Enoch: The Walk of Faith | Sermon by Tony Evans

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hello everyone

this is dr tony evans with the urban

alternative and i’m excited to welcome

you to join us

on a journey a journey through hebrews

11 it’s known as the hall of faith

where men and women discovered

what god can do when god’s people

learn to live walk and

act by faith the beautiful thing is

it’s not just about them it’s about

us as the author of hebrews writes to

new testament believers

that’s who we are about how the lives of

old testament saints who learn to live

by faith

should challenge and affect

our lives as we live by faith

so we’re excited to welcome you on this

journey it’s going to be an exciting

trip

we’re going to learn a lot most

importantly we’re going to be

transformed

by the truth what it means to be a

kingdom hero

who lives by faith

[Music]

today we want to look at our next hero

of the faith as we tour this

this hall of faith and his name

is enoch and the lesson that enoch wants

to teach

us about faith today is what it means to

walk by faith the walk of faith

it’s in hebrews chapter 11 verse 5 and 6

by faith enoch was taken up so that he

would not see death

and he was not found because god took

him up

for he obtained the witness

that before his being taken up he was

pleasing to god

and 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

them

who seek him

so the new testament writer writing the

new testament christians

reaches back to the book of genesis and

introduces us to a man who has four

verses written about him in genesis

those four verses are in genesis chapter

5.

