Building the Body of Christ - 9 Enoch and Noah Walked With God — Zac Poonen

I want to begin by telling you about someone who preached about the second coming of Christ. I want to begin by telling you about someone who preached about the second coming of Christ. And he preached it more than 4 ,000 years ago.

And he preached it more than 4 ,000 years ago. We've thought that the second coming of Christ is preached only after the days of the apostles. But we read that in the book of Jude about someone who preached about the second coming of Christ more than 4 ,000 years ago.

But we read that in the book of Jude about someone who preached about the second coming of Christ more than 4 ,000 years ago. In the days of Adam, when Adam was alive, there was a man preaching the second coming of Christ.

Enoch’s Prophecy of Christ’s Second Coming

It's quite amazing. You read that in the book of Jude. Jude is speaking about all the wickedness there is in the world. And by the end of the first century, a lot of corruption had come into the church also.

He speaks about certain people in the church were going the way of Cain. The way of Cain and going in the error of Balaam and the rebellion of Korah. See there were people in the church who were going in these wrong directions.

And he says they are like hidden reefs in your love feast, verse 12. And about these people, verse 14, Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied. You know what he said? The Lord is going to come with many thousands of his holy ones.

When is that going to happen? That is the second coming of Christ. You know Adam lived for 930 years. And Enoch was born when Adam was still alive. And during Adam's lifetime, Enoch was preaching about the end of the world.

How the Lord will come and will judge, verse 15. And what's he going to judge? What is he going to judge? All the ungodly, verse 15, of their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

And these are grumblers, verse 16, finding fault, following after their own lust, speaking arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. Enoch was the first preacher in the Bible.

He was a prophet. And his subject was the second coming of Christ. And he preached against sin. The first preacher in the Bible preached against sin. There are very few people who preach against sin today.

There are so many other subjects they preach on. Remember the first preacher in the Bible preached against sin. And all the prophets in the Old Testament preached against sin. They preached about judgment.

Wasn't God a loving God in the time of Enoch? Yeah. He loved the world so much that he hated their sin. It's like, you know, you may love your son so much, but you hate the disease in his body. You're not a good father if you don't hate disease in your children.

The more you love your children, the more you'll hate the disease in their children. So a God who doesn't hate sin cannot be the true God. And a preacher who represents God and does not preach against sin is a false preacher.

And that's what we can learn from Enoch. And he's mentioned here in the last, almost the last book of the Bible, about Enoch, how he preached about the second coming and judgment that's going to come.

Cain, Balaam, and Korah as Warnings to the Church

And he preaches about people who go, as we see, verse 11, in the error of Balaam and the way of Cain and the rebellion of Korah. These are things you will see in the church in the last days. The way of Cain is the way of jealousy of other brothers.

That means God blesses somebody else more than you and you are jealous of him. Maybe materially, maybe spiritually. And there's going to be jealousy in the hearts of those who claim to be God's children.

Cain killed his brother with a stone. In the last days, people will kill their brothers with their tongue because they're jealous. And the other thing you'll see in the last days is people going by the error of Balaam.

Balaam was a preacher. He was in touch with God, the true God, because we read that he could hear God speaking to him. One day, a king called him to give a message. Now, most preachers today, if a king or a president calls them, they won't even consult God, they'll go straight away.

Imagine, Balaam said, I've got to ask God before I come, maybe king or anybody, but I've got to ask God. I really respect such a man. I really respect such preachers. But see what happened to him in a little while.

God said, don't go. And he sent a message to the king, I will not come, even if you call me. We really need preachers like that. But the king knew how to change the minds of these preachers. He knew that money can change the minds of many preachers.

So, he sent some more people and said, I'll give you more money. I'll give you plenty of money. What should Balaam have said? Money or not, I can't come. God's told me not to go. But he said, okay, I'll ask God again.

What's the need to ask God again? He's already told you his will. And he went back to God. It's all written in Numbers 23. And God said, go. Why did God say go? Because he saw in Balaam's heart, he loved money so much that he wanted to go.

God said, if he wants to go and make money, let him go. I won't stop him. That's why he doesn't stop so many preachers today who are running after money. He doesn't shut down all these television programs which are begging for money.

