In the last 10 years, I've been going to Nigeria every January, and I can't go this year, so this is instead of going, I've come to see you. So it's really good to be here, and to be able to come and bring God's word to you for these sessions. You have a sheet going around. Actually, I quite like when they're all handed out as well, if that's possible. Do I need to, can I, if I'm gonna, can I put that in my pocket, James? Ah, here we go, that's good. So I'm going to begin by reading from Genesis chapter five. Genesis chapter five, it's quite an unusual chapter. Some of the readings I might get one of you to do, but I decided it would be a bit mean to get one of you to do this one because it's full of long names. And that's sometimes quite difficult. So you might not think it's the most exciting reading, But it's an important reading. And you'll see from the sheet that we're gonna be thinking about one of the men in this list. And so I think it's helpful to read the chapter through. I want you to just get this, there's a very clear structure to this chapter as each name is mentioned and how it's put down. And I want you to notice that as we go through as well. So let's remember that this is the word of God. So I'm going to read from Genesis chapter 5, verse 1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female, he created them. And he blessed them and named them man when they were created. When Adam had lived for 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. When Seth had lived for 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh for 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. When Enosh had lived for 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan for 815 years and had other sons and daughters. That's all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. When Kenan had lived for 70 years, he fathered Mahalalal. Kenan lived after he'd fathered Mahalalel for 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. When Mahalalel had lived for 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he had fathered Jared for 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. When Jared had lived for 162 years, he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he'd fathered Enoch for 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. When Enoch had lived for 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he had fathered Methuselah for 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. When Methuselah had lived for 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech for 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. When Lamech had lived for 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands. Lamech lived after he had fathered Noah for 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years and he died. After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. So reads the words of the living God. Let's bow before him, let's pray. Lord our God, we thank you for your words. We thank you that it's full of wonderful variety. We thank you that it's history. And we thank you for those that we've just read about. together now. And we ask, Lord God, that as we come to your word now, you will use it to search us and deal with us and make us more the people that you would have us to be. Lord, we're looking to you. We're looking to you for your help and your strength this afternoon. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So you'll see from the sheet that, if you should have one, if you came in late, there's some at the back being given out. Yeah, that's good. We're gonna think about Enoch together this afternoon. The book of Genesis, we're spending our time together, our five sessions, and we're gonna be in the book of Genesis. Genesis is a really fascinating book, full of fascinating encounters and fascinating characters. And we're going to be looking at some of those characters and encounters during our time together. If you want an overall title for my sessions, it might be the title that we've got for this session, Walking with God. Walking with God. In the passages we're going to look at together, We're going to be faced with people who walked with God, people who knew God, who met with God, and trusted God, and lived for God, and died with God. And we're going to begin with Enoch. walking with God. And then we're going to have two sessions on Abraham, meeting with God and trusting in God. And then we're going to look at Jacob, wrestling with God. And then we're going to go right to the end of Genesis and we're going to think about Jacob and Joseph dying. with God's you might think you're young but believe me I still think I'm young and I'm not and soon the years go by and we all need because none of us know when we're gonna die anyway so we're gonna be thinking about that and my prayer and desire is as I've been thinking about this and I'm planning to come is that God will use this to to give us all a hunger to walk with God to walk more closely with Him to give us an understanding that that knowing God and walking with Him is so much more satisfying and glorious than anything else we could have or know. So let's look at this chapter, I have the chapter open before you. What we've got here is the first ever genealogy, the first list of ancestors. And it takes us right back to the beginning, right back to Adam. Now, in the UK, where I come from, there's a real interest in genealogies. People love looking back into their past, and people can go for hundreds of years back into their past, finding about their father and their grandfather and their great-grandfather and so on, looking back into their past. It's sometimes said it's best perhaps not to look too far back, because you might find out something you don't