Enoch and the Walk of Faith

Hebrews 11:5-6

     Tonight we're going to continue our study in the Book of He­brews, chapter 11 for our guests and friends visiting with us let me say that we have been studying the Book of Hebrews for many months now and find ourselves in chapter 11 at verses 5 and 6. Going through this great 11th chapter which is really the Biblical Hall of Fame or the heroes of the Old Testament, the great examples of faith.  We come to a man tonight by the name of Enoch.  Hebrews 11 verses 5 and 6.

     Now if you've been studying with us for any length of time you I'm sure by now understand the theme of the Book of Hebrews is to present Christ, to present that He's the mediator of a better cove­nant, a better Priest with a better priesthood, who's made a better sacrifice by His blood having perfected forever them that are sancti­fied as opposed to the repeti­tion of the old covenant.  But in the Book of Hebrews it all boils down to the classic statement in chapter 10 verse 38, "The just shall live by faith." The Jews were locked into a sys­tem of works and so that had to be coun­teracted and the Spirit of God designs to lay heavy stress on the fact that life is really lived not by works but by faith.  And so verse 38 says, "Now the just shall live by faith." At the end of verse 39 he says, "but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." And so faith then becomes the issue by which the new covenant is appropriated.  For 10 chapters he shows that the new covenant is better, and then having said that he shows how the new covenant can be appropriated and that is by faith.  And that we find then described in chapter 11, they really were so far from faith they needed a classic definition of it.  They really had - practically forgotten what faith was and so the writer of Hebrews in chapter 11 spends great time, 40 verses outlin­ing what faith really is, both by definition and illustration.

     Now he first as we saw begins by describing the essential character of faith.  If you are to apprehend the new covenant by faith here's what faith is, verses 1 through 3, and in those 3 verses he simply identifies faith, he talks about what it is.  Then he follows it up by beginning in verse 4 with a series of examples of faith, and he wants to show the Jewish reader particu­larly and all men for that matter, but particularly the Jewish reader, the Hebrews that they have always been related to God on the basis of faith, that they never had a works system.  That faith has always been that which pleased God, and of course the statement, "The just shall live by faith," is a quote from Habakkuk, one of their own prophets who said that.  And so he wants to re-establish in their minds the character of faith and the absolute nature of faith by which a man comes to God.  So he does it by defining it and then by giving illustrations from the history of Israel of men of faith.

     Now the first example of faith was Abel.  We saw that last time in verse 4. The second example of faith is Enoch, we find that in verses 5 and 6. But in order to get a little bit of background on Enoch let me read you the passage where he's mentioned in Genesis chapter 5. The Holy Spirit in the 11th chapter of Hebrews begins reciting from Abel and starts to go through the history of Israel showing they all pleased God by faith or they all came into a re­lationship to God by faith, God never intended works as a way to Himself, He intended works as a result of faith not as a, as a way of salvation I should say not as a re ... as a result of salvation not as a way of salvation.  God never had intended that men approach Him on the basis of works, but that works would issue from the salvation that took place when they approached Him on the basis of faith.  And so He's moving through the history of the men of the Old Testament to show this, He comes to Enoch in chapter 5 of Genesis picking the theme up there, listen to what it says in verse 21, "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begot Methuse­lah.  And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah three hun­dred years, and begot sons and daughters.  And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years.  And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God (an) took him." Then it says, "Methuselah lived nine hundred eighty and seven years, and begot Lamech." Now here we find that Enoch lived three hundred and sixty five years, and it says two things about him, he walked with God, he walked with God, it repeats it twice.

     Now this is a new concept in the Book of Genesis.  Abel didn't really understand the concept of walking with God.  Abel illustrates worship by faith, Enoch illustrates walk by faith.  Now the revela­tion of Scripture is a progressive revelation, it's not all given at any one point and Abel got a little of it and Enoch got a little more of it. You'll remember that Adam and Eve had walked and talked with God in the cool of the day and then when they fell and were thrown out of the garden they ceased to walk with God.  And the destiny of man is reinstituted in the man Enoch, who stands as an illustration for all men of what it is to walk with God.  In Enoch then the true destiny of man is again re ... reached as he experiences the fellow­ship with God that Adam and Eve had forfeited.