Do you think it's difficult for God to shut them all down? No, let them go. Even Balaam's donkey knew that he was going in the wrong direction. But he went. And finally, you see the end of Balaam, he destroyed himself.

In the last days, there will be preachers like that in the church. And the third type of people mentioned are those who perished in the rebellion of Korah, verse 11. There will be a lot of people in the church in the last days who have got a spirit of rebellion against authority, who want to be independent, who don't want to listen to anybody.

I tell you, the churches are full of young people like that today. Most churches, the young people have taken over the church. They determine what type of music the church should have. And the poor pastor, even if he disagrees, he's got to shut his mouth.

So we see these things are there in the last days. And here and there in the last days, God will have a man like Enoch preaching against all of this. There will be Cain's and Balaam's and Korah's plenty.

The Enoch's will be rare, but there will be a few around the world. God will never leave himself without a witness on the earth. And my prayer is that if God doesn't find men like that, that he will raise up women like that.

You say, brother Zach, you believe in women preachers? Sure, if there are no men, God will raise up a Deborah to be a prophetess. And that will be a shame that the men are so useless that God has to raise up a woman.

That is the condition that's happening in the world today. We need to hear that message that comes from people like Enoch. Enoch doesn't preach about your healing and your prosperity. He preaches about judgment from God against sin.

Ungodly words that he speak. Sinful words. Would you speak at home to your wife or your husband? Or would you speak in the train when you travel or when you're sitting in an office? Ungodly, sinful words.

Sinful actions. It's going to be a judgment of all of them. Against all those who grumble, verse 16. God's going to judge all that. Now that's, you can be sure that such Enochs are not going to be very popular, such preachers.

Walking With God Through Faith and Judgment

But there's a condition to be such a preacher. He has to walk with God every day. It's very interesting that the first prophet in the Bible is also mentioned as the first person who walked with God. I told you that Enoch lived when Adam was still alive.

And I'm sure he met Adam. And he must have asked Adam, how was it Adam when you were in Eden and you walked with God? And Adam would have said, it wasn't very long, but it was very wonderful. And Enoch must have asked him, don't you have a desire to walk with him now?

You experienced that wonderful thing in Eden? I don't know what Adam said. Maybe he said, no, I don't have faith that I can walk with God here now. In Eden it was possible. Now we are outside. How can we walk with God?

It's just like a lot of people say today, in this sinful world, how can you overcome sin? It's not possible. No, we can't walk with God now. But Enoch said, I'm not going to listen to Adam. He sought God himself.

Remember, he had no Bible, no promise, nothing. But he sought God. And God is a rewarder of all those who diligently seek him. Even if they don't have a Bible. I tell you, this man challenges me. What a man he was, no meetings, no fellowship, no Bible, but he began to seek God.

And he got a revelation from God that you can walk with God even outside of Eden. But he had to have a crisis in his life before that happened. We read in Genesis chapter 5, that Enoch lived for 65 years and he did not walk with God.

Verse 21. But when he was 65 years old, he got a child. Now, I want to imagine what happened there at that time. We can use our imagination and think what happened. Here's a man, I don't know how long he was married and he's got no children, right up to 65.

And at the age of 65, he gets his first child. And God gives him a revelation there. Now, I read somewhere, you see, we don't know what is the meaning of Methuselah. We don't know what is the meaning of that name.

Because they didn't speak Hebrew those days. I don't know what language they spoke. But children very often had meanings to their names in those days. Even Isaac had a meaning to his name. Esau, Jacob, there were meanings to their names.

According to something that God revealed. So, I believe that God revealed to Enoch. You're going to have a child now. And when that child is born, you got to name him Methuselah. Meaning, when he dies, the judgment will come.

And that's what happened. Methuselah lived for 969 years. But Enoch did not know that he's going to live for 969 years. If you have a child, you don't know how long that child is going to live. It may die at six months.

Can you imagine the effect it had on Enoch? When this child dies, judgment is going to come on the world. And if you calculate there, you'll find that the year Methuselah died, the flood came. Enoch did not know that when he looked at that baby.

So, whenever that baby got sick, Enoch would say, hey, is this the end? You know, put yourself in this place. Sometimes it's good for us to put ourselves in the place of that man in the Bible. Imagine if you were in Enoch's place.