want to find out. When people do look back into their ancestors, they're interested. Is there anyone famous? Is there anyone who did anything great? Well, in this list of ancestors, there is someone. Someone who stands out. And that person is Enoch. And he stands out not because he was successful as far as this world is concerned, not because he did anything great as far as this world is concerned. He stands out because of this. He walked with God. What an amazing thing. I want us to get this afternoon a sense of excitement that this is possible. I want to tell you this afternoon that Enoch is one of your ancestors, and he's one of my ancestors. Now, we look quite different, but we have the same ancestors, and Enoch is our ancestor. If you go far enough back into your family tree, you'll come back to Enoch. He's in your family tree. He's the great grandfather of Noah and we all come from Noah and so he's one of your ancestors and he walked with God. So what about you? And what about me? What better thing could be said of us? than that. I wonder what aims you have for your life. You've come over to this country to study. I'm sure you've got all sorts of aims and all sorts of desires and all sorts of ambitions. Well, I want to say to you this afternoon that you could have no greater ambition than that this be true of you, that you walk with God. And I want to say to you that every other ambition that you have and every other dream that you have needs to come underneath this and be shaped by this. that you're a person who walks with God. It's your greatest need and it's the greatest need of anyone and everyone who comes into your life. So you, young men, you want to be a husband one day, perhaps. Well, what is the greatest need of your wife in you? it's that you walk with God. Some of you ladies here want to be wives one day. What's the greatest need that your husband will have from you? It's that you walk with God. Perhaps you want to have children when you grow up if God gives them to you. What's the greatest need of your children? That they have parents who walk with God. You're members of this church perhaps. What's the greatest need of your fellow church members for you? It's that you walk with God. Nothing could be more important. We couldn't be thinking about anything more important together this afternoon than this. So, you'll see on the sheet we've got five questions to go through together, five questions. The first one is this, how is it possible that we can walk with God? It's an incredible idea. If it doesn't blow your mind that you, little you, could walk with God, it's because you haven't understood how wonderful it is. So, how is it possible? Well, for the answer we have to go back to verse 1. So have your Bible open, look at verse 1 of this chapter where we're reminded of the fact that we were, what does it say in verse 1? Made by God and made like God. Do you see that in verse 1? This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Here's how it's possible that you and I can walk with God because we were made by God and we were made like God. Or we could go back to Genesis 1, how does Moses put it there? We were made in the image of God. Now what does that mean to be made in the image of God? I wonder if someone asked you that question, how you would answer it? Well it means that we're made like God in certain ways. So made to create and appreciate, made moral, spiritual beings made to love and be loved, made to know and be known, made for relationships and especially for a relationship with God. That's why God made us and that's how God made us. He made us to know Him and to appreciate Him and to speak with Him and to stand in awe of Him. He made us with those abilities to think about Him and think about what He's done and talk with Him and respond to Him. That's what makes us as human beings unique, isn't it? We've been made in the image of God. You've never seen a dog, have you, looking up at the stars and wondering, wow. But we do, because we've been made in the image of God. and the likeness of God. That's what marks us out and until we are walking with God we haven't begun to fulfill our potential. So in the UK from time to time on the news you'll hear about some couple, they call them a lucky couple who've won the national lottery or the Euro lottery and they'll tell you this couple have just overnight won 135 million euros And everyone's, wow, what must it be like? They'll never have to work again. They can do what they like. They can have what they like. They can go where they like. And yet they still won't be satisfied. They'll still want more. Why? Because we were made for more than 135 million euros. We were made for God and to know him and to walk with him. Ecclesiastes puts it like this, doesn't it? God has put eternity in our hearts. So it's only as God is in our hearts, only as Jesus Christ is in our hearts, that we can be truly satisfied. So, do you realize who you are? You've been made in the image of God. You're not an accident. You're not just here by chance as the evolutionists would have us believe. You've been made for a purpose and that purpose is that you might know God and walk with him. That's our first question. How is it possible to walk with God because he made us to do that very thing? So what did Adam and Eve do in the garden before they sinned? They walked with God in the cool of the day. When I go to Nigeria, they respond. I need to wait you to wake you up. Second question now, when is it possible to walk with God? We might go, well, Enoch must have lived in this wonderful world where everything was peaceful and tranquil so that he could just walk with God in a lovely place. Well, I want to say to you, when did he not walk with God? Even in godless states. You see, as we go through this genealogy, think about what's happening. Think about where we're coming from and where we're heading to. Where have we come from? Where does this genealogy begin? It begins with Adam in the Garden of Eden. Where is it heading by the time we get to the end of this genealogy? What's coming? the floods. So we're moving further and further away from the Garden of Eden and nearer and nearer to the flood. So you can understand the direction. It's getting worse. It's getting more sinful. It's getting more wicked, more immoral, more godless, more violent. So if you turn to chapter six and verse five, you probably know these words well. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. verse 12 of chapter 6, God looked upon the earth, indeed it was corrupt and all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. So that you see that Enoch walks with God even in a godless state, even when everyone else if you like is walking in the opposite direction. and going away from God. Enoch's walking with God. Enoch appears in another book of the Bible, right near the end. The book of Jude. Little book. And you can look at that later on if you like. It's just one chapter, is it? In verse 14 and 15, we read these words, now Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied about these men also saying behold the Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints to execute judgment on all the ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they've committed in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. So Enoch was a preacher and he preached about sin and about the sin of his day and he warned of judgments So it wasn't, this is the point I want to make, he wasn't walking with God in some wonderful sinless environment. He was walking with God in a wicked world when everyone was going the opposite way. Now that's an encouragement for us and a challenge for us isn't it? Because we're living in a wicked world and I imagine it's the same here as it is in the UK but the direction is away from God. And it's becoming increasingly wicked and increasingly sinful and immoral. And we might be tempted to think, well, it's just not possible to live a really godly life in such a world. We've just got to be content with just sort of hanging in there. Let's go to church. Let's sort of keep up our profession, but let's not have too high ambitions because, you know, this is such a wicked world. But Enoch would challenge us, you and me, and say, no, no, even in a wicked world, you can walk with God. In fact, it's even more important in a wicked world to walk with God. So it's encouraging us with God's grace and with his strength that you and I in a wicked world can walk with gods. I also want us to note that not only does he stand out in a wicked world, actually Enoch stands out in a godly line. Now considering the early days of Genesis, it's really very interesting because we see from this chapter that Enoch comes from Adam from the line of Seth. Adam's third son. Seth was his great-great-great grandfather. Enoch himself was the father of Methuselah, who was famous for what? The oldest man who ever lived, yeah? And Enoch is the great-grandfather of Noah. So he's in that godly line, the line of Seth, that survives the floods. I don't know if you realise this, but because of the age these early people lived to, all these people overlapped each other. in terms of how long they were alive. All the people in this genealogy, their lives overlap with Enoch's. He probably knew them all. I think he probably knew Adam. If you work it out, Adam's life overlapped Enoch's by about 200 years. In fact, Adam is the only one to die before Enoch is taken. So Seth, his great-great-great-grandfather survived him. Which is quite a thing to think, isn't it? Being survived by your great-great-great-grandfather. But my point is this, that even in a godly line, even in this nucleus of believers, Enoch stands out. That's why I wanted to read the chapter. Because the genealogy follows a very strict pattern. Did you pick it up as we went through? Until you come to Enoch, You're told so-and-so lived, and you're told the age when his first son was born, you're told how long he lived after that, and then the fact that he died. And it follows a strict pattern, each one, until you come to Enoch. And if you like, Enoch breaks the mould. So-and-so lived for so many years, Enoch walked with God for 300 years. So-and-so died, Enoch was not because God took him. You see, he breaks the moat, so he stands out in a wicked world but even in a godly line he stands out. So I want to encourage you this afternoon that we need some Enochs, we need some Christians who, as it were, break the moat. who don't just say, well, as long as I'm as committed as so-and-so in church and as long as I go to the same amount of meetings or do this or do that, I'm alright. You see, we tend to use other people to excuse ourselves rather than as an incentive. We go, well, that person watches this program, so I can. Or, that person only goes to the prayer meeting sometimes, so so can I. But what we need is some Christians who are going to break the mold, who are going to stand out, who aren't afraid of being viewed as being a bit serious about their Christianity. Now I'm not wanting some Pharisees always thinking how much better I am than other people. But what we need is some people who are passionate about knowing God, in love with Jesus, and who want to walk with Him. So will you be one of those? Will I be one of those? Will we be Enoch's in our day? Well, we better head on to the third question, which is this. Look at it on the sheet if you want to. What is needed to walk with God? What is needed to walk with God? The