Walking with God

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Genesis 5:1-24

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Well this morning we are beginning Genesis chapter 5 We're not going to do the whole chapter today.
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We'll We'll look at the most I'd say two -thirds of the genealogy.
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However, we will End with most of our focus on Enoch and so we'll go from verses 1 through 24
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In chapter 5 and we want to do that With view to things we've considered already in chapter 4
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Things that have already come out of chapter 3 So it's very important as we look at the larger themes of Genesis that we understand these building blocks these very significant themes that are going to run through the whole book and indeed the whole
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Bible and The line of the promised seed and the contrasts with the line of the serpent is one of these major themes the
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Structure of Genesis that has been argued. I think successfully is the genealogies
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What we just read a moment ago that the Toledot formula That is the spinal cord of the book of Genesis And so the thing that we tend to read past here comes
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January and our little checkbox Bible reading lists And you know what it is when you come to those little genealogies.
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There's that temptation to kind of skim Just glide past look for something interesting some weird names going on But these are vital absolutely vital to understand the theological significance of Genesis and how we get from Genesis to the story of Israel The story of Israel to the story of Christ and the kingdom of God So with the genealogy of Cain, which was in chapter 4
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We we saw this murderer Cain at the very beginning and then his line his sons The pride they had the technology they used to build a name for themselves to make themselves great on the earth to subvert
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The curse of God and subvert their need to seek God's mercy or benevolence toward them
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Cain's genealogy began with His own murder of his brother and it ended remember with Lamech not literally ended
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It circled back to Lamech after we considered his sons, but Lamech of course was stylistically chosen for the sake of his song
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He was a wonderful songwriter wasn't he when he was talking about killing a boy who offends him in other words
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The lineage of Cain is meant to open with this murderous picture of Cain and then this killer
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Lamech and there it is There's the fruition of the line of the serpent and we close chapter 4 with a little glimpse of Seth We close chapter 4 with these words as for Seth To him also a son was born and he named him
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Enosh then men began to call on the name of the Lord So as we said last week, this is the beginning of public worship
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Corporate worship This is the construction that the rest of the Hebrew Bible will use whenever it speaks of Israel Gathering corporately to worship the
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Lord they call upon his name They call upon the name of the Lord that begins in the line of Seth So in Cain's line, we see the progress of technology and the depravity of prideful man, but in the line of Seth We see a progress in the worship of God and the awareness of a need for him
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The seed of the woman now fully distinguished from the seed of the serpent The seed of the serpent clinging to the principles of the tempter to become like God to make themselves as God Establishing themselves with efforts against God that in full contrast to the promise seed who are the sons of God Who call upon the name of God Yahweh?
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So we look at Genesis 5 and we begin with the book of Adam's genealogy
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That may be a reference to something that Moses had access to it's literally a book a scroll some document perhaps
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Usually things were orally transmitted But perhaps this is something that was actually physically contained that But that somehow had been preserved and something that Moses had access to the book of the genealogy of Adam In the day that God created man we read he made him in the likeness of God He created them male and female and blessed them and called them man.
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It's literally Adam Mankind in the day they were created and Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image and named him
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Seth So notice how we're here in chapter 5 and yet we're going back to Adam and with the language here
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We're going back to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 just notice some of these echoes the day that God Created man in his likeness in his image male and female
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He created them and he blessed them all of this is emblematic of what we've already seen from Genesis 1 and Genesis 2
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So why are we returning to it here? Well structurally we're being reminded of God's redemptive purposes for man
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This isn't something separate from creation, but it's embedded within creation This promise that was given to Adam and Eve is going to be fulfilled
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Through the line of Seth not the line of Cain. That's the significance We have the genealogy of Adam and Cain has no place within it
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The genealogy of Adams through Seth is all about the promise of redemption
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So the whole of chapter 5 is a description of this ever Narrowing line toward the
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Messiah and that's going to run all the way through Genesis God made Adam in his own image
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While Adam was made in God's image Seth is made in Adam's image, but no longer in that pristine state in which
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Adam was made Seth is not born with original righteousness Seth is not born with a heart naturally inclined instinctively tuned toward godliness
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Now Adam is the image of a fallen man and Seth is made in that image Seth too is a fallen man and his sons are fallen men
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We're told interestingly of Adam's age when Seth was born to him 130 years old 130 years old
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We tend to read the narrative as those things happen Sequentially as though Abel was killed and then
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Cain was exiled and then within a few months here comes Seth That's not the case so far as we can tell
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Adam had to walk a long time with the Lord Before God gave him an Eve his wife
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Seth this child of promise and isn't that a picture in Genesis as well just the patience of walking with the
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Lord When God promises Abraham a child Sarah will bear you a child
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It doesn't happen right away. Does it they don't get the Blue plus sign the next morning.
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Do they they have to walk and they have to wait and God's promises unfold patiently
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And there's a test therein. He tests the hearts of his people. He tests the faith of his people
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We see this again and again. He has lessons to teach in the waiting It's a good reminder for our own lives
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Just some of the things that we've already prayed for today Is this not the way of God to patiently unfold his promises his assurances his goodness in our lives?