And you had a child. God tells you, when this child dies, that's the end of the world. I tell you, it will really change your life. Anytime your child gets a cough or a cold, you'll start taking life seriously.

And you know how children get sick so frequently. Enoch began to take his life seriously because he believed in judgment. Any person who believes in the judgment of God will take his life seriously. That's what we learned from Enoch.

And he preached what he had learned in his life. And not only that, can you imagine if you had a child whose name was like this? When he dies, judgment will come. Imagine calling him. Supposing you call him one day.

Hey, come here. When you die, judgment will come. He's reminding himself of that every day. 30 -40 times. He cannot forget. Because every time he calls his child, he remembers, hey, judgment is going to come.

That's why he preached it. He preached about the second coming of Christ and the judgment that's going to come. There's a verse in Ecclesiastes after Proverbs. Ecclesiastes and chapter 8 and verse 11 is a very interesting verse that because the judgment against an evil action is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of all men are given fully to do evil.

You know why we sin so much? Most people say, brother, I'm so weak, I can't overcome this sin. That's not the reason. The reason is given here. The judgment does not come immediately. Let's take the matter of anger.

Many people say, I try, I can't get victory over my anger. But supposing from tomorrow, every time you got angry, your tongue got little paralyzed. And you got angry a second time on the day, again little more paralysis on your tongue.

You'll get victory over anger in 24 hours. I tell you, you who have not got victory for 24 years, in 24 hours, you'll get victory. But this verse is so true because the judgment doesn't come immediately.

That doesn't mean it'll never come. It will come. There is an account being kept. And the Bible says in Revelation 20, the books will be opened and every single thing will be judged. Or take another matter.

Many men say, oh, this lusting with the eyes, I just can't conquer it. And many young men who look so holy and sing in the church, they are watching internet pornography when they are alone. But imagine, every time you lusted with your eyes, you know, looking at a woman or on the internet, you found your eyes became a little blinder.

And by the end of the day, you can hardly see properly. You will stop your internet pornography in 24 hours or less than that. You will stop lusting after women in 24 hours. Where did you suddenly get all the strength to overcome sin?

One thing. You realize the judgment of God is real. God hates sin. And that's what the devil doesn't want you to know. He keeps telling you, no, no, no, it will never happen. That's what he told Eve. The first lie in the Bible.

Do you know what the first lie in the Bible is? God will not judge sin. That is the first lie in the Bible. You will not die, Eve. Nothing will happen. God is a loving God. If you sin also, he is not going to take it so seriously.

Because he loves you so much. And that lie, the devil has been telling believers for hundreds of years now. Don't you feel that you also have believed the devil's lie just like Eve? I say there are only two places you have to go to see how serious sin is in God's eyes.

Sin Judged in Eden and at Calvary

Go to Eden, Genesis 3. Go to Eden and you will see how serious sin is. One sin. It was so serious that God put them out of paradise immediately. God means what he says. He says he is going to judge, he will judge.

The second place you can find it is on Calvary. There you can see how seriously God takes sin. We sing so lightly about the cross. We sing about it. We don't see the cross as the place where God shows he hates sin.

Sin has to be judged. If you don't get it, then Jesus has to get it. Either he or you. And because to save you from it, he took it. If he hadn't taken it, you and I would have got it. What judgment? Forsaken by God for eternity.

Separated from him. But because he took it, we are safe. We don't meditate enough on the judgment of God on Calvary. The devil just thinks, oh God loves me so much. I see the love of God for me on Calvary.

It's true. I want to exhort all of you to see the judgment of God on Calvary. You have seen enough of the love of God on Calvary. Let me see the judgment of God on sin on Calvary. Then you will realize how serious sin is.

Enoch realized that when he had this little baby. Enoch realized that when he had this little baby. And when he realized that God is going to judge sin. What is the result? We read in Genesis 5 verse 22 that Enoch walked with God.

That was the result of his believing that God's judgment will come on sin. The day you believe that God will judge every sin, you will also start walking with God. And you can walk with God like Enoch.

Enoch’s Faith and Testimony of Pleasing God

Enoch was not a hermit or a sannyasi. He didn't go into the forest and live there to walk with God. He didn't go into the forest and live there to walk with God. He walked with God and he had sons and daughters.

He lived a normal family life and he had many sons and daughters and he walked with God. He lived with his wife at home and he had many sons and daughters during those 300 years and he was also walking with God.