     So we see in the 11th chapter of Hebrews a very direct con­tinuity, he begins with the worship of faith or approaching God by faith and then the walk of faith in Enoch.  You remember that Abel approached God by faith in bringing the right kind of sacrifice, and here Enoch illustrates where it goes from there.  In Abel we see a man worshiping, bringing a sacrifice, beginning the life of faith.  And you never begin the life of faith until you come on the basis of sacrifice, right? Even today we don't come to God and just say, God I'm deciding to walk with You.  Like the song says, I'll walk with God da- da, da- da, da- da.  Well that's a nice sentiment.  The only way you'll ever walk with God is when you come to God to begin with on the basis of a sacrifice, and the only sacrifice that opens up the way to God is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Abel illustrates that, he came to God and worshiped through sacrifice.  And then we move one step further in the process and the continuity and we find a man walking with God, but not until sacrifice is made.  So first there's a death for sin, then there can be the walk with God, and Enoch illustrates that.

     Now I believe that Enoch's faith included everything that Abel's faith included and it's for sure that Enoch had offered a sacrifice to God, it's for sure that he had come to God before he could ever walk with God and you can't come to God apart from the shedding of blood.  And so Enoch did everything that Abel did no doubt and took it even further.  Men have to have their sin cared for before they can walk with God.  And the principle hasn't changed any from the day of Abel and Enoch until today.  So Enoch then picks it up where Abel left it off and Enoch takes off from the walk.

     Now in this walk with God I want you to see five things about Enoch's life of faith.  Notice verse 5 of Hebrews and let's just read these two verses, "By faith Enoch was translated that he shouldn't see death," in Genesis it said he was not for God took him, here it says he was translated that he should not see death, "and was not found," I mean there weren't any remains, he just took off, "because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testi­mony, that he pleased God.  But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Now Enoch pleased God.  Enoch lived by faith and that's the equivalent.  In the, in the Hebrew it says, he walked with God, in the Septuagint it says, he pleased God.  They're used interchangeably because what pleases God is when you walk by faith.  Coming to God by faith and walking with God in faith pleases God.  Enoch pleased God.  Enoch lived in faith, believing God.

     Now there are five features, I think that pleased God and they're in these two verses.  First of all, the - the first of the five, Enoch was believing that God is, notice verse 6, "without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is." The first feature that pleased God was he was believing God is.  Secondly he was seeking God's reward, he must believe not only that He is but that "he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Thirdly he was walking with God.  Fourthly he was preach­ing for God, and we'll see that in a moment.  Fifthly he was, and this is the result of it, entering God's presence.  So there are five features that kind of jump out of the lesson of faith taught by Enoch.

     Now let's see if we can look at it.  First of all God is pleased when men are believing lie is.  Enoch illustrates this to us.  It says in verse 6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him." God is only pleased by faith.  Faith in what? "For he that cometh to God must believe that he is." Stop right there.  To begin with God was pleased with Enoch because he believed in God.  This is where faith begins, faith is simply believing God is, to begin with, that pleases God.  Now a man can't really count on anything else to please God.  Religion doesn't please God, for the most part God hates it, because religion is a system developed by Satan to counteract the truth.  Ah, nationality doesn't please God, the Jews thought that because they were the seed of Abraham, circumcised the 8th day and had the law they were therefore pleasing God, they were not pleasing God, they displeased Him greatly.  Good deeds don't please God as a way to Him, Romans chapter 3 says, "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." That doesn't please Him.  It nauseates Him.  God can't stand anybody who tries to earn his way into His heaven.  That kind of self-righteousness is nauseating to God, so God's not happy with religion and He's not happy with somebody's nationality, and He's not happy with somebody's good deeds, only one thing pleases God, "without faith it is impossible to please him,," which means the only thing that pleases him is what? Faith, that's all, that's the only thing that pleases God.  And a man must come believing to begin with that He is, that's the first aspect of faith, you must believe that He is.  God rejects every other thing.  "For by grace are you saved through faith; that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God-Not of works, lest any man should (bo) boast." It is faith not works, faith alone pleases God.  And all the people in the world running around doing all kinds of religious rigmarole are not pleasing God, the only thing that pleases Him is faith.  The only way to God is to believe.  So corrupt, the Bible says, is man's fallen nature that if he mustered up everything in his, in his depravity it would all be so polluted that he couldn't offer God one single solitary thing worth a nickel, in terms of redemption.  Romans 8:8 puts it this simply, "So, that, they that are in the flesh cannot (what?) please God." Only one thing pleases God, faith.  And Enoch pleased Him because Enoch lived by faith, that pleases God.  In fact it pleased Him so much that one day he and God took a walk and they just decided to keep on walking and walked right into heaven together.  God gets excited about people who believe Him.  Enoch pleased Him.  But people from Cain on keep trying to please God by works, and they don't realize that a bitter fountain can't send forth sweet water.  It doesn't work.  Faith alone pleases God.  Don't come to God and say, God I've done 42 little goody things and that ought to make You happy.  Enoch believed God, that pleased God.