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We have this long walk of obediently trusting him We know that God is not slack concerning his promise as 2nd
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Peter 3 says, but it certainly seems that way sometimes doesn't it? When we look at our lives perhaps and we look at the world around us.
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It seems as though God were slack Where is he? Where's the signs of his coming? That's what the people were saying
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Peter says I think you need to reread the scriptures see how God actually works patiently
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Quietly In a way that confounds the wisdom of the world in the meantime
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During the way, what have the sons of God been doing? They've been calling upon his name. They've been worshiping him trusting him catechizing the next generation
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They've heard the eyewitness testimony of the fall. That's the other thing we get from this genealogy They've been able to hear from Adam's own lips the truth about man and his fall and God's promise of redemption
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Because we read Adam the all the days that Adam lived were 930 years So think about the overlap here
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Adam knew most of these children great -grandchildren great -great -great -grandchildren.
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He lived in 930 years In other words, he's transmitting to the generations the story of the fall and the promise of redemption
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They're hearing the gospel from Adam's own tongue John Calvin puts it this way in the number of years here recorded
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We especially consider the long period in which the patriarchs lived together through six successive ages
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When the family of Seth had grown into a great people the voice of Adam could daily resound
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In order to renew the memory of creation the fall punishment of man and to testify to the hope of salvation
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Which remained even after judgment and to recite the judgments of God by which all might be instructed
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So Adam is able to disciple the generations himself from his own lips Teaching his sons in the sethite line to do the same
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That's not that all were of course Perhaps not all were faithfully instructed and certainly not all faithfully walked for many
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Many sons and daughters in the genealogy of Adam were consumed by the flood of God's judgment.
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So we have to keep that in mind Apparently many followed the way of the world They didn't follow the way of the
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Lord, even though they were in this line of promise They departed from the way and that's instructive for us as well, isn't it?
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It's not the family you're born into that seals the redemption of God in your life It's not that you've been around the right people or the right teaching or the right instruction
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You must actually to the point of the sermon today walk with God You must do that It becomes something intensely personal
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So personal so unique so rare that only Noah Is found in his generation to be faithful in this way only
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Noah Consider that out of the thousands and thousands that had heard
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Adam's own testimony about the fall and redemption Matthew Henry says grace does not run in blood but corruption does a
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Sinner begets a sinner a saint does not beget a saint. I think the Holy Spirit begets a saint
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Parents need to remember this so that we never lose heart in praying for our children's salvation It's not our efforts not our blood not our frequencies or consistencies.
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Thank God not even the lack of those things That saves our children. It's the Holy Spirit. And so we beseech the
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Lord Whether sinner or saint we see this picture in Genesis 5 death has now entered the world
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And that's what this genealogy is trying to tell us the wages of sin is death Death has now spread through one man to all and so even in the sethite line
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Even the line of promise even in the line of God's favor and of God's grace shining richly upon it
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There's the wages of sin. There's the consequences of the fall After he begot Seth the days of Adam were 800 years and he had sons and daughters and all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died
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Seth lived 105 years and he begot Enosh and after he begot Enosh Seth lived 807 years and had sons and daughters.
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So all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died Enosh lived 90 years and begot
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Canaan after he begot Canaan Enosh lived 815 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died
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Canaan lived 70 years and he begot Mahalaleel So, I don't know why you guys went with Karina Mahalaleel magazine doesn't that have a ring to it?
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Maybe it could go for a girl or a boy After he begot Mahalaleel Canaan lived 840 years and had sons and daughters and all the days of Canaan were 910 years and he died
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You get the point. He died. He died. He died beyond our verses today eight times
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This is the refrain of the genealogy now. We read this as Naturally expecting this to be the case.
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Our reaction is wow. They live so long Prior to the flood. This is amazing.
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Do we know why they live so long? Can you imagine living that long? That's the only thing that grabs our attention. Well, I wouldn't know if I would want to live close to millennium.
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That would be insane What ought to grab our attention if we've been paying attention to the narrative of Genesis is the fact that good men are dying
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That men in in light of God's favor still succumb to death That death is the enemy of man.
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This is the the freak tragedy of the fall They die They die.
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They die. They die living for centuries and yet dying That's what ought to grab our attention
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And of course it is fascinating that the life expectancy is incredibly long prior to the flood And it's not because we have to adjust things to lunar calendar all that all of that Falls apart at one level or another.
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This is just the nature of the world. I Think the nature of God's intentions for mankind at this point
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It's an incredibly long time after the flood it will drop in half by the time of Babel will drop in half again
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By the time Moses is writing of his own generation in psalm 90 people are living an average lifespan 70 even 80
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Regardless of whether it's 90 years or 900 years. The point is there's still death death death
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Death has entered the world and this was not part of God's good creation
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He did not create man in his image to rot and to go back to the dust and to be consumed by worms
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This was not part of what God declared to be good. This is the result of sin This is the wages of sin.