and we can see why enoch was pleasing to

god

because genesis 5 verses 21 to 24 says

enoch lived 65 years and became the

father of methuselah

then enoch walked with god 300 years

after he became the father of methuselah

methuselah and he had other sons and

daughters

so all the days of enoch were 365 years

enoch walked with god and he was not

for god took him so hebrews tells us he

pleased god

genesis tells us why he pleased god he

pleased god

because he walked with god so the way

you please god

is to walk with god and it takes

faith to please god

by walking with god because you’re

dealing with a god that you do not see

and you’re dealing with things about god

that are

often invisible so

in order to please god you must walk

with god

let’s reverse it if you’re not walking

with god

you’re not pleasing god what does it

mean to walk with god

the new testament phrase is walk in the

spirit

so that’s the new testament phrase to

the concept of walking with

god the bible says if you walk in the

spirit

so we’re told about enoch he walked with

god

watch this for 300 years

he started his walk when he was 65 years

old

he says because he was 65 when he had

methuselah and then he walked with god

for 300 years

so this was a walk over an extended

period of time

step by step in other words

to walk with god is to bring god to

bear on the steps you take in your life

it means god is part of your decision

making

he is part of your thought processes he

is part of your

calendar he is part of your schedule

he is part of your relationship every

step you take

every move you make every meandering you

do

everything you’re involved with god is

attached to it

and you are aligning yourself with him

so to walk with god involves agreeing

with him

if you’re disagreeing with god it’s hard

for him and you to hang out together

because you’re not on the same page

you’re not walking with each other

he says in verse 6 him that comes to god

must first believe that he is

it’s hard to walk with somebody and

you’re not sure they’re there

so there is an assumption with walking

with god that the god you’re walking

with

is there to be walked with

now let me explain something about

believing that he is

you must believe watch this that

he is that’s different than believing

that

it is because what you must believe

about god is that he is personal and

therefore

knowable god does not know what it is to

be by himself

he’s never been alone for there is god

the father god the son

god the holy spirit these three are one

one god

composed of three co-equal persons who

are distinct in personality yet one in

essence

he’s never been by himself

because god has never been alone

he doesn’t know what it is to be lonely

because he’s never been alone

so he is into relationship

not that excited about religion

so folk who want religion who don’t want

a relationship is not for him that he’s

talking about

so you must believe that the god who is

asking you to walk with him

really wants to walk with you because he

wants a relationship with you

he just does not want a visit from you

jesus is not physically here and god is

a spirit by nature

you must believe that god is

and it’s a he it’s a person

the second thing you must believe if

you’re going to walk with god verse 6

says

is that he is a rewarder of them who

diligently seek him

you must believe that he is real

and he is a rewarder

he is personal and a responder so you

believe in two things

that there is this personal god who

wants me to walk with him

and that he’s not gonna waste my time on

the journey

that he’s going to respond to my belief

in him and my walk with him

the issue on the floor is

do you want to walk with god

and you need to want to walk with god i

need to want to walk with god if i

expect god to walk with me

that he is the rewarder verse 6 says of

those who

seek him in other words he’s going to

walk with you

if you want to walk with him but he’s

not going to be insulted and walk with

you when you don’t want to walk with him

because who wants to walk with somebody

who doesn’t want to be with them

so there is this issue

of the design to walk with god which is

walking in the spirit

which is bringing god to bear on all of

life that’s walking with god

but walking with god if you’re gonna

walk with god

stay with me here means you will often

be walking against the culture

i know you heard me but i’m not sure you

liked it walking

with god will often mean

you will walk out of step with the

culture

because you’re listening to a different

drumbeat

the new testament talks about enoch in

another place

the next to the last book of the new

testament jude

jude which only has one chapter

in verses 14 and 15

says these words it was also about these

men that

enoch in the seventh generation from

adam

prophesied saying behold the lord came

with many thousands of his holy ones

to execute judgment upon all and to

convict all the ungodly

of their ungodly deeds which they had

done in an

ungodly way and of all the harsh things

which ungodly sinners

had spoken against him

so now jew picks up on this man enoch

from the book of genesis

oh but watch this now jude says

enoch in the seventh generation from

adam

he doesn’t just tell you his name is

enoch same thing hebrew says

he tells you it’s enoch the seventh

generation from adam

why does he want you to know it’s enoch

the seventh generation from adam

because there were two enochs in adam’s

family

in genesis chapter 4 verse 17 it talks

about

enoch the son of cain enoch the son of

cain who had a city named after him

jude says i ain’t talking about him

that’s not the enoch i’m talking about

i ain’t talking about cain’s baby boy

i’m talking about seth’s generation of

enoch

the father of methuselah he says i don’t

want you to get confused because

folk can have the same name but not

share the same nature

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now faith is the assurance of things

hoped for

the conviction of things not seen for by

it the men have all gained approval

since we are surrounded by this cloud of

witnesses

welcome everybody to our bible study

kingdom heroes

we’re going to be looking at some of the

great heroes of the faith in hebrews 11

and we want to challenge you to become a

kingdom hero

and you know times have been tough the

virus and

racial tensions and social upheaval the

author of hebrew says

you don’t give up and the way you keep

moving is by faith by faith abel

by faith noah that by faith moses by

faith rahab

29 says by faith they pass through the

red sea

the walls of jericho fell down we are to

be

looking unto jesus author and finisher

of our fame

noah had to make a decision like you and

i have to make a decision

are we going to believe enough to obey

god’s word

or are we going to settle for the

culture that has rejected

it far too many christians are unwilling

to be identified

as a christian outside of their

convenient

christian environment god is going to

reward

those believers kingdom heroes who

decide that they don’t mind being

identified with him

saying no to the culture and saying i

choose to follow jesus christ i want to

challenge you to become a kingdom

hero

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enoch son of king had a city named after

him

he had a city called enoch after him so

he

was recognized by man but

enoch the seventh generation

from adam was not known by

men he was known by god for edict walked

with god and was not

so the question is who you want to know

your name

you can live for people and have

notoriety named after you

power named after you success named

after you privilege or you

can have god knowing your name so the

question is who you want

to know your name

he says enoch the seventh

in the generation of adam he says

was not a private christian

he was not a spiritual cia

representative

he was not an a covert operative

he says he prophesied against the

ungodliness

of his day he wasn’t just this quiet

little christian sitting in church

where nobody knew he belonged to god but

him

enoch who walked with god let the

ungodly know

that ain’t right god calls that sin

god calls that unrighteousness

they took that stand

and you are not to be apologetic that is

if you’re gonna walk with god

cause if you’re gonna walk with god you

gotta agree with god

you can’t disagree with god and walk

with god

you must take that stand

joshua said i can’t control what the

rest of y’all do

but as for me and my house

we will serve the lord

so he did not compromise with

ungodliness

in order to be popular in order to have

a big name

when you walk with god you cannot mix

diesel and unleaded

because if you try to mix diesel and

unleaded you’re gonna go

bumping along and you’re liable to stall

because the engine of your spirit has

not been made

for that kind of mixture

it must be clear he took the false

teaching

he took the false religion and he made

his

position clear in his generation

that’s why it says he prophesied he

spoke

you may work in a hostile environment

you may live in a hostile environment

but it ought to be clear you belong to

another kingdom you belong to another

king

and you represent that kingdom

in a hostile environment if the

unrighteous can represent hell

god has called you to represent heaven

because he’s invited you to

walk with him

[Applause]

