"Enoch Walked With God!"
Genesis 5:24
What an astounding statement - "Enoch walked with God!" A sinful, mortal man of flesh and blood walked with the holy, infinite, eternal God! Not only did he walk with God, but before he was taken up to glory he had this testimony, "that he pleased God" (Heb. 11:5). How can these things be? How can a man walk with God? How can a man please God?
I know that Enoch did not always walk with God, nor did he always please God. Enoch was a man like us, a fallen, depraved son of Adam. He was not born saint. He did not simply decide one day that he would start walking with God. He was born in spiritual death. Like all others, he went astray from God as soon as he was born, speaking lies. Enoch was a sinner who needed pardon, cleansing, justification, atonement for sin and regeneration. He could neither walk with God nor please God until his sin was removed and righteousness was imputed to him. In order to have these things Enoch must believe God. He must have faith in Christ, for righteousness comes by faith in Christ "unto all and upon all them that believe."
It was by faith that
Enoch walked with God and pleased him (Heb. 11:5-6). Enoch was not pleasing to
God by virtue of his conduct, his works, his disposition, or his personal
character. Enoch was a sinner, a saved sinner, yes; but still a sinner. And
sinners cannot, by anything they do please God! This is the one thing we must
see, if we are to understand what it is to walk with God and please him. Enoch
walked with God by faith. Enoch pleased God by faith. More specifically, it was
Christ, the Object of Enoch's faith, that made Enoch
pleasing to God. Walking with God is neither more nor less then believing God.
Pleasing God is neither more nor less than believing God. Doing the works of
God is neither more nor less than believing God (John
Don Fortner