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So the constant refrain up to verse 24 six times. He died. He died He died it reminds us of the condition of the curse
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Therefore just as through one man's sin entered into the world and death through sin So death spread to all men because all sinned were so jaded
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The obituary should be a very devastating thing to read death is something that is against God's original purposes in creation
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And yet in the wisdom of the gospel death becomes the very means of salvation The very hope of our salvation is anchored in death and life through it
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As we look to the new year many of us make resolutions none of our resolutions will come Close to being as thorough as Jonathan Edwards resolutions if you've ever read those
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One of his resolutions a very wise one for a 19 year old to make Was to think much on all occasions of my dying
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There's a rare 19 year old What am I gonna do? I'm gonna resolve to be constantly thinking about my dying in any conditions related thereto
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That's a wise 19 year old Let me ask the question did you think about your death at all this week
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At all at some point in the week Did you think of that day that day that you don't know what the
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Lord knows when you're going to die Probably not Probably not
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Maybe some of you had a rough week, and you had a reason to I don't know but probably not When I was studying
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Renaissance art in my undergrad one of the fascinating things about Renaissance painting so often especially in Even in scenery, but especially in still life was they had what was called memento mori a reminder of death
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Maybe a skull maybe a bone some some emblem of mortality And so even the greatest scenes there was this kind of bleak
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Little symbol in some corner of the canvas and it was this reminder of death It's good for Christians to have memento mori to realize our days are numbered
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This is sort of the last taboo in Western civilization It's one of the few things that can make a Westerner blush or make them uncomfortable
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Funerals and death it should not be this way for Christians And death is a result of sin
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It's certainly the point that Moses has been inspired to make in Genesis 5 It's the point he makes when he writes the
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Psalm 90 you have set our iniquities before yourself Our secret sins in the light of your countenance all of our days have passed away in your wrath
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We finish our years like a sigh the days of our lives are 70 years if by reason of strength
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They're 80 yet their boast is only labor and sorrow it is soon cut off and we fly away
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Who knows the power of your anger for as the fear of you so is your wrath teach us to number our days?
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Death is a result of sin Moses is saying And even in the line of Cain there's death death and more death
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And so we're insulated and we're desensitized to the reality and that constant specter of death all around us
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The reality that we're avoiding on the one hand is all too normal for us We're jaded to it because we know
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I don't want to think about that I know everyone has to go and kind of face that the other hand we forget that God did not create us to simply die
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That's that's the shock. He died. He died. He died he died Man was not made to bury other men
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So the question then becomes in light of Genesis 5, how do you escape this cycle of the wages of sin?
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Or to put it in a Pauline phrase who will deliver from this body of death Where does the cycle end and how does it end?
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Is there any hope within Genesis 5? And the answer comes in verses 21 through 24
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Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah after he begot Methuselah Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters
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So all the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him
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He didn't die God took him Enoch is the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth Lamech was the seventh in the line of Adam through Cain.
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What a contrast there One who says I'll kill a child if he dishonors me The other walks with God and was not for God took him the contrast could not be any greater in Enoch Godliness reaches its highest point
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In Lamech depravity and pride reaches the lowest point Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him in other words
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Enoch escapes the tragic summary of all human life He escapes that constant refrain of and he died and he died and he died.
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He is simply taken by God We don't read of this occurring to anyone else except Elijah in 2nd
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Kings 2 which is why Jesus asked his disciples Who do the men you know, who do the people say that I am and part of the answer is some say you're
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Elijah With the Elijah to come Elijah was taken up. He must be coming back. You must be that Elijah Jesus identifies
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John the Baptist as the Elijah to come if we're able to handle it. That's what he says Instead of saying that Enoch died our text states very clearly.
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He was not He was not and the reason is implied in the first part of that construction
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The reason is found in these all -important words Enoch walked with God Enoch walked with God in the
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Hebrew this verb to walk clock It's a very rare stem here. Very very rare It's in the hit by L stem, which is incredibly rare in Genesis And the last time we saw it the the verb in this stem was in Genesis 3 where God was walking in the garden
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Why was God walking in the garden? What's implied there is that he would often do so as he would commune with Adam and Eve he had created them
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He had set them apart on a on a Sabbath to rest and reflect the fact that he rested after his labor and so man was meant to commune with God and enjoy his presence there in Eden and he walked in this way and Here that illusion is all the way here in Genesis 5
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Enoch walked with God And we're meant to understand as Adam was created to walk with God as Adam was meant in Eden to walk with God This is how
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Enoch even outside of paradise learned to walk with God So we're reminded by this verb that man was created to glorify
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God and enjoy him forever Enoch was enjoying God Even in the midst of a fallen world
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Even in the midst of fallen flesh God condescended in his mercy to walk with Enoch and Enoch walked with God Adam and Eve were meant to rule over the beauty of God's creation
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Man was meant to be an utter rapture as they communed with their creator in the midst of the creation
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God walked with man And that was lost utterly lost When Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden as a result of their sinfulness
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Adam and Eve fell and they lost the privilege of God's presence They were exiles from Eden in the same way that Israel would become exiles from the promised land and yet in his grace
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God reveals himself. He he woos and calls and shows himself to the sons of Adam He's pleased by Abel's sacrifice
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Abel learned how to walk with God Learned how to come with a pleasing sacrifice
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Out of a pure heart and as a desire to honor God and seek his grace Enoch has found a way to walk with God even outside of Eden It's not that this was the original goal
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It's not that this is bandaged and duct -taped and somehow made to work, but it is pointing to the goal
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Enoch is walking with God and yet yet walking toward the greater hope of being with God forever
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He knows that he's not meant to dwell in this fallen condition forever He knows that God his creator
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Yahweh did not create this this creation just to subsist in the fall He remembers the promise that Adam had told him.