     Now where does this faith begin? All right it begins - in the state­ment, "believe that he is," that He is.  It is not saying he must believe that there is a god, he must believe that He is the God who is God, see. - - say, well I believe in the big man upstairs, I believe in the Holy Other, that's Paul Tillich's phrase, the Holy Other, the ground of being, see.  I believe in the happy hunter in the happy hunting ground.  You must believe that lie is.  That God, the God who claims to be God is God.  In the book, "Your God Is Too Small," Phillips describes the gods that people manufacture.  He says, people manufacture the grand old man god, have you ever seen that one? Yes, that's the, that's the fatherly white haired god who smiles down on men and overlooks their adultery, their stealing and cheating and lying.  He just says, well it's certainly understand­able, hump.  Then there's the god who is the resident policeman.  Everybody's afraid of him.  Then there's the god in a box, the sectarian god.  Then there's the managing director, the god of the deists who created everything, spun it and then went away on a vacation and he's watching it run down.  But what pleases God is to believe that He is, that the God who claims to be God is God.

     Now you know there's only one way you can know God, you can't know Him by sight, why? John 1:18, "No man hath seen God (what?) at any time." You can't know God by sight.  People say, I had a vision.  And I always say, what did you eat? I .... I, I remember I got a picture one time that somebody sent me, a guy saw God in the clouds and he had tooken ... taken a picture of it and it was supposed this form of God.  No man has seen God.  The closest anybody ever got to it was Jesus Christ, and if You've seen Me you've seen the Father in terms of essence, but no man has seen God at any time.  So nobody's going to come along and say, I believe in God because I know Him and I've seen Him.  The only way you'll ever know God is not by sight, it's by what? By faith, that's the only way you'll ever know Him.

