Enoch: The Walk of Faith | Sermon by Tony Evans

[Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Tony Evans

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Keywords: sermon, Tony Evans sermon, faith, powerful sermon, faith sermon

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Length: 27min 36sec (1656 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021