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He remembers the promise that was passed down the Sethite line And so here is
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God at work in our fallen groaning world and he's bringing men to walk toward paradise
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He's putting that paradise yearning in Enoch's heart Enoch's walk in other words is a walk of faith.
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He's looking beyond the fallen world He's looking beyond the present reality in a way that the Cainites never could
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He's looking he's looking at the world as though he's a sojourner And he's looking to the reward of God himself
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If God is going to redeem this then that means that once again I will be able to walk with God and enjoy his presence as God originally created man to do he's walking
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He's diligently seeking him as he walks by faith Isn't that exactly what
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Hebrews 11 says about Enoch? Hebrews 11 5 & 6 by faith
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Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death And he was not found because God had taken him for before he was taken.
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He had this testimony that he pleased God Just like Abel pleased
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God But without faith, it is impossible to please him For he who comes to God must believe that he is
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And that he is a rewarder Of those who diligently seek him That's what
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Enoch did He diligently sought the God who made him He diligently pursued the
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Lord who was availed by fallen world and fallen flesh There are several things to note here
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First notice that in our text we have that Enoch walked with God here in Hebrews 11. It says he has this testimony.
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He pleased God Why doesn't it say he walked with God like Like the
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Hebrew here. Well The writer of Hebrews is taking this from the Greek where the Greek is a verb that's translated.
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Please he pleased God And so it's reflecting that That's what we have in verse 5 he had this testimony he pleased
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God and this is really just adding dimension To what it means to walk with God What it means to walk with God is to walk in a pleasing manner toward God To walk with the desire to please
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God which is to say to bring honor to his name to make him known Hebrews 11 5 and 6 is a divinely inspired commentary on Genesis 5 22 through 24
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And as with the whole chapter of Hebrews 11, it's all about faith the focus here is on Enoch's faith
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Faith in other words becomes the theological description of what it means to walk with God What it means to walk with God is to have faith in God to believe that he is and in light of that to diligently
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Seek him that that's the divinely inspired commentary on what we're reading here in Genesis 5
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Faith believes that God is He who comes to God must believe that he is
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That's not that he is as though it's the ground of being as some Anglican bishop might want to say the ground of being
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You know that the unmoved mover some abstract Designer and deity now, this is the personal
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God. This is the God whose name you can call the God who's revealed himself At first as as simply one
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God in the Shema, but but now with further revelation We understand that he's actually a triune
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God father son Holy Spirit and that is the only way we can know this
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God It must be by the Spirit through the Son unto the Father. We cannot know
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God unless he's triune But not only do we need to know that God is and believe have faith that God is we we must know that he's the rewarder
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Of those who diligently seek him On the face of that brothers and sisters
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Do not expect the reward of his presence or his blessing or his favor if you're not diligently seeking him.
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I Should not expect in my life for these things to just drop down on my lap as though I'm gonna all of a sudden burst into rapture when
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I'm being Sluggardly lazy in my pursuit of him when I'm taking it for granted and I'm not diligent
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It's hard to be diligent for a year for ten years Enoch lived three hundred sixty five years and his epitaph his summary is he walked with God?
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Isn't that the greatest life summary a person could have? No wonder Enoch becomes a symbol of godly faith in Hebrews 11 and more than that much is written about Enoch By the by the
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Jews of Second Temple period much is written about Enoch apocryphal literature. We call it Letters a whole letter first Enoch This apocalyptic letter and it's picked up by Jude Jude actually quotes from first Enoch 9
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And he quotes this Jewish tradition that Enoch was a prophet He was a prophet that was denouncing the pre -flood world.
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He was preaching against it Warning this world of the judgment to come that certainly is what happens when you're walking with God, isn't it?
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It wasn't just that his heart was warmed to this personal God he yearned to be with him He longed to know him
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He longed to bring bring a pleasing life before him a living sacrifice laid on the altar as it were
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But he also was heightened to the awareness that God is going to judge We see that reflected in the name
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Methuselah very interestingly Methuselah in Hebrew It could be repointed the beginning of that as my wet, which is death.
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It could be repointed Methuselah So the idea would be here After death, it will come the idea being that after Methuselah dies the the it is coming the judgment the flood
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He's prophetic. That's what Jude 1 14 and 15 says Now Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied about these men these men being the apostates
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The false teachers those who have fallen away from the faith. They're greedy. They're consumptive. They have outbursts of wrath
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Also saying this is Enoch saying behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on all to convict all
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Who are 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
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This is part of Enoch's sermon according to Jude part of his prophetic denouncement
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And notice the emphasis here the ungodliness the ungodly ungodly in behavior ungodly in their way
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What does that tell you about Enoch's life? That he hadn't hit a godly way that he was living.
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He was walking with God What a stunning figure Enoch is all the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him
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Someone might say I've heard this said I have a 365 faith. That might be something you'd see on Twitter or something
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I have 365 faith and they mean by that, you know 24 7 365. I'm a Christian every day
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I live for God all year long every year when when you say Enoch was a 365 believer 365 years of life
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And there's a lot contained within those 365 years as you can imagine and we don't have any of it
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The lack is the point What is the most significant thing to be known about Enoch according to Genesis?
