7 January 2024 PM – Genesis 5:22-24 – Topic: Spiritual Walk
Introduction: Do you know the names of the two Bible characters that Scripture says, “walked with God”? They were Enoch (Ge 5:22) and Noah (Ge 6:9). Very likely, other Bible characters walked with God, but these are the only two specifically identified.
Enoch, Noah’s great-grandfather, walked with God for no less than 300 years. Noah walked with God in a world that was so violent and perverted that God sent a global flood to destroy every human that did not enter the ark of safety.
What does it mean to walk with God? The prophet Amos partly answered this when he asked this rhetorical question: (Amos 3:3) “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” The obvious answer is, “No”. Walking with God is living in harmony with God.
In Luke 9:33, Jesus told us how we can walk with God. (Luke 9:23) “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.“
Transition: If we are going to walk with God, it demands three actions.
1. The first action is to choose to walk with God.
Jesus said, “If any man will come after me.” To “will” is to wish, to desire, or to choose.
a. You will never walk with God by default.
1) In Enoch’s day, thousands, probably millions, of people inhabited the earth. How many of them walked with God? We cannot say for sure, but Enoch alone is singled out as having walked with God.
a) Did Methuselah, his son, walk with God? Did Lamech, his grandson, walk with God? Evidently, neither of them walked with God like Enoch did.
b) It is not until the birth of his great-grandson Noah that we read “And Noah walked with God.”
2) By Noah’s day, walking with God was the last thing that most humans desired to do. (Genesis 6:5) “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.“
3) Even Adam and Eve, after they sinned, hid themselves when God came to walk with them. Because of sin, walking with God is not the default choice for anyone. Sin pulls us away from God. Sin makes us selfish. Sin makes us uncomfortable around a holy God.
b. Walking with God requires a choice of the will.
1) Have you noticed that it is always easier to walk in sin than it is to walk with God? I have! Walking with God requires that I have a clean heart. I must have a right attitude toward others. I must be obedient to the Lord’s commands.
2) Both Enoch and Noah chose to walk with God rather than to walk in sin as did their neighbours.
3) Remember, neither Enoch nor Noah owned a Bible. Unless God revealed things to them that he has not told us, all that they knew about God had been passed down to them from Adam. Did you know that Enoch was 308 when Adam died? Very likely, Enoch sat and talked with Adam about God.
4) Enoch obviously chose to walk in close fellowship with God. This so pleased God that God took him to heaven without dying.
5) If you and I are going to walk with God, we must choose to do so by denying ourselves, confessing our sins, spending much time in the Bible, and to drawing near to the Lord in prayer.
a) Does that describe your walk with the Lord last year?
b) What changes must you make in order to walk with God in this new year?
2. The second action is to surrender to walk with God.
Remember, Jesus said, “let him deny himself”.
a. Walking with God is not God following our lead.
1) Do we not often plan our day, organise our week, fill our calendar, book our appointments, plan to catch up with a friend, etc. without even discussing any of it with God?
2) If we do mention it to God, often it is to get His stamp of approval rather than it is to seek His advice.
3) Walking with God is not asking God to tag along as you go through life doing your own thing. Our text does not say that “God walked with Enoch”; it says that “Enoch walked with God.” God was the leader. He was in charge.
4) This gives us the impression that each day upon awaking, Enoch asked the Lord what they would be doing that day. Now, that’s the way we ought to operate!
b. Walking with God is following God’s lead.
1) We must surrender our will to God. We must say, “Not my will but yours be done.”
2) While walking with God, the Lord told Noah His plans to destroy the earth and to have Noah build an ark to preserve life. Since Noah was walking in harmony with God, he agreed with God’s assessment of the earth. He listened to God’s instructions about the ark. He then did all that God said. (Genesis 6:22) “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.“
3) Can you imagine the magnitude of that assignment? Even with all our modern tools, cutting the timber, carrying it to the location, constructing the huge ark, even gathering the pitch to paint the ark would be mind-boggling. Then there was the gathering of enough food to feed thousands of animals confined in the ark for a year. Perhaps, Noah hired some help, but if not, he and his three sons had a gigantic project, yet they obeyed. Because of his passion to walk with God, Noah surrendered to God’s plans and followed God’s leading.
4) Walking with God is allowing Him to make the choices. Who makes the choices and plans in your agenda? Do you talk them all over with the Lord before forming them? Have you surrendered to do His will?
3. The third action is to commit to walk with God.
Jesus said, “and take up his cross daily, and follow me”.
a. Walking with God is not an occasional stroll.
1) Enoch walked with God for at least 300 years.
2) We do not know how many years Noah walked with God. He was 600 when the flood came. He could have walked with God most of those 600 years.
3) The pages of Scripture reveal that many of God’s people walked with him occasionally, but even many of them dropped the ball before reaching the goal. In their senior years, they drifted from the Lord. Men like Moses, David, Asa, Uzziah, and Jonah tripped before reaching the end. Walking with God takes commitment!
4) If you stood before God this evening and God evaluated your walk with Him, how would you rate? It is true that none of us can change the past, but each of us can commit to walk with God in the future.
b. Walking with God is a daily commitment.
1) God desires that we walk with Him all day long, every day, for the rest of our lives. That is a big commitment!
2) At the close of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon pens this reminder. (Ecclesiastes 11:9) “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.“
3) It would be far better for us to heed the words of Micah 6:8. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?“
4) If you are not yet committed to walk daily with the Lord, I challenge you to make that commitment this evening. Yes, there will be opposition. Keeping yourself in the love of God will take work (Jude 1:20-21). It will not be easy, but God will bless you for it.
Conclusion: Would God say that you are walking with Him right now? If not, you must act upon Jesus’ admonition, (Luke 9:23) “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” God is calling you to choose, to surrender, and to commit to walking daily with Him.
