Enoch: The Walk of Faith, Part 1

To walk with God is to bring God to bear on the steps you take in your life. Dr. Tony Evans says, as those steps get straighter, our vision gets clearer.

The closer you get to God, the more sensitive you're going to be to the unrighteousness in your own life, and the unrighteousness in the culture in which you live. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. Dr. Evans says Christianity isn't just something you believe, it's something you are, something that is expressed in every aspect of your life. He'll paint a picture of that today as he talks to us about the life of Enoch.

Let's join him. Today, we want to look at Enoch, and the lesson that Enoch wants to teach us about faith today is what it means to walk by faith. Back in the day, before seatbelts were required, you knew when a couple was getting along, because there would be two people sitting behind the steering wheel. She would be very close to him, and you also knew when things weren't right, because she'd be at the other door.

The distance was the indicator that they weren't perhaps on the same page. Today, Enoch is the hero that God uses to explain to you and me what it is to walk by faith. It's in Hebrews 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, 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. Most people want God to walk with them. God, this is where I'm going.

Join me. But that's not what God is requiring. God is requiring us to walk with him.

That is to find out where he is going and join him on his trip. Enoch walked with God. That means he had to track where God was going and go on a walk with him. So to please God is to walk with God.

In fact, in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word walk in Genesis is translated by the Greek word please, because God is pleased when we walk with him. So the question now is, 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.

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. If I tell you I walked in the rain, I am explaining to you the atmosphere or the environment in which I walked. I walked in a wet environment because I walked in the rain.

That was the atmosphere. To walk in the Spirit or to walk with God is to walk in an atmosphere that God is controlling the environment of your movement. If God is not controlling the environment of your movement, except on Sunday, that's visiting the Spirit and visiting God. It's not walking with God.

That is including God in all the steps of life, in all the decisions of life, in all the perspective of life. Enoch walked with God. Now, walking assumes something. If you are a walker and you walk with someone, you walk with whoever it is you walk with, it's probably somebody you like. You probably don't walk with somebody you don't like because you're not in harmony with them.

So it would be an uncomfortable walk because there's no relationship. Amos 3-3 says, Can two walk together except they be in agreement? In other words, it's hard to walk with folk you're in conflict with. 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.

You're like on two different sides of the street. So to walk with God means, God, I agree with who you are. I agree with where you're going. Let me stroll with you. If you're disagreeing with God, you cannot at the same time be walking with Him. So it assumes an agreement with God because He is Spirit and you are relating to Him spiritually, therefore walking in the Spirit. You are including Him on all the aspects of your life.

He is now not a stranger that you occasionally go out with. He is somebody that you go on a daily walk with because you're walking with Him as a continuous way of life. That means that there is harmony and agreement and a shared spiritual perspective. In order to do this, 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. If you do not believe that you're walking with somebody you do not see, like air, you don't see air, but nobody doubts air, but it's not a visible reality.

If you're not sure He is, then you're not sure He can be walked with. And there are a lot of Christian doubters today. They believe about God without believing in Him.

That is, they don't take seriously the existence of the God of the Bible. 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. We got people who believe God is a force. We got people who believe God is a thought, a concept, a meandering, immaterial reality. God is a He.

Let me tell you about Him that's a He. Him that's a He is a very relational being. 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 the 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. He's not after visitation rights.

He's after full custody. He wants to walk with you. You must believe that He is, that this is a personal thing, it is a relational thing, that He wants to absorb the whole of your life, every step you take, walking relationally. Unless you are looking at God through a relational lens and only looking at God through a religious lens, then you'll be satisfied with an event you won't be looking for a relationship. The thing that will take your spiritual life, my spiritual life, and our church's spiritual life to a whole other level is walking relationally with the God who is personal and relational by nature. Dr. Evans will bring us more of what it takes to walk by faith when he continues our message in just a moment. First though, we're excited to let you know that Tony has authored a brand new book and companion Bible study that goes hand in hand with the material he's been talking about today.

It's called Kingdom Heroes. Like the Heroes of the Faith messages we've been hearing, this book and Bible study focus on two very powerful words, by faith. You'll discover how otherwise ordinary people, people like you and me, could become the best known characters in the Bible. They took God at his word and believed what he said was true. So what does it take to live a life of faith today where we live? What do we say to a culture that insists that seeing is believing?

How can we learn to trust God when our fears and feelings tell us not to? Find the answers by getting for yourself a copy of Tony's two-volume, 13-message audio collection Heroes of the Faith on CD and digital download, and his brand new book and Bible study, Kingdom Heroes. For a limited time, we're offering this entire three-resource package as our gift to you in appreciation for your generous contribution to help support Tony's ministry here on this station. Just visit us today at TonyEvans.org, or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Make your contribution and let us send you the Heroes of the Faith and Kingdom Heroes book and Bible study package as our thank you gift.

