement. Third, please God by your affections, your ambitions, your attitudes, and your activities.
Fourth, do these things, my friend, and you willlive -- really live -- now and forever. For one day the Lord who loved you before your first breath will embrace you in arms of love upon your last breath on this earth. He’ll welcome you home. And your joy will be indescribable! ... Let’s pray.
How to Live Forever
Genesis 5:21-24 & Hebrews 11:5
- To live forever I must trustGod
“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” (Genesis 5:21-22).
- To live forever I must walkwithGod
a. _in faith b. _in holiness c. _in agreement_
“Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:23–24).
“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” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellow-ship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:5–7).
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart’” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun” (Psalm 37:3-6).
3. To live forever I must pleaseGod.
“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” (Hebrews 11:5).
“Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him’” (Jude 14-15).
4. To live forever one day I willgohomewithGod
“Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24).