Walking With God

By Dr. Tom Walker

McDowell County

 

Gen 5:22-24

                “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.”

Gen 6:9-12

                “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”

There are two very important statements which we are going to carefully consider in our study today. The Bible says, “Enoch walked with God” and also that “Noah walked with God.”

The opposite of walking with God is to walk according to the course of this world. Ephesians 2:2 says, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Of course, in that statement, Paul speaks of our past life before our conversion to Christ.  The course of the world is the course of sinning. Before our salvation experience, we lived a life of trespasses and sins. That separated us from God putting us in a state or process of death. It is while people are living in trespasses and sins they are spiritually dead, or separated from God.

If someone were to put an epitaph on your tombstone, could they rightly and correctly put the words, “He (she) walked with God?” No greater statement can be said of anyone than for it to be said of him that daily he “walked with God.”

There are two men put before us in the text verses we have chosen for our study today. Their names are Enoch and Noah. The name Enoch means trained up or dedicated. The name Noah means rest or quiet. We are going to consider both of these men and their walk with the Lord.

The Walk of Enoch

Notice the conditions he faced. He lived shortly before the days of Noah as described in the Scriptures.  Genesis 6:5-6 describes those days. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

Enoch lived in a wicked day. It was such a wicked time that it was called great wickedness. Even men’s thoughts were so corrupt that they thought evil in their hearts continually. The evil was so great that God had second thoughts about even creating man and putting him upon the earth.

Hebrews 11:5-6 speaks of Enoch and says: “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. 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.”

                Hebrews 11 tells us that Enoch was translated or moved from one place to another. He was on the earth, went walking with the Lord one day, and was taken to Heaven without having to die.

                Bob Sorge wrote the following about walking with God. “God is looking for not only a clinging bride but also a walking partner. From the very beginning, God had a relationship with Adam and Eve that found them “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). God created man for the enjoyment of a walking relationship that involved companionship, dialogue, intimacy, joint decision-making, mutual delight, and shared dominion. God longs to walk with you, which is why His arms of grace have been pulling you into a closer walk with him. It is designed by God to establish us in an intimate friendship with him that is walked out through the course of our everyday lives. The goal we’re after is an everyday walk of unbroken communion with our Lord and friend.”

What does Hebrew 11 reveal about Enoch’s life that proved he walked with God?

See his translation. God was so pleased with the patriarch one day as he walked with God, God simply decided to take him home to Heaven, without his servant having to face physical death. Enoch did not have to die a physical death, there were no funeral arrangements that had to be made and there was no burial. God took him on to the glory world to be with Him without his servant having to die. I believe this is a picture of the rapture or the catching out of the church, Christ’s bride, one wonderful, future day.

See his testimony. It is said of him, “Before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God.” Walking with God is living a life of not pleasing self but instead a life of pleasing God. No one is walking with the Lord who is not pleasing Him in attitude and action.

See his trust. What is God more pleased with than anything else in our lives? It is when we have faith in Him to do what He has promised to do. If we do not have faith in God’s promises, we call him a liar, which is a very solemn and serious matter. It is very clear in the Word of God that God cannot lie. Titus 1:2 says, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”

In context with Enoch the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6, “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.”

If you are pleasing God and trusting His promises you are in the desirable condition of walking with God. It should be our goal each day of our lives to have unbroken communion with our precious Lord. Living a life of faith is an important part of walking with God.

The Walk of Noah

The days of Noah are described somewhat in the Bible by Jesus in Matt 24:37-39- “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

What is it that Christ says will characterize the age? It is not stealing and murder and immorality, but eating and drinking and marrying time after time. When the earth was destroyed the first time, it was because “the earth was corrupt…and…filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). However, the sins that bring the second destruction of the earth seem to be eating and drinking and marrying time after time. These are the sins stressed by Christ.

Gen 6:5 says, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

“Great” wickedness means man’s wickedness multiplied. Man committed more and more sin, more and more acts of wickedness. Society was not getting better, not becoming more and more righteous and godly; society was becoming more lawless and crime-ridden. Lawlessness and crime, immorality, and corruption were increasing more and more every year, not decreasing. The wickedness of man had swept the earth—swept every place where man was. That description fits our age so well. Great wickedness means that sin became more extreme and terrible.

But great wickedness does not only mean that sin multiplied, it also means that sin became more extreme and terrible.

We must compare what is said about Noah in Heb 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Putting together what information we have of Noah, how does he reveal he walked with God?

He lived by faith and not by sight.

He built the ark at the command of God.

He possessed the fear of God.

Let’s live our lives not to please ourselves or to please others, but to please the Lord. It is then we will be in the state of walking with God.

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Dr. Tom Walker is President of Foothills Bible College and Pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church in Marion, NC. You can read more good Christian News from Dr. Walker HERE.

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