     But faith is based on evidence, it's not like the little boy who said, faith is believing in what you know ain't so, that is not faith.  Faith has evidence.  How can a man discover God? Never by reason only by faith.  God asks in Job 38 verses 2 to 7 this, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." Listen to His questions.  "Where wast thou when I laid the founda­tions of the earth?" Now we're not sur­prised that Job doesn't say anything, it's obvious he wasn't around.  And we really wonder whether our scientists have any right to do any better than Job does.  God continues, "Who hath laid the measures thereof," that is to measure the, the universe, "if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof?" What He's saying is Job you don't know anything except you know it by faith, you weren't around.  You don't have any answers except the answers that I give you, and you either believe them or you don't.  You say, well is there any evi­dence to believe that God is, I mean is there enough evidence to believe that there's a God? I think so.  But let me say this to begin with, you can't prove God scientifically, it can't be done.  At best all scientific evidence is only circumstantial.  Paul Little says, and I'm quoting from his book, "But it can be said with equal empha­sis that you can't prove Napoleon by the scientific method either.  The reason lies in the nature of history itself, and in the limita­tions of the scientific method.  In order for something to be proved by science it must be repeatable.  One cannot announce a new finding to the world on the basis of a single experiment.  But history is by its very nature unrepeatable, no one can rerun the beginning of the uni­verse, or bring Napoleon back or repeat the assassination of Lincoln or the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  But the fact that these events can't be proved by repetition does not disprove their reali­ty." (You see the point that he's making) end quote, the point that he's making is you can't apply the scientific method to everything, it doesn't work.  You can't put love in a test tube either, or justice, or anger, but it's real.  But even though you can't prove God from science there certainly are some things that would indicate from science that God exists.  For example the law of cause and effect, it simply says every effect must have a cause.  No effect can be produced without a cause, and you just keep going back.  Okay there's a cause, there's an effect, there's a cause, back, back, back, and finally you come to an uncaused cause, and then you've arrived at God.  Hebrews 3:4, tremendous, have you ever thought of it in this light? Listen, "Every house is builded by someone, but he that built all things is God." You see? That's cause and effect, and you get back to the uncaused cause.  "Every house is builded by someone, but he that built all things is God." J.H. Sterling, a philosopher said this, "If each link of the chain hangs on another, the whole will hang and only hang in eternity unsupported like some stark serpent unless you find a hook for it.  You add weakness to weakness in any quantity and you never get strength." End quote.  James Jeans the eminent scientist said, the universe is running down, the law of entropy, it's running down.  If it's running down then it's not self-sustaining, if it's not self-sustaining then it had to have a beginning, and if it had a beginning somebody had to begin it.  And you're back to the uncaused cause.  There must be a first cause.

     Not only the law of Cause and effect but the law of design indicates that God is.  God's intelligence is revealed in His power, you look at plants and animals and all of the intricacy, so con­structed that they can appropri­ate the necessary food, that they can grow, that they can reproduce.  You look at the planets, the aster­oids, the satellites, the comets, the meteors, the constellations, and they're all kept on their courses by the great centrif­ugal and centripetal forces that swing everything through the universe.  And all is designed so that it had to be done by a designer.  Mr. Bennett writing concern­ing Doctor Einstein gave an interesting little study on water and part of it goes like this, Water has a high specific heat, this means that chemical reactions within the human body will be kept rather stable.  If water had a low specific heat we would boil over with the least activity.  If we raise the temperature of a solution ten degrees centigrade we speed up the reaction by, by two times, without earth's property of wa­ter life would be hardly possi­ble.  The  ocean  is  the world's thermostat it takes a large loss of heat for water  to  pass from liquid to ice and for water to become steam, quite an intake of energy is required.  Hence the ocean is a cushion  against  the  heat of the sun and the freezing blast of the winter.  Unless the tempera­tures of the earth's surface were modulated by the ocean and kept within certain limits life would either be cooked to death or frozen to death.  Now who balanced all of that out? It shows design.  The earth itself has evidence of design.  If it were much smaller an atmosphere would be impossible like the moon or Mars.  If it was much larger the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen like Jupiter and Saturn.  It's distance from the sun is - is absolutely correct, even a small change would make it too hot or too cold, the tilt of the earth's axis insures the seasons, and so it goes.  Now who designed all that?  Duneway said, quote, "The chance formulation of one typical protein molecule," did you get that? The chance formation of one typical protein molecule, "made up of three thousand atoms," just one mole­cule has three thousand atoms, "the chance of that happening by accident is one to two point 0 two times ten to the two hundred and thirty first power." You say, what does that mean? That means there's no chance, just ain't possible.  You spell it n-i-1.  And then he went on to say, "Even if the elements are shaken up at the speed of light it would take ten to the two hundred and thirty fourth billion years to get one protein molecule, needed to produce life." Now who put all this together? Did you know that you can take ten keys on your piano and play more than three million six hundred and twenty-eight thousand combinations of notes? With ten keys.  How much probability is there that your piano one day will just start playing the National Anthem by itself? Not much.  There is no way to prove God scientifically but there's sure a lot of evidence that somebody up there knows what He's doing.