Again, that's TonyEvans.org, or call us day or night at 1-800-800-3222. Dr. Evans will be back with more of today's lesson right after this. Dr. Tony Evans talks about his first trip to Israel. A photograph became a motion picture so that I was now seeing in living color the atmosphere, environment, the feel, the excitement, the learning of what the Bible describes. Now you can have that same experience along with Tony in a new motion picture coming to theaters in November, Journey with Jesus. A lot of people want to go to Israel, and it is an expensive trip, and we did not want those people denied the experience that we had while being physically there. You'll travel with Tony as he explores actual sites where the most powerful events in the Bible took place, not just helping you see them, but understand what they mean and how they can change your life. We want this to be a biblical experience, not merely a sightseeing tour. Journey with Jesus in theaters November 15th, 16th, and 17th.

Visit tonyevans.org for locations, showtimes, and to learn more. Jesus is not physically here, and God is a spirit by nature. It reminds me of the story of a teacher who was an atheist, and she asked her kid in the class, Do you see the trees? The kid said yes.

Do you see the flowers? The kid said yes. Do you see the sky? The kid said yes.

Do you see the sun? The kid said yes. Then she said, Do you see God? He said no. Then she said that he must not exist. He said, Teacher, may I ask you a question? She said yes. He said, Do you see your mind?

She said no. He said, Well, you must not have one. We believe in many things we do not see. 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 going to waste my time on the journey. That he's going to respond to my belief in him and my walk with him. One of the reasons we're not seeing more of God is that even if we believe him, we don't believe there is a response from him. We must believe in him and that there is a response that we're going to get from him if indeed we are walking with him, seeking to be pleasing to him, that he is going to in fact join us and he is going to walk with us. Now, you've got to decide what you're going to believe in, because everybody, even the evolutionist, believes in something that he cannot prove. So you can hang out with an evolutionist who has to believe in something that they cannot prove that has no life to create and sustain the world, or you can believe that somebody's smart enough, intelligent enough, powerful enough to name God, who not only creates, but sustains that which could never sustain itself given the law of entropy.

He does tell that to your science teacher. 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 him? 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.

It is where you are in God's environment, seeking to please him in every aspect, step by step, thought by thought, decision by decision in your life, which explains what Paul means when he says pray without ceasing. Because if you're walking with him, you know when you walk with somebody, you talk about this, you talk about that, you talk about this, you talk about that, because you're all walking together. And one of the reasons you walk with somebody is to not have to bear this burden of walking by yourself.

So they create a positive distraction even if you're climbing up a hill. So God says in the hills of life, in the movements of life, I want you and me to talk about everything. Pray without ceasing. Talk to me about your job, talk to me about your kids, talk to me about your family, talk to me about your money, talk to me about yourself, talk to me about your health. Let's just talk.

Let's just keep walking. You have included him. You have engaged him. You have made him a part of the operational reality on a personal level of every aspect of your life. He has become the environment of your movement.

That's the first thing. But walking with God, if you're going to 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 in 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 Jude 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 Hebrews 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. Enoch, son of Cain, 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 Enoch 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. Dr. Tony Evans with an important question we need to answer about our own relationship with God. And what you've been listening to today is part of Tony's current series called Heroes of the Faith. As I mentioned a bit earlier, we're making this two-volume, 13-message collection available to you on CD and digital download along with his brand-new book and Bible study guide, Kingdom Heroes. They are our gift to you when you help us keep Tony's teaching on this station with your kind donation. Just visit TonyEvans.org to get your copy of this powerful package. You'll find a link with all the details right on the home page. And while you're there, take a moment and sign up for Tony's free weekly e-mail devotional. Again, that's TonyEvans.org. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our friendly team members assist you. Our resource center is open 24-7, so call anytime.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. If you want to walk with God, you've got to be willing to go where he goes tomorrow. Dr. Evans will tell us about a man who did exactly that and how the resulting relationship changed his life. Right now, though, we'll wrap up with a quick shout-out that Tony received commemorating 40 years of God's faithfulness to the ministry. Here is Dr. Ed Young. It's my privilege to say a word of congratulations for 40 years of service to none other than my brother and my friend, Dr. Tony Evans. He rightly divides the word of truth day by day and weekend by weekend, not only to his church, but really he's a spokesman for Christ around the world. Tony, what a ministry. What a blessing you've been to countless millions of people in these 40 years, and I'll tell you a secret.

The best is yet to be. Congratulations. I'm thrilled to be your brother, and I'm thrilled to just follow in your wake as you make a wide swarf for the kingdom of God throughout this world. God bless you and your terrific family. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative, celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you. ?