first thing, reconciliation with God is needed, isn't it? We must be right with God. Amos chapter 3 verse 3 asks that question. Can two walk together unless they are agreed? And the unspoken answer is no. And we can't walk with God unless we're agreed with him, unless we're right with him. So in the beginning Adam and Eve in the garden walked with God in the call of the day. Everything was right. But when they sinned, That was broken. They could no longer walk with God. They were separated from God. They couldn't have fellowship with God. And so, before we can walk with God, we have to be reconciled to God. God can no longer be angry with us. Our sin has to be put away. And of course, this is the gospel, isn't it? That's what the cross has accomplished. Our sin has been dealt with. Christ has provided a righteousness for us so that now we've been reconciled to God and we have this breathtaking privilege of walking with God. That's what we're brought into in the gospel. This is eternal life, that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you've sent. So can I ask you today, I don't know you all, so it would be wrong of me to assume that everybody here is a Christian. If you are, all Christians, wonderful, but I'm not going to assume that. So I want to ask that question. Have you been reconciled to God? Not just are you coming to church and do you know the Bible, but have you been to the cross? Have you trusted Christ? Have you confessed your sin and be made right with God? Because that's where it must begin. You'll never walk with God. until you're right with him. But then also linked with that, what is needed to walk with God is faith. This is why Enoch follows Abel in that hall of faith in Hebrews 11. So turn with me, will you, in your Bibles to Hebrews 11. We just need to read about Enoch there in Hebrews 11. 11. When somebody gets there, shout out the page number from the Church Bible, will you? Hebrews 11. 1007. Hebrews 11 verses 5 and 6. So Enoch gets a mention here. By faith, I'm reading from the New King James. 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's the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Now we'll come back to verse five in a moment, but notice verse six. He who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he's the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So here is why it is that Enoch walks with God, because he has faith. He believes that God is, that he's there, that he's real, that he can be known. I sometimes wonder, did he sit down with Adam? and Adam tell him about the days in the garden when they walked with gods? He certainly knows that, he's certainly been told that if he diligently seeks God he'll find him and that's what he does. He believes that and in faith he seeks the God who's invisible and he walks with him and he knows him and he trusts him. And that's what's needed then. If we're gonna walk with God, we need to be reconciled to him, but we need to have faith. We need to believe in him, that he's a God who can be known, that he's a God who wants to be known. And wants us to walk with him. So do we believe that? It's a wonderful thing about our God, is that he's a God who wants to be known. He wants to be found. I love that expression you get in the Bible. He's a God who you will find Him. He will allow you to find Him. One of my children, we have four young lovely children, they're not so young. anymore but we used to play hide and seek. Do you play hide and seek with children in in your country? Yeah, you know, I understand hide and seek. So, the children would go off and hide and I would go and find them and then I would hide and and they would have to find me but they would soon get bored and so I would hide and I'll do and then I would have to make a noise. Hello, I'm over here and and Pete so that they could find me. I was allowing He wants us to find Him. And we must believe that He's a God who is and who can be found by those who diligently seek Him. And a third thing that's needed then if we're going to walk with God, what's needed to walk with God? Reconciliation with God, faith in God, holiness. There are no shortcuts because God Himself It's holy. That's what we're told about Enoch in Hebrews 11. Before his translation, he had this testimony that he did what? pleased God. He pleased God. Enoch lived a life that was pleasing to God. Now we know that Enoch wasn't perfect. We know that he was a sinner. We know that he needed a savior. We know that every day he would have had to come and confess his sin and ask for mercy. And yet while all the world around was making God angry so that he was sorry that he'd ever made man, Enoch pleased him. Enoch pleased him, lived in such a way. Actually, if you go back to our passage in Genesis 5, and then go on to chapter 6, we read about Enoch's great-grandson, Noah. It was also said of him that he walked with God, in verse 9. At the end of verse 9, look, it says, Noah walked with God. But what did it say just before that? Noah was a just man, perfect or blameless in his generation. Now again, we know that Noah was a sinner, but he was a man who was striving to be holy. He was serious about dealing with sin. And as a result of that, walked with God. So the two are inseparable. You can't have one without the other. If we want to walk with God, we have to do battle with sin. We have to pursue holiness. I'm no doubt that if we'd met Enoch while he was here on the earth, we'd have been struck by this. Here's a man who's passionate about holiness, about dealing with sin, pleasing God. So I want to say to you this afternoon, if you're harboring some sin in your life, Or if you're seeking to live with a troubled conscience, or if you've got something in your life that you