     Then apart from scientific observation I think there's some rational arguments for God.  Romans chapter 1 says, man just has in his heart, in his breast the feeling that God is.  God has Put it in him.  You see man is personal, man is moral, and to say that a moral, thinking, personal man who can make choices and who has volition came from a, a piece of amoeba in some slime just doesn't really make sense.  Some one had to establish right and wrong because man has a sense of right and wrong.  Studies by anthropologists show that man is God conscious, they go all over the world and they find all these tribes, and everywhere they go they find them believing in God.  Somebody comes along, I know a man who doesn't believe in God.  Well one man not believing in God doesn't disprove the rule any more than a one legged man proves men don't have two legs.  Of course there'll be exceptions.  And you know it's interesting that very idea of God lends substance to the fact that He is, the very fact that the human mind can conceive of God is an indication that that conception came from somewhere.  I can illustrate that to you, ah, think of something that isn't, go ahead, anything you want, you got it? Well you take a lot of things that are and come up with something that never could be, but you can't think of something that isn't.  The very fact that a man can conceive that he has the possibility of conceiving of a God is some indication that somebody gave him that possibility of concep­tion.  But you know something? We could talk about science and I could go on and on for hours, and scientific evidence and we could talk about a lot of things in - in reason, but when you come right down to it sooner or later it boils down to faith, doesn't it? You finally just have to say, I, I just believe.  It comes to faith.  And the evi­dence is strictly circumstantial.  But when a man believes, beloved when we believe then all of a sudden the proof becomes ours, doesn't it? Oh this is what he says, look at it, verse 5, "for before his translation," the middle of verse 5, "for before his translation he had this testimony." You say, where'd he have it? In his heart, the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we're the sons of God.  When you come to God all of a sudden the truth is there because you know Him.  Nobody needs to prove Jesus Christ to me scien­tifically or rationally, I just know it.  So to please God you must begin by believing that He is, and that He is the God that He claims to be.  And so Enoch pleased God by believing He is.

     Second thing, Enoch pleased God by seeking God's reward, and this is the second step.  Verse 6, "Without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is," secondly, "and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Now watch this one, it is not enough to believe God is, we must also believe that God is moral and God rewards the righteous who come to Him, do you see? It is not enough to just say, well I believe in God, I believe in God.  You must believe that God is a moral God and that men who come to Him are made righteous, are rewarded.  We must recognize God as a personal, loving, gracious God to those who seek Him.  Now Enoch knew that, Enoch didn't believe God was some great cosmic indifference, he didn't believe that God was some great primordial cause, he believed God was a personal, caring, loving God with whom he fellowshiped for three hundred years, see.  It's not enough to postulate a god like Einstein, you know Einstein said, ah certainly there's a God, any man who doesn't believe in a cosmic force is a fool, but we could never know Him.  And Einstein was wrong.  We can know Him, in fact in order to please God we must believe that He's personal, loving, caring, moral and responds to those who come to Him with reward.