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It's not what happened in year 211 It's not the things he did in that span of 40 years when he was really zealous It all boils down to the central point.
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He walked with God That's that's as much as you need to know about Enoch. Do you want to know why
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Enoch escaped death? Here it is. He walked with God Just simple as that.
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That's his epitaph That's his epitaph. I Hope we could look at our lives in that way and reduce everything down to a statement like that It would be good that all
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GRBC obituaries simply had that there should be a section in the Cemeteries of Hubbardston and Barry and a lot of tombs that say he or she walks with God What an epitaph what a summary of life
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I Walked with God for 365 you can you imagine all the birthday candles that would have to be put on that cake for the end of his life.
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Yeah bonfire Imagine how much the world would change if you had been born in 1655 1655 and you live to 2020
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Pretty scary That's a lot of change you just think of what you know about history in the past 365 years and I mean, where would you even begin with that the amount of wars?
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famines pestilences cataclysmic events Intrigue and treason nations rising and falling all within this span of time
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And we should not think that somehow Enoch was just living Farming day after day every day seemed to be the same.
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He opened up his closet had all the same outfits Yeah, every day was just the same We should think he was experiencing the same kinds of things that we would experience if we had lived 365 years
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And Yet he walks through that how could you summarize a life that witnessed so much contained so much
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Children great children hopes ambitions that crumbled people that died unexpectedly loved ones relationships that were forged relationships that turned to betrayal grandchildren great -grandchildren to the tenth degree cities tribes nations rising and falling all of that's contained within this life and the only thing you need to know about Enoch is that He walked with God That's theologically significant
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And as we move forward though, we'll know more details about them than we'll know about Enoch.
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We'll see the same exact thing with Noah When we're introduced to Noah in Genesis 6 we read
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Noah walks with God That's what you must know about Noah He was just like his great -granddad he walked with God And Again in Genesis 17 when the
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Lord appears to Abram he wants Abram to know what is of vital significance for his life The Lord appears to Abram and says to him.
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I am all mighty God He you are in the counties and you're worshiping the pantheon you're worshiping these graven image
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Abram I'm the Almighty God Walk before me and be blameless
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Walk before me and that's what Abram does He starts walking before the
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Lord and you know how that goes with him. It's not always easy. There's some pretty hairy situations there's a lot of intrigue and there's a lot of heart sorrow
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And all that's contained within life and yet this is the great summary we move forward from Abram to his sons in Genesis 48 when
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Jacob is blessing Joseph. He says the God before whom my father's Abraham and Isaac walks
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The God has been my shepherd all my life long to this day do you see the significance here of walking?
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This is a very important thing Not just in Genesis, but throughout all of Scripture a walk with God a walk before the
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Lord a following after the Lord This is given to us from the very beginning of the biblical storyline to say if you're going to know the
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God who made you you must walk with him and Now unfold and look at what it means to walk with him as we move through Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy This walk is a conditional walk
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There's conditions applied to it If you walk blessing and favor will break upon your head if you do not walk in what
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I command you to walk in Pestilence and famine and death will consume you you shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk in them
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I'm the Lord your God. This is what he commands to his people over and over again Constant exclamations and warnings about the people's failure and the people do fail
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Judges to the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered and yet they would not listen to Judges and they played the harlot with other gods and they bowed down to them
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They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked We're gonna see these patriarchs these men of great faith
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And we're gonna watch their generations crumble in idolatry and lawlessness
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Sadly this is amazing thing. It becomes a bad thing To be described as walking in the way of the kings of Israel That's that's like an insult
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Well, we want nothing to do with him. He walks like the kings of Israel walk That's how bad it gets even at the greatest levels of authority power and privilege in the kingdom of Israel and Judah And God calls out in Psalm 81 13.
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Oh that my people would listen to me that Israel would walk in my ways Do you see the connection between listening to an obedience and walking?
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And at stake is God's ongoing presence This is part of the biblical storyline of Israel right at stake is can you stay in the land in which
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God dwells? The land which has been entrusted to you. Can you dwell here? But must you be dragged out into exile and to face
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God's judgment in a foreign land to be removed from the Eden presence of God that's the issue
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And so Leviticus 26 12, he lays out. I Will walk among you and be your
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God and you shall be my people Then he lays conditions upon this it's only conditional upon your ability to walk with me
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All of this failure then draws toward the fulfillment of God's promises They fail and fail and stumble and stumble
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Romans 10 at every turn. And so what does God do? He makes a new covenant
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He makes a new covenant One that's not like the old Now God's Holy Spirit It's not going to dwell in a holy holies
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You can take a pilgrimage to it if you want to be near the presence, you know God's gonna pour out his spirit upon all flesh
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God's Spirit is now going to indwell those who are called his people people who had formerly not been his people but now are
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Ezekiel 36 26 and following the great prophecy along with Jeremiah 31 of the
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New Covenant. I Will give you a new heart I will put a new spirit within you
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I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.