Can you walk with God when you have sons and daughters? Sure. You can walk with God. You can live a normal life on this earth. I can imagine that Enoch was a farmer and he went out farming to produce food for his family.

Those days everybody was a farmer or a shepherd or something. And so Enoch had some type of job by which he supported his family. He supported his family and he preached judgment. He preached the truth.

That's the example for the last days. For you and me that we walk with God we proclaim judgment on sin and one day like Enoch was taken up we will be taken up. That's wonderful. But before he was taken up we read in Hebrews in chapter 11 You know how he was taken up?

That's not written in Genesis 5. Genesis 5 it only says he was taken up. Genesis 5 it only says he was taken up. But in Hebrews 11 it says, verse 5 it was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up.

See what it says? By faith Enoch was taken up. He had faith. He had faith. How can death have power over me when I walk with you? God said, you got such faith. And I will take you up. Death will have no power over you.

I tell you that guy's faith challenges me. I tell you that guy's faith challenges me. All around him people had died. You must read Genesis 5 like this. Let me read Genesis 5 to you again. Genesis chapter 5 verse 5 Adam lived 930 years and he died.

Verse 8 Seth lived 912 years and he died. Verse 11 Enoch lived 905 years and he died. Canaan lived 910 years and he died. Verse 17 Malel lived 895 years and he died. Verse 20 Jared lived 962 years and he died.

Verse 20. And then all of a sudden one man who didn't die. How wonderful it is to see that in a chapter full of death, death, death, death one fellow is raptured. He was seeing people die all around him.

And he had faith for something that nobody had experienced. By faith he did not see death. He walked with God and he said God, why should I die like all these other people? Can't you just take me up? Imagine having faith for something that nobody had ever experienced till that day.

When you walk with God God will give you experiences that other people don't have. Now we can apply that spiritually. Let's talk about spiritual death. Spiritual death is the result of sin. I don't mean the final death in hell.

That is called the second death. I am talking about being spiritually dead. Believers can be like that. The Lord told the elder in Sardis in Revelation 3 verse 1 You are a believer. You have a name that you are alive.

But you are dead. He wasn't dead physically. He was a believer who was spiritually dead. He was a leader of a church who was spiritually dead. The whole church was spiritually dead. But they talked about being born again.

In the 1st century everybody talked about being born again. Just like today so many people speak about being born again. In the 1st century almost everybody spoke in tongues. But they were spiritually dead.

I have seen a lot of people who say they are born again who are spiritually dead. I know a lot of people who speak in other languages but are spiritually dead. But they feel that they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

One of the clearest marks that they are spiritually dead is that they love money so much. They get angry so much. The spirit can give them other tongues but cannot control their mother tongue. What type of spirit is that?

Do you know what happened to me when God filled me with the Holy Spirit? And I began to speak in other tongues. I began to speak in unknown tongues. Something happened. God began to control my mother tongue also.

That's how I knew it was really the Holy Spirit. Evil spirits can give you other tongues but they cannot control your mother tongue. It's possible for believers to be spiritually dead. So where you see spiritual death, death, death all around you.

To have faith like Enoch Lord if I walk with you I can overcome the spiritual death. It says by faith he was taken up so death couldn't touch him. He had a testimony in Hebrews 11 .5 that he pleased God.

Why couldn't the other people walk with God? There were thousands of people on the earth those days. They didn't have an interest in walking with God. It's because this one man had a desire. He believed in judgment and he may have told other people that when my son dies judgment is going to come.

Then I thought this man has got a bit screw loose. He was alright till he was 65 years old something happened. He thinks as if his son is so important that when his son dies judgment is going to come.

So they laughed at him. But he walked with God and he pleased God. I want to say to you this is the testimony he had before he was taken up. Hebrews 11 .5 the last part before he was taken up he had this testimony from God that he was pleasing to God.

God gave a testimony He pleasing me and I am going to take him up. Listen to these words before he was taken up he had this testimony that he was pleasing to God. As a Christian do you believe you are going to be taken up when Christ comes?

What is going to be your testimony before you are taken up? That you pleased God. When I was a young boy my father used to take me in Delhi to watch the Republic Day parade that was January 26th every year and I would see the Param Vir Chakra the highest military honor being given to some military people.