know is wrong, but it's too precious to give up, then you won't be able to walk with God as he knocked it. Not until you confess it, not until you give it up, not until you lay it at the feet of Jesus and say, I want to walk with you more than anything else, more than any sin, more than any person. I want you. Let's ask a fourth question. What does it mean to walk with God? So we've talked about it sort of generally. It sounds great, doesn't it? But what does it actually mean? to walk with God. What does it look like, if we could put it like that? Well, there's lots of things we could say. I've just got four things. First of all, it means living with a consciousness that we're in the presence of God. Just turn a bit further on in Genesis to Genesis 24 and verse 40. Just some words that are said about Abraham. We're going to be thinking about Abraham in our next two sessions, but this is Abraham's servant speaking about him. Genesis 24 and verse 40, it's just a small expression there. This is his servant speaking the words of Abraham, but he said to me, the Lord before whom I walk, or before whom I have walked. You see that expression there? So Abraham had lived, had walked before the Lord, conscious that he's in the presence of the Lord and Enoch was the same. He lived his life with a consciousness that whatever he was doing was done before the Lord, whatever he was saying was said before the Lord, whatever he was thinking was known to the Lord. The Lord was there, whether he was in the garden tilling the ground, whether he was in the house with Mrs. Enoch and the children, wherever he was, God was there and he knew it. And this is part of walking with God, cultivating this awareness that we're in the presence of God all the time, that the Lord is with us all of the time, listening to us, watching us. Now that should excite us, if we're reconciled to Him. It should humble us, and it should sober us as well. But you often find this, if you spend time with somebody who's really godly, you become aware that they're aware that they're in the presence of God and you become aware of it too. So I think it's David who says, doesn't he, I've set the Lord always before me. As if that conscious decision, that when we wake up in the morning and we begin the day, perhaps we just say, Lord, help me to remember that I'm always in your presence, that whatever I'm doing today will be done before you. That's part of walking with God, isn't it? The God before whom I walked. Walking with God also involves fellowship with God. So it's not just, you know, God's out there somewhere looking down on me. It's not like a CCTV camera, so wherever I go, God's sort of watching me. No, it's a relationship, isn't it? So does he not walk with God? He talked with God. Of course he did. He worshipped God. He poured out his heart to God. He told God everything. That's what it means to walk with him. And so for us. Walking with God must involve daily coming to the Lord, reading his words, responding to that word with prayer. That's at the heart, isn't it, of walking with God, that we open his book because this is how he speaks, isn't it? This is his book. It's how he talks to us. And so we humbly open the Bible and we say, speak Lord. And we hear his voice and he speaks to us and he deals with us through his word and then we respond with prayer and with worship and with asking for his grace and his help to live out what we've read. So of course I need to ask you then, how are your devotions? at the moment because I know, as well as you, that life can be busy and often the first thing that goes is our time with the Lord. But you can't walk with him if you don't spend time with him. That's so vital, isn't it, for our walk with the Lord. The third thing, walking with God. So it involves being conscious of his presence and fellowship with him, speaking with him, him speaking to us. It also involves seeking him with all your hearts. Making this the big thing. What do we read in Hebrews 11 just after it speaks about Enoch walking with God? Without faith it's impossible to please him, but he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's the rewarder of those who Diligently seek him. Seek him with all their heart. That's what the Bible says, isn't it? You will seek him and find him when you search for him with all your hearts. So there we're reminded that walking with God involves seeking Him with all our hearts. In other words, this is the chief thing, this is the most important thing. Everything else comes second to this, that knowing Jesus Christ and walking with Him is what matters most. And everything else in my life is going to come second to that and is going to be shaped by that. So is that true of you? Is that true of me? that everything in our lives comes second to seeking the Lord's. This is the big thing. It's easy to get distracted from that, isn't it? Sometimes in our household, perhaps it doesn't happen quite so much now, but it used to more so, the children would lose things. Just as you were about to take them to school, they would say, I can't find my shoes. Or I can't find my sports kit. And you go, go and find it. And you send them off and they rush off. And a few minutes later you go in to find them what they were doing and they're reading a book. Or they're playing the piano. You go, what are you doing? You're supposed to be seeking. You're finding it and they've been distracted. They went into the room and there was an interesting book and so they, oh this looks more interesting. And we can become like that with the Lord, can't we? So that so that perhaps we begin to seek Him and then other things distract us and we lose sight that this is the big thing in our lives. So, what does it mean to walk with God? It