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I Will be their God and they will be my people see that failure
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God allowed for this great purpose So he would not just save Narrowly one nation and one tribe and one tongue out of the whole earth, but that he would save a people a holy nation the priesthood royal out of every tribe and every tongue throughout the face of the earth and he says
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I'm gonna put my spirit within them and what's The result of the Holy Spirit now indwelling his people the believers
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It causes them to walk before him It causes them to walk with him
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It causes them to have desires to please him desires to know him desires to persevere in his mercy
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It brings them conviction when they fall away conviction when they stumble and stutter This is all a result of the implanting the indwelling of the
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Holy Spirit What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? You are the temple of the Living God and God has said
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I will dwell in them and walk among them I will be their God and they will be my people
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Paul saying that to the church at Corinth He's saying you are the Israel You were
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God's intention from the beginning God is your God and you are his people
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It's a walking light of that. I Say then Galatians 5 16 walk in the spirit
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Walk with God, how can I walk with God you walk in the spirit? For what the law could not do
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Romans 8 3 & 4 what the law could not do and that it was weak to the flesh God did by sending his own
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Son in the likeness of sinful flesh because of sin He condemned sin in the flesh
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This is speaking of Christ on the cross That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us
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Who do not now walk according to the flesh but walk according to the spirit? You see how significant this is
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I hope you see how foundational this is and underscores the question how do we walk with God?
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Can we give a more comprehensive answer of what it means to walk in the spirit? As Christians that are part of this new covenant in his blood.
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Let me give you ten answers You could probably double even triple that The first thing is and there's no there's no order here
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The first thing is we walk with God by walking through valleys with him walk through valleys with him
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Here's this new covenant Here's his promise of blessing Here's this adoption by the
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Spirit so that we're now sons and daughters of God and yet we have no Expectation that were removed from the trials and hardships of life.
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In fact now we're guaranteed that everyone must suffer They seek to enter into the kingdom
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And so part of the Christian life is now walking through valleys with him The significant emphasis there is walking through valleys with him
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Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death This idea of I'm I'm going through something
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I'm experiencing something. There's something unfolding over time and the shadow of death is looming over me and yet your presence is here
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I'm walking with you your rod and your staff. They're bringing me comfort Richard Baxter Very very interesting little book and I think you can get it on Kindle for maybe three bucks
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Walking with God and he lays out as only a Puritan could you know? 30 different aspects to walking with God But on this point, he's very insightful and he says to walk with God is the best preparation for a time of suffering.
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Oh Interesting, isn't it? You don't walk with God when suffering comes You walk with God to prepare for when suffering comes
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You walk with God prior to that expecting that Knowing that you'll be clinging to Jesus when all you can do is cling to Jesus Though I walk in the midst of trouble you will revive me you will stretch out your hand someone 38 -7 suffering in this life becomes unbearable
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Unless you walk with God and let's take that into Hebrews 11 kind of language Unless you know that God is and you know that he will reward you as you diligently seek him
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That's what it means to walk with God through valleys and suffering God. I know that you're with me doesn't look like it
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But I know you're with me. And somehow I know you're for me. You're for me even as I look at this cross
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I'm reminded of my Savior Trusting in you diligently seeking you knowing that you are good and you are a rewarder of those who seek him and therefore he took the
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Cross and he endured its shame He sought the joy that was beyond it and so help me Lord as I look down this valley to see the joy that lies
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Beyond it. I'm going to trust you though. I have no earthly reason to trust you That's what it means to walk with God Secondly, we walk humbly before him and that's why he brings us through valleys
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He humbles us as our brother was praying he was thanking the Lord for humbling him catching his attention
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We recognize that we recognize that we're being humbled when we're brought to the beginning of a valley All of a sudden we shrink down to size and God becomes larger in our minds never as large as he should be
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But thankfully larger And so we're humbled we walk humbly before him we have a reverential fear
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Micah 6 8 he's shown you a man what is good and what does the Lord require of you?
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But to do justice and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God What does he require of you
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Walk humbly with him walk humbly with him be slow to speak
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Be slow to question Be Patient in suffering walk humbly walk humbly
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Trust his promises that have yet to sprout just because he's the one that gave the promise
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Acts 931 this is the result we see it's Humility is just another way of talking about reverence or fear even an acts 931 the churches throughout all
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Judea and Galilee and Samaria Had peace and were built up and walking in the fear of the
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Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit They were multiplied I love that combination there walking in the fear of the
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Lord being comforted by the Holy Spirit these things always collide in the life of a Christian We've seen it tenfold this year
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I've seen it in so many of your lives That that as you're being humbled as you're beginning now to walk in the fear of Lord You know his hand is heavy upon you some trials some some cataclysmic circumstance some breach has opened up in your life
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And yet what is there in the midst of that and you have to be a Christian to see it It's the supernatural comfort of the
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Holy Spirit Comfort we sang it comfort comfort ye my people
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Lords all about our comfort as we walk with him. Isn't that an amazing thing? Christians in the most uncomfortable places and situations have a supernatural comfort in the
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Lord because they're walking with him. They're walking with him Thirdly we walk in him
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You don't just walk with him. We walk in him Colossians 2 tells us what that means as you've received
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Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him Rooted and built up in him established in the faith as you've been taught
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Abounding in it with Thanksgiving. This is what it means to walk in him. You're rooted in him What does it mean to be rooted in him?