     Many people believe in God, but maybe they believe in the wrong god or maybe they believe in the right God but they just don't think they need anything from Him.  We must believe that He's a rewarder of them that seek Him.  David said to his son Solomon these words in First Chroni­cles 28:9, he said, "If thou seek him, he will be found by thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever." Psalm 119 says, "With my whole heart have I sought thee." Proverbs 8:17 says, "I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me." Isn't that good? I love those who love me.  Jeremiah 29:13, remember this one? "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall seek for me with (what? with) all your heart." You see it's not enough just to believe that He is, we must believe that He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  The Psalmist said in Psalm 58:11, "Verily, there is a reward for the righteous." In Proverbs 11:18 it says, "To him that seeketh righteousness shall be a sure reward." Men must realize that they have to come to God in a personal relationship, do you see? It's not enough to believe in the vagary of God, that doesn't get anybody into heaven.  Men must believe that and then they must come to God on the terms that God sets up because that's the only way you can come to Him anyway, and that He will reward you, you have to believe that, for coming to Him on His terms.  John 3:18 puts it about as simply as any text, it says this, "He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believ­eth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." It simply says this, you either believe and come to God or you don't, you're either blessed and rewarded or you're condemned.  You say, well what's the reward for those that seek Him? And incidentally the only way you can really seek Him is on His own terms, so that's assumed.  What is the reward for those that seek Him? How about this, uhm, Matthew 6:33 isn't it? "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness," and what are you going to get? "all these things shall be added unto you." You say, what does that mean? That means everything God could give is yours.  You say, what is my reward for seeking God? Every­thing that He can give is your reward.  You're a joint heir with whom? Jesus Christ, and what has God promised Jesus Christ? Every­thing.  God gives us forgiveness, a new heart, the Holy Spirit, eternal life, blessing, mercy, grace, peace joy, love, heaven, everything.  You say, well what if I seek Him and I ask Him for all that and He doesn't give it to me? That doesn't happen.  "Him that cometh unto me (what?) I'll in no wise cast out." In no wise.  Back in Hebrews 7 isn't it verse 25? "Wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." Anybody who comes, He saves them to the uttermost, all the way, you see.  So you see to please God first of all you must believe that He is and secondly you must believe that He's a moral God, that He has righteous standards and you must come on His terms believing that there's a reward if you do.  And you say, I'd like to do that, I mean I believe in God I'd like to come to Him, how do I get there? Only one way, Jesus said this, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, (what?) but by me." That's the only way to come to God.  Acts 4:12 Peter says, "Neither is there salvation (what?) in any other." In any other.  Listen to First John 2:23, it says this, "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also." You see? There's only one way to come to God and that's through Christ, the only way.  There's a wonderful little verse in Second John 9, it says, "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. lie that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." Do you see? To deny Christ is - is to be away from God, to come to Christ is to come into the presence of God, do you see it's one and the same? "No man comes unto God but by me." And so Enoch pleased God number one because he believed that God was, and secondly because he sought God's reward.  God set a standard, Enoch said, I'll come to You on the basis of that standard.  Now God says to you tonight, he says come to Me, and He says there's only one way and it's through Jesus Christ.  He says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you (what?) rest."

He says come unto Me and I'll give you forgiveness, peace, joy, every­thing, heaven, eternal life.  And you say, well I'd like to come and He says, there's only one way, through Jesus Christ, faith in Him.  And if you seek Him with your whole heart you'll find Him.  And so then he pleased God.

     There was a third reason that he pleased God and this is kind of the main thing here.  He pleased God not only by believing He is and by seeking God's reward but by walking with God.  You know after you once believe that God is and then you actually believe that He can save, and that you need the reward He offers and you come to Him on His terms that's only the beginning, then what He wants you to do is walk with Him, walk with Him.  Twice it said in Genesis of Enoch, "Enoch walked with God." "Enoch walked with God." I love that.  And you see that's used interchangeably with the phrase in the Septua­gint, he pleased God, and that's what pleases God, do you see? When we walk with Him.  Now the term walk is used so many times in the New Testament that to try to do a study on the term walk would take a long, long time.  But basically what it means is the manner of daily conduct, the manner of daily conduct.  Every time you see it in the text, you know, the unbeliever walks ah, according to the things of the world, the believer walks in the Spirit, it means the manner of his daily conduct.  And you know what Enoch did? He just continued in the presence of God, he just moved daily in the presence of God.

