Walking By Faith
By Dr. Roger Vogel
Hebrews 11:5-6 - By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But 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 those who diligently seek Him.
Here at Berean we have been working our way through the Book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings. We are in those great examples of faith in Hebrews 11. We recently dealt with Enoch’s example of walking with the Lord by faith. His testimony teaches us what it means to walk with the Lord by faith.
1. A walk with God must start with a conversion experience.
Genesis 5:21 tells us that Enoch was 65 years old when his son Methuselah was born. Verse 22 goes on to say “after he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years.”
No one is born “walking with God.” It was not the norm of Enoch’s day to walk with God. Whatever happened at this point in Enoch’s life it caused Enoch to turn to God in faith, and begin walking with Him.
Each of us is faced with a choice. Are we going to take God at His Word, believe what He says, or reject His wisdom for our own thinking. The Bible is very clear about the only way we can start walking with God - John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
To begin a walk with God we must recognize we are sinners, repent of that sin and by faith accept God’s gift of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
2. To walk with God, Enoch had to have the same nature as God.
Remember that famous rhetorical question by the prophet Amos. Amos 3:3 - Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? The answer is NO, of course not. Once again the Bible is very clear, the unconverted person cannot ever have fellowship with God, let alone walk with Him.
Thankfully, one of the things God does when we by faith trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior is give us a new nature. A nature like His. II Peter 1:4 - By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
So Enoch had to have this “divine nature” and the only way to have it is “by faith.”
3. To walk with God Enoch had to live a transformed life.
Having that new nature from God gives us the privilege of living a transformed life in the midst of a sinful world.
Sometimes we tend to think that because Enoch lived so long ago his world must have been “better” than ours. That is not true. Romans 1:21-32 describes his world. And don’t forget, just 669 years after God took Enoch to heaven, He destroyed all life on earth, except those in the ark, with a flood. God says this judgment was because of their wickedness.
The point is, it was not “easy” for Enoch to live a transformed life. But he clearly lived that life. Hebrews 11:5 says “he pleased God.”
God expects us today to live that transformed life. I John 1:6-7 - If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
God’s will for every believer is our sanctification – I Thessalonians 4:3 - For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality.
We will have to finish these lessons from Enoch next time.