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It means to be settled established in the faith that you've been taught The faith of our fathers the evangelical faith the faith of the gospel to be rooted in that established in that aware of the finer distinctions
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Aware of the depth and the gravity of it seeing it as something worthy of your own life of your own blood if necessary You're established in the faith.
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You're rooted in it as you've been taught and what's the result of that? Abounding in Thanksgiving look at the life of Paul Look at the life of the
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Apostles Rooted willing to suffer and as they're suffering they're abounding in Thanksgiving That's what it means to walk in him
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And forth we walk in truth We walk in truth can't walk with God unless you're walking in truth
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God's truth begins to collide with and undermine our half -truths our half -baked truths our convenient truths
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Psalm 26 3 your loving -kindness is before my eyes and I have walked in your truth teach me your way
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Oh Lord Psalm 86 11. I will walk in your truth unite my heart to fear your name There's that reverence and humility again
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Read the whole book of Proverbs and highlight every time you come across the verb walk.
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It's amazing It's amazing how often walk Walk walk according to my instruction do not walk in the way of scoffers and sinners my son
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Fifth we walk properly We walk properly. We're Christians We walk appropriately for what it means to be a
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Christian we walk as those who are in the day Not in the night Romans 13 the night is spent the days at hand
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That is the the eschatological day the end times day the days at hand
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The night is far spent the days at hand. Let us cast off works of darkness put on armor of light
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Let us walk properly As in the day not in revelry and drunkenness not in lewdness and lust not in strife and envy walk properly walk appropriately know the times
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And walk worthily sixthly walk worthily This is what it means to walk properly
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First Thessalonians 2 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory you walk worthy of that Colossians 1 10 that you may walk worthy of the
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Lord fully pleasing him Just like you just like you know Please God Walk worthy of the
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Lord fully pleasing him Fruitful in every good work increasing in the knowledge of God It's what it means to walk with him and it's what it means to walk worthy of him
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Romans 6 7 we walk in newness of life Do you not know that many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were also baptized into his death?
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We've been buried with him Through baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
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Father Even so we should walk in the newness of life We walk in the newness of life that has been wrought by the
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Spirit of God The same power that mightily rose him from the grave from those death waters.
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That's the spirit at work in our lives We walk according to that newness Faith All of these have been individual to a point and this is why number eight is so significant.
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We walk together with him Walk together with him Enoch is a wonderful picture in all of these individualist ways, but it's not so good for the larger picture
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We're not individuals walking with God. We're a caravan really We're groups together in our walk with God and profound ways
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When we have fellowship with the Son through the Spirit we have fellowship with one another
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This is this is ABC Christianity In fact, I will not be able to walk with my
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God Unless I'm walking with my brothers and sisters who are called by God and who love my
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God I won't be able to walk with him not healthy not for long not consistently
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God has so designed the church according to different gifts different talents different callings different backgrounds
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He so designed it for us to walk together First John 1 7 if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another
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And the blood of Christ Jesus cleanses us from all sin Another communal aspect to walking with God.
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Not only is it not individualist? It's communal but not only is it communal? It's also generational we walk teaching our children about God And that's a very specific command from Deuteronomy 6 right when you walk by the way
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When you lie down when you rise up These are the words which I command you today and they shall be in your heart
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You shall teach them diligently to your children We shall talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down when you rise up See when you walk when you stand when you sit all of that corresponds to someone that's how we open the services and someone two ways to live
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We have here Deuteronomy 6 a child being taught whether the parent is walking or standing or sitting
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How to walk in the ways of God we read in Psalm 1 blessed is the man who walks
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Not in the council of the undaunted or it stands in the path of sinners or it sits in the seat of scoffers
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Someone is just riffing on Deuteronomy 6 In other words blessed is the man who's been raised by his parents to fear the
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Lord Blessed is the man who's been taught and has learned not to walk not to stand not to sit in the seat of scoffers in the seat of fools 10 10th and last for these points
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We walk in love You will not You will not be diligent to teach your children as you walk by the way how to walk in him
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You will not walk with your brothers and sisters At least not well and and at least not for long you will not walk in any of these ways
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Unless you've been taught by his own example how to walk in love just like him Ephesians 5 1 & 2 the imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ Also loved us and gave himself for us
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We have to learn how to walk in love As Christ Loved us as Christ showed us how to walk in love
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And this applies from the greatest to the most mundane things Romans 14 15 if your brothers grieved because of your food
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You're no longer walking in love Paul says To learn how to walk in love
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These are the ways that we learn how to walk with God the whole pictures captured so well in Bunyan's great pilgrims progress
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It's a progression. It's a journey towards Celestial City different characters come in at different times.
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Thankfully. We all work through this together It's a picture of growing in knowledge, but also walking through valleys and sufferings missteps and trials mistakes and foolishness
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It's a picture of growing in knowledge and in grace But that grace only comes as we're humbled as we're brought low and therefore more dependent upon God's mercy
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More earnest to seek him more zealous to never lose him Remember when Pilgrim when Christian lost his role of assurance how after he got that back he gripped it so tight
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He would never make that mistake again. He would be diligent. He would walk with God so much more closely
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And some of the whole this is from a commentary written back toward the end of the 1800s Marcus God's and I just Thought this was such a helpful way of understanding what it means to walk with God for you as an individual
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Listen to this We walk with God when he is in all our thoughts Not because we're consciously thinking of him at all times, but just because he's naturally suggested to us by anything we could think of With the godly man.