That is somebody would come without a leg or without a hand you know they were wounded in battle and then one man would read out he would read out what this chap did and then the president would come and put the medal on him and then the president would come and put the medal on him.

All the people there would be watching. What a great honor and I thought of that as a picture of when Jesus comes again and the Lord is going to call not everybody one or two here and there he says my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be and Enoch is going to come.

Enoch will come. What's his testimony? What are they going to read out? 300 years he walked with God. He didn't bother about what other people thought about him. He only wanted to please God. People made fun of him.

They troubled him. It didn't make any difference in humility. He walked with God. Only humble people can walk with God. I know Enoch must have been a very humble man. He preached strongly against sin and he pleased God.

That was his testimony. No testimony of how much money he made or what all he accomplished on this earth. He pleased God for 300 years. Dear brother and sister if you have that testimony before you are taken up you will discover in the final day that's the most useful way you could have lived on this earth.

Enoch’s Influence on Noah

And such people will influence others not everybody. There were a lot of people around. They didn't bother about Enoch. I don't even know whether his wife was interested in walking with God. This Methuselah.

He didn't walk with God either. He didn't walk with God. They had a very godly father who feared God. Turn to Genesis 5 it says Methuselah had a son called Lamech 5 .25. When Methuselah was 187 years old Lamech was born.

Lamech had a son whose name verse 29 was Noah. So Methuselah was the grandfather of Noah. Methuselah was 369 years old and Noah was born by the time Enoch had died. Enoch had been taken up. He was not alive when Noah was born.

But Noah grew up as a little boy 10 years old. Noah grew up as a little boy. Maybe when he was 10 or 12 years old. He went and sat on his grandfather's lap and said Methuselah grandpa tell me I heard that your father walked with God.

Tell me how is that. Can you tell me what type of person your father was. And this little boy had a desire to know how Enoch walked God. How Enoch walked God. Methuselah would have told him. He said my father was the most wonderful man I have ever met.

And he would have told Enoch that my father was a wonderful man. He was such a patient humble man. He was a strong preacher against sin. He feared no man. He never wanted to please any human being on the earth.

He had no interest in money. He only wanted to walk with God everyday. But he took care of his family. He worked hard to take care of us. But he walked with God. And as Noah grew up there came in his heart a desire which nobody else had.

I want to walk with God. And you know what happened. See in Genesis 6 verse 9 the last part Noah walked with God. He is the second man who walked with God. And you know what he preached judgment. God is going to judge the world.

God has told me to build an ark. There is so much sin in the world. God is going to judge it. Enoch did not influence many people but he influenced his great grandson. But he influenced his great grandson.

So we may not influence everybody if we walk with God. But you may influence some 12 year old boy who looks at you and says I want to be like that man of God. Do you know that God wants you to be like that brother and sister.

Noah, the Last Days, and Christ’s Return

Jesus said the last days will be like the days of Noah. We are approaching the second coming of Christ. It is very very close. There are only two places in the world mentioned in relation to the last days.

One is Jerusalem. Jesus said in Luke 21 verse 20 when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies you know desolation is at hand. And Jerusalem verse 24 will be trampled underfoot. The last part of verse 24 by the other nations till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Jerusalem was ruled by heathen nations by non-Jewish nations until 1967. That was fulfilled in 1967. The second place mentioned in the Bible in relation to the last days is Iraq. Revelation chapter 9.

Revelation chapter 9 verse 14 the Lord says release the demons that are tied up near the river Euphrates. The sixth messenger. The sixth messenger whom you were with said to him. Release those four messengers who are tied up near the river.

That is repeated again in chapter 16 and in both places. If you read it it's talking about war around the river Euphrates. River Euphrates which you just read 9 .16 9 .14. That river goes through Iraq.

There is going to be war around Iraq. We never heard about war in Iraq till about 6 -7 years ago. Those are the only two places mentioned in relation to the last days. We are living in the generation that is going to see the second coming of Christ.

You know what you should be doing. You should be walking with God like Enoch. You should have a testimony that you are pleasing to God before he comes to take us up what shall we say. In conclusion he who has ears to hear let him hear what God is saying.

Let us pray. Help us to understand the times in which we are living and to be ready for your coming. We humbly ask in Jesus name Amen.