"ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD "

"ENOCH WALED WITH GOD "
Genesis 5:24

Don Fortner


This is an astounding statement: "Enoch," a sinful man like you and me, "walked with God!" And "he had this testimony, that he pleased God." In his daily life Enoch walked in company with the living God, living in God's presence as his constant Friend, IN WHOM HE CONFIDED AND BY WHOM HE WAS LOVED. What kind of man was Enoch? What kind of life did he live? The answer is clear: Enoch was a man of faith; and he lived a life of faith. He was not a sinless man. He did not live a higher life, a deeper life, or a holier life than anyone else who lives by faith. IT WAS NOT ENOCH'S CONDUCT, HIS PERSONALITY, OR HIS DISPOSITION THAT PLEASED GOD, BUT HIS FAITH IN CHRIST (Heb. 11:5-6).

There was nothing at all remarkable about the character or works of this man, Enoch, by nature, which caused God to look upon him with pleasure. Enoch did not win God's favor by something he did. GOD WAS PLEASED WITH ENOCH BECAUSE ENOCH BELIEVED GOD. He believed that which God has spoken. Enoch's faith was the same as Abel's before him and Noah's after him. The faith by which Enoch walked with God and pleased God was the same faith that the dying thief possessed. And it is the faith of God's elect today. My friend, WALKING WITH GOD IS NEITHER MORE NOR LESS THAN BELIEVING GOD. The only way anyone can walk with God and please God is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. NO MAN PLEASES GOD, BUT HIS SON. NO MAN WALKS WITH GOD, BUT HIS SON. THE ONLY WAY ANY FALLEN CHILD OF ADAM CAN PLEASE GOD AND WALK WITH GOD IS BY FAITH IN HIS SON, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Our sanctification, like our justification, is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We grow in grace as we grow in faith. Having begun in the Spirit, we are not now made perfect by the flesh. We do not begin and go a certain distance by faith in Christ, and then finish our course by the works of the law. TO WALK WITH GOD IS TO CONTINUE AS WE BEGAN. BY FAITH IN CHRIST. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith."

Don Fortner is pastor of
Grace Baptist Church
Danville, KY