enoch walked with god

one of the realities is the closer you

get to god the more sensitive you’re

going to be to the unrighteousness

in your own life and the unrighteousness

and the culture in which you live

you see enoch walked with god and it

wasn’t an event it was a lifestyle

because it did it over 300 years what

was the payoff for walking with god what

was the compensation

it says god took him verse 5 of hebrews

11 for he obtained the witness

that before he was taken up he was

pleasing to god

okay so he talks about before he was

taken up

and then he talks about being taken up

so before he was taken up while he was

still living over these 300 years

that he was walking with god god

the witness witness means testified

god testified

with his special presence in

enoch’s life that i

am with enoch and enoch is with me

there was a testimony

god vindicated him and validated him

there was a supernatural presence there

was a supernatural witness

god answered prayer god showed up and

showed off

god steered him god directed him

see one of the reasons that we don’t

hear god is we’re so far away from him

that his voice is undetectable if you’re

not walking with god you won’t hear him

give you direction

you won’t hear him guide you you won’t

hear him re-steer you

you won’t hear him redirect you because

the proximity

is not that close just like

enoch could walk with god and get a

witness

get a testimony he tells the new

testament christians and therefore

you and me here today why don’t you

piggyback off of what enoch had so you

can get that feeling too

why don’t you let his closeness with god

be so electric that you want to get a

little something of that action too

why don’t you let his action stimulate

your righteous voracism so that now

you want to get a little something

something that

enoch had because it was so rich and so

ripe

and so dynamic you don’t just want to

leave it on the old testament screen you

want to experience a little

something something for yourself he

wants you to piggyback off of

the old testament for your new testament

reality

you may not be used to hearing the voice

of god

you may not be used to walking with god

it may be a little tough when you first

get started

to include him in everything all day all

week to ask the holy spirit when you get

up

to open up your mind to his thoughts to

ask the holy spirit to give you

the right decision-making power today to

ask the holy spirit sent you to walk in

the spirit

to show you who to relate to how to

speak to them

how to stay away from that how to avoid

it you may not be used to that

but since you’re walking with god

and he knows where he’s going he will

begin to lead you into all truth

so that you experience his direction

and then i love how it ends because it

says he was not for god took him

how you live will determine how you

leave

let me say that again how

you live will determine how you leave

okay everybody doesn’t die the same

okay let’s go back to enid it says enoch

was walking with god and he was not for

god took him

enoch walked with god

i uh fly american

you’re welcome

dallas is america’s hub it is uh

i fly with americans i

i find out their schedule i do not tell

them to adjust their flights to mine

so i fly with them they don’t fly with

me but i fly with them because they can

take me where i need to go

so i fly with them because they can take

me where i need to go now i’ve been

flying american

for 40 years a few

years ago i got a letter in the mail

from american

and the letter in the mail said

you are because of your faithfulness

in regularly flying us are permanently

platinum

for the rest of your life you have a

platinum designation

the reason they gave me that designation

is i’ve been walking with them

or flying with them for 40 years

and so they gave me a testimony

the testimony of a permanent status as

platinum

because i didn’t leave them for delta i

didn’t leave them

for spirit airlines i didn’t leave them

for

any other ad i never left them

i stuck with them

and so they gave me a permanent

designation they gave me a testimony

because i was consistently with them

a few years ago i walked up to the gate

and i asked them did they have any

first-class upgrades

she said there was only one seat left

but they had just given it to the person

who was in front of me i said oh shucks

because i’ve got all these books i carry

with me and spread out whenever there’s

a

upgrade so i turned away to walk away i

said but

excuse me but the person who was in

front of me what what

what level were they

they said oh well they were gold oh i

pulled out my platinum card

[Applause]

i pulled out my platinum card because

you see platinum means

i have a longer deeper relationship

than gold she said oh i’m sorry i didn’t

i didn’t catch that you were platinum

oh no the sheet is yours because because

your relationship is deeper

so so you get benefits that go beyond

somebody with a lesser relationship

so i’m smelling myself right about now

and and i walk over and have my seat and

know that i got to confess i didn’t

apologize to the person who was in front

of me i went

but behind me came another guy

and he said are there any first class

seats i’m an executive platinum

executive platinum means that they have

a longer more intimate relationship than

i do

they have walked with american longer

than i have

and they walk with it regularly over a

hundred thousand miles a year

so they have a relationship that i do

not possess

and so i got bumped

but not to be overruled

not to be undone

i picked up the telephone

and i called my sister who’s on the

front row right here

who was over special services so you

shouldn’t have said nothing

and then you wouldn’t have been in the

sermon

but this system right up here was over

special services with american airlines

i think do you remember this i picked up

the telephone

i called back to dallas and said i just

got bumped i’m at this gate

i got it can you help me she said i’ll

take care of it

go back to the game i went back to the

game

sister had called the gate put me in a

vip

category which trump’s executive

platinum

[Applause]

i walked up there got my first class

ticket

and ain’t apologized to nobody

you know why cause i knew somebody

who could rule and overrule what i’m

trying to say

is if you walk with god he’ll know your

status

and he’ll use your status to take you

where he wants you to be

to give you an experience like never

you’ve had before but you gotta walk

with it

[Music]

walking with god is a major theme in the

bible

it has to do with a lifestyle of

intimacy

it has to do with close fellowship

enoch walked with god there are a lot of

agendas you can walk with there are a

lot of

people you can walk with but when we’re

not walking with god we’re not walking

by faith

because to walk with god is to walk with

someone that you do not physically see

but who you’re in deep deep

fellowship with so watch

not only where you walk but who you’re

walking with

a lifestyle of intimacy by faith with

god

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