     Now there are many things implied in Enoch's walk, let me share this with you some of them.  First thing implied in his walk was reconciliation, reconciliation.  There's a very important question asked in Amos 3:3, remember this one? "How can two walk together, except they be (what?) agreed?" Now that's an obvious thing, right? Two people cannot really walk together in intimate fellowship unless they are agreed.  So two people walking together then presupposes harmony, it presupposes agreement.  Which in the case of Enoch means he and God had agreed together on something.  So when we say that a man walks with God it implies the rebellion is over.  And every man born into this world is in open rebellion against God, isn't he? The Bible says that man is an enemy of God, that man is a man, ah, that man is governed by Satan, that he fights God.  Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me; he that gathereth not together scatter­eth abroad." And so men live in rebellion to God.  But when you say that two are walking together then the rebellion is over, that's implied in the very fact they're walking together.  The war is over, and Enoch walked with God.  What does it mean? It meant God had absolute standards, Enoch met them.  It doesn't mean that God gave in a little and Enoch gave in a little.  It doesn't mean that God conformed to Enoch, it means Enoch conformed to God's standards.  So reconciliation needed to take place.  In Ephesians it's defined ah, I think in a simple sense in verse 17 of chapter 4, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as Gentiles walk," heathen, now how did you used to walk? Well, "in the vanity of their mind." They ... the old walk was self-centered, wasn't it? Before you knew God.  The second thing about it, "Having the understanding darkened," it was an ignorant walk, self-centered and ignorant, the third thing, "being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;" Not only ignorant, stone blind.  Verse 19, "past feel­ing, given over to lewd living, uncleanness, greediness." That's the old walk.  Ahh, but look at verse 20, "But ye have not so learned Christ." Now that you're Christians the walk is different.  You're no longer cut off from the life of God, you're no longer living in sin and uncleanness, that's changed and you're walking with God. Christ changed all that.  So you see that's what he's saying, to begin with then a walk with God presupposes reconciliation.  You can't even begin to walk with God until you've come to the foot of the cross, can you? Until your sins have been forgiven, the rebellion is over and you move on God's side.

     There's a second thing implied in a walk with God and that is corresponding nature.  Do you know anybody that pals around with a goldfish? I don't know anybody.  No, I don't know anybody who's got a goldfish for a pal.  You say, that's ridiculous MacArthur, how could you have a goldfish for a pal, drag a bowl around? How could you do that? Goldfish, you couldn't have any fellowship with a gold­fish.  You're right.  I've had a goldfish in my house, they're no fun.  They die all the time, you wake up in the morning, they're floating on top.  But you see ... you say, well - - you're talking in, in sense­less words, you could never have a fellowship with a goldfish.  You're exactly right.  You want to know what is just as impossible? You having fellowship with God.  God doesn't pal around with sinners either, they live in a different atmosphere.  He doesn't frankly want to drag your bowl around either.  You see you are in a whole differ­ent world than God is, the sinner has no corresponding nature.  You can't take a goldfish for a walk, you can't sit down in the living room and have a conversation with your goldfish.  Neither can God fellowship with you.  You live in two different worlds.  There's no corresponding nature, therefore you can't walk together in either atmosphere, you can't get in the bowl and talk to him, he can't get in the living room and talk to you.  Two different spheres, the same thing is true of a man, a man cannot have fellowship with God on the basis of his own nature because there is no corresponding sphere in which the two of them can be agreed.  Do you understand what I'm saying? And so to, to walk with God means that there must be a common life, that something has happened to allow the man to step into a domain where he before couldn't exist.  Now when you became a Chris­tian the Bible simply says this, your citizenship is no longer on earth, where is it? And where do you walk, according to the Book of Ephesians? In the heavenly.  We don't live in this world.  Do you know that when you became saved you automatically stepped into a different sphere'? And we've been - blessed with all spiritual blessings where? In the heavenlies.  And I walk with God and I am in a different sphere, why? Because I was a goldfish but God made me into something like He is, not a god but one who has a new nature that is capable of communing with God.  Do you see? And so walking with God then presupposes also a corresponding nature.  Put it like Paul did, "Light has no communion with (what? with) darkness." And no man...a man can't walk with God.  No sinner can walk with God.  There's a difference in their nature, you see, that eliminates the possibility of communion or fellowship.  Sin separates me from God, I live in a completely different atmosphere.  In Second Corinthians chapter 6 we certainly wouldn't want to pass this text up because it has bearing on this, listen to what Paul says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellow­ship hath righteous­ness with unrighteousness?" And what's the answer?  None.  "And what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial?" Satan.  "Or what part hath he that believes with an unbe­liever? And what agreement," oh that is a very important word, a very important word, do you know what the world agreement in its literal sense means, it means composition of nature.  What common composition do we have that we could walk together? The answer is none.  "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I (-) will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." And here he's looking at it from the very reverse, you know what he's saying? He's saying since you've been born again and you've moved into God's sphere, you no longer are able to walk in the old life, do you see? He just reversed it.  I mean you live in a different domain, I mean you walk with God, now that you walk in God's sphere, what unity of composition, what agreement is there between you and the old life? There isn't any any more.  And now trying to pal around with the world is like trying to pal around with a goldfish.  It used to be that you couldn't do it with God, now you just can't seem to fit in the system anymore.  And so you see, walking with God then presup­poses a change in nature, and that's what Paul meant when he said, "If any man be in Christ he is a (what?) new creation;" he had to be, "old things are passed away;" and a few things are become new, right? What? "all things." You, you have to have a new nature to walk with God.  And so there was a sense in which the walk with God means there's been a change in a common kind of life.