involves living conscious of His presence, it involves fellowship with Him, it involves seeking with all your heart. One other thing, it involves doing everything in His name and for His glory. You see, undoubtedly, Enoch didn't sort of, I don't know if you have this expression, he didn't live in an ivory tower, he didn't sort of have some idyllic life. He had a normal life. Verse 22 tells us in our passage that he had several children. You can have quite a few in 300 years. I mean we had four in five years. You could do the maths and I don't know how many Enoch had. So he had a wife and he had a large family. Well how do they get fed? No doubt Enoch has to work and till the land and sort out the arguments between the children and perhaps change some nappies and do some other things and help out Mrs. Enoch. So it's not that Enoch gets up in the morning and says, well, goodbye, Mrs. Enoch. I'm off out into the fields to meditate for the whole day and I'll be back at six o'clock. Can you have some pounded yam ready for me when I get back? No, he walks with God in the midst of ordinary life. And so the same's got to be true for you and me. That as you do your essays and your assignments and your jobs and clean your house, you've got to walk with God then. And that's what revolutionizes our lives because it makes everything important, doesn't it? because we do it all for the Lord and in fellowship with him and to please him and as an act of worship to him. So, perhaps you've got some assignment you've still gotta do. Well, you can do it for the Lord and you can walk with him as you do it. As you do it in a way that honors and glorifies him. We read in verse twenty-two, look, that Enoch walked with God for 300 years. That's a long time, isn't That must have been a close relationship. I've been married to my lovely wife, who James made stand up for 21 years. Is that right? That's the right number. Good, I'm glad I got the number right. I'd have been in trouble otherwise. You think you know someone when you first meet them, don't you? But after 21 years, you know them much better. You can imagine, Enoch walks with God for 300 years. You think, wow, what a relationship. And it's such an exciting truth. How about I put something over to you that's more exciting than anything else this world can offer you. To have a walk with God through his son, Jesus Christ. One last question as we finish, and this is really short. What was the result of walking with God? And the result was this, that God took him. It says, Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. So God took Enoch to be with him in heaven. It's been said Enoch changed places but not company. So he walked with God on the earth and he walked with him straight into heaven. And he walked bodily straight into heaven. It wasn't that he went out for a walk and when he didn't come back, Mrs Enoch sent out a search party and they found his body on the floor and said, ah, the Lord took him. No, no. Just like Elijah later, you remember? They send out a search party, they can't find him because he's been whisked away into heaven. And again, that's a contrast, isn't it, to all the others in that list. I try to emphasize it. What does it say at the end of each one? And he died. And he died. And he died. They may have lived 900 and something years, but in the end, death caught up with them. And they died. The ground won, if you like. But not with Enoch. The man who walks with God. And in a sense, we just get a little glimpse there, don't we, of that hope that those who walk with God have. that there's life beyond this world that God is stronger than death and of course that was going to be proved ultimately one day when the one that Enoch walked with would walk this earth Jesus Christ would go to the to the cross, die, conquer death and then if you like walk out of the tomb Death has been conquered. So that though you and I, unless Jesus comes first, we will have to die, we still have this glorious hope that there's a resurrection day coming. That Jesus is going to come again and create a new heavens and a new earth even more wonderful than Eden. And what will we do then? We'll walk with Him, just like Adam and Eve did. We'll have fellowship with God again in an even more wonderful way. That's Revelation 21, isn't it? God has come and dwelt with us in new heavens and new earth. Look, God comes and dwells with us, wipes away our tears, and we'll walk with Him. So when you come to die, if Jesus doesn't come first, what will be the best thing that could be said of you? that they became a PhD. They got a PhD. Well, that might be a good thing to aim for, but that won't be the best thing. Whatever it might be, they were successful in their business or whatever it is. What will matter is that the greatest thing that could be said is that, you know about them? They walked with God. She walked with God. he walked with God. When you met them, you knew that you were in the presence of God. That sort of life makes an eternal difference, doesn't it? That's the sort of life that you and I, with God's grace, should want to live. Will you be an Enoch? Will you be an Enoch in your day, in your situation, for the glory and praise of God? Let's pray as we finish. Lord God, we thank you We thank you for Enoch. We thank you for his walk with you. We thank you that he's one of our ancestors. And we pray, Lord God, that we might be like him in this way. We acknowledge, Lord God, that this is the greatest privilege we could know, to walk with God, to know you. Oh Lord, we pray that might be true of us in our lives, increasingly, that we might be those who walk with you. Bless us, Lord, we pray. Bless our fellowship together now, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.