TOPIC:‌“Enoch's Devoted Life”

‌            by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Genesis 5:24

 

‌‌“And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him”

 

‌I begin my message with this pointed question: Have you given up on walking? Well, you shouldn't. This old fashioned way of getting around is good for you.

 

‌Now people walk for many different reasons: For exercise. I read sometime ago of a 56 year old doctor from England who started on a trans-continental hike from San Francisco to New York. Imagine, some 3000 miles of walking.

 

‌For an education. Some years ago I read in Reader's Digest about a young African boy who walked 2500 miles across Africa because he wanted a United States education. The story was entitled: “The Boy Who Walked to America.” There you have two people walking - one for exercise and the other for an education.

 

‌But listen now about a man who walked not for exercise or an education, but for enjoyment, or better still, for companionship and communion with God. His name is Enoch, the father of Methuselah and great grandfather of Noah. The record we have of him is brief, but filled with beauty. Let us examine the three passages that deal so beautifully with his life.

 

I.

 

‌Think, first of all, of the SANCTITY that CHARACTERIZED him. The Hebrew way of describing and declaring his holy life is contained in these words: “And Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:24).

 

‌Now let us get it down: The Christian life is a wonder. The Christian life is a warfare. The Christian life is a walk. We read in Genesis 17:1 these words: “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” We read in Deuteronomy 5:33 these words: “Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you.” David the Psalmist declared: “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalms 116:9). Isaiah the prophet declared: “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). Micah the prophet proclaimed: “What does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8).

 

‌Since the Bible has a great deal to say about our walk, I suggest we ought the more diligently to notice those words of our test: “Enoch walked with God.” The ways of our walking are set forth in Scripture. . . .