     All right thirdly to walk with God implies a moral  fitness,  as well as a judicial dealing with sin.  This idea of a corresponding nature has to do with God dealing with sin, sin is what keeps us apart, He deals with sin and therefore we move into His presence.  But thirdly there has to be a moral thickness involved in it.  You see God does not walk out of the way of holiness.  Do you remember that in the Old Testament before God would ever walk through the camp of Israel, God would always say, get everything that's defiled out the camp before I come in.  God will not walk in any way but the way of holiness.  Before Christ commences His walk in the millennium, all things that offend must be cast out.  The Holy God keeps no company with the unclean, none at all.  Listen to First John 1:6, "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth;" why? Because God doesn't walk with darkness. if we say we have fellowship with Him and walk with darkness - darkness we're liars, God walks with no darkness at all.  "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship." You see it's only when we're in the light that we have fellowship, and by that he means being saved.  "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." But if we are confessing our sins He's cleansing us.  You see it's the saved who walk with God, it's the unsaved who don't.  And the only ones that God ever walks with are those who are cleansed of their sin, who are confessing, who are being cleansed, God walks with them.  And so the walk with God then pre­supposes a moral fitness, a holiness.

     Fourthly, to walk with God implies a  surrendered  will.  Because you see God forces His company on nobody, does he? God only offers Himself.  And a man comes to Him because he wills to come.  Jesus simply said, come.  At the end of the Book of Revelation it says, come.  Isaiah speaking for God said, come.  Jesus with sorrow in His heart said, "You will not come unto me that you might have life." God forces Himself on nobody.  And when a man comes to God that assumes a surrendered will.  To walk with God means you do as He designs.  Remember in John 21, so wonderful there, Jesus is talking to Peter and He says, Peter, you know what's going to happen to you at the end of your life? You're going to get crucified.  Good news, right? It was for Peter, the best news held heard in a long time.  Because he was so sick of blowing it he would have been, you know, he was already such a defeated person, because every time he had the test he failed.  And the Lord says, Peter, you know what you're going to do? Finally you're going to die for Me.  And I think Peter got so happy he probably jumped up and down, Lord, You mean the next time the crisis comes I'm not going to deny You, I'm going to die for You? Terrific.  And then Jesus said to him, follow Me.  Peter took off, Jesus got up and started to walk and he started to follow him physi­cally, and he was walking away and Jesus was walking and they were walking, and Peter was thinking about dying on a cross and boy it was exciting because finally he was going to be able to prove his love, and he'd tried to tell the Lord he liked Him an awful lot there in John 21, he kept repeating it three times, and the Lord seemed not to be too sure about it and now he was going to get to die for the Lord, he was going to prove to be faithful, and the Lord says follow Me and he's up and following Him right down the beach there.  And then he hears some footsteps behind him, he turns around, of course we know who's following, John, he always followed, nobody ever had to tell him.  So he looks at John and he says to the Lord, what about John, Lord? I mean I'm getting crucified, what happens to him? I love what Jesus said, if he lives till the second coming so what? That was a little harsh.  And then He said this, follow thou Me.  Emphatic use of the pronoun in the Greek.  Peter, get your nose out of John's business.  If he lives till the rapture that's none of your business.  And then it says in the next verse, and the saying went abroad that John would live until the rapture.  Classic example of gossip.  And so John at the end of his gospel says, I want to set it straight, that's not what He said, He said, so what if he does, it's none of your business.  He didn't say he would.  But y