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Everything has a connection to God And it must be ruled by that connection
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If some change happens in his circumstances He first determines how that change is going to affect his connection with God his relationship with God With his conscience stay clear
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Is he going to be able to live in the way he's been communing with God? And when he falls into sin, he cannot rest until he's resumed his place at God's side and he knows that he's walking with him
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Again, there's a restoration in that relationship This is the general nature of walking with God and here's his definition.
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It's a persistent Endeavor to hold all of our life open to God's inspection and in conformity to his will
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It's a persistent endeavor It's an effort to live my life Open to God so that he can show me any ways that are not pleasing to him and then thereby
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I can repent and confirm to his will this is what it means to walk with God a readiness to give up what we find causes any distance between us and God a
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Feeling of loneliness if we don't have some satisfaction in our fellowship with God a cold feeling when we're conscious of doing things
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That are displeasing to him this walking with God shows our whole life and character
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When that consciousness of God begins to have some weight within our mind We're found instinctively to seek to please him seeking to please him because we're aware he's there.
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He's watching And so lastly Something that Dodds doesn't get to that.
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I think is utterly vital. It's not just our consciousness of God's presence It's not just our desire to have our lives open before him
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It's not just our our pursuit to diligently seek him, but we cannot walk with God unless we're walking with God under the shadow of the cross
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And so one last time I just bring us back to our text All the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God and he was not
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For God took him we just rehearsed so much of what it means for us to walk with God But what we have here in Enoch doesn't include any of that doesn't just simply says that he walked with God There's no information given to us about what that walk looked like It does not say that Enoch walked in mighty zeal before the
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Lord It does not say that Enoch walked doing miracle signs and wonders No teeth no details given and at this point in scriptural revelation, that's very significant.
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It's very important Because our comfort from God's Spirit is in this it's not the strength of Enoch's walk
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It's not the perfect consistency. We might think he had it wasn't that he mustered up effort every morning
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It was not Enoch's walk in and of itself. It was who Enoch was walking with Enoch walked with God.
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That's that's the emphasis. He walked with God And he was not because God took him it's the
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Lord Enoch walked with God and God took him all of the emphasis on God's action God's activity
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God's mercy God's grace and it breaks the bonds of death. It swallows up the grave in victory.
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That's the emphasis God has to act God has to rescue God has to deliver
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God is the one who takes up his people at the last Enoch's raptured life therefore points us all the way forward to Jesus Who's the greater
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Enoch as he was the greater Abel who lived that perfect life of obedience walking perfectly?
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It was perfect zeal before the Lord And yet unlike Enoch at the end of that walk though He should have been taken up into the
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Father's love and exalted there on the spot what happens to our Lord and Savior He's not taken up and embraced
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He's not he's not skipped over from death, even though he requests it when he's holding that cup No, he's he's given to death he's given to die
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And the father doesn't smile upon him when he's Constituted in our sin the father turns from him in horror as he pours out the wrath that's due
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Our sinfulness Christ is delivered over to wrath and only then only then as a result of dying does
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Christ Break the bonds of the grave overcome the last enemy risen and exalted on high
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So it's not enough for us to say we escape the judgment of death by walking with God It's not enough we haven't gone to the gospel with that yet We escape the judgment of death by walking with God trusting in Christ our
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Savior Walking by him according to his spirit communing with him day in and day out giving our hearts to him
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Beating up beating our breasts like the penitent sinner When we do things that are against his will and we walk in waywardness and coldness to him
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This is the lover of our souls This is the one who was turned away and rejected though. He walked better than he not could ever hope to walk
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He was the sinless one and he died a sinner's death. And so because of Christ I can be taken up at the last
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Because of Christ Paul can say lo I tell you a great mystery not all will sleep, but all will be changed
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He says in 1st Thessalonians 4 that at the last like the voice of an archangel the sound of a trump
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The dead will be right risen from their graves from the earth And then all those who are alive still all together will be caught up with him and all the
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Saints in the clouds That's the day that's coming. The Saints don't rise from their graves
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The Saints that still are alive don't rise to be with Christ unless Christ had been the firstfruits
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Unless Christ had died on the cross and been buried in the earth and then broke
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The power of death and of sin he paid the wages of sin Brothers and sisters may
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We truly grasp this glorious. Hope it's so amazing at the end of 1st Thessalonians 4 when when
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Paul says that he says thus We shall always be with the Lord therefore comfort one another with these words
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Comfort one another with these words May we be comforted by this hope may we walk with God Grasping it with assurance.
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We know this will be the case. May our lives be affected by that knowledge May we diligently seek him as we walk by faith knowing?
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He's a reward or may we draw closer to the God who condescends to walk with us It's not amazing to you.
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He walks with you his desires to walk with you He has a greater desire to walk with you than you ever could to walk with him
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So great was that desire he took on flesh and lived a life we could not live He walked in our stead and paid our penalty for our salvation
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And I close with this exhortation from a sermon on this text from George Whitfield one of his revival sermons from thousands
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I Beseech you by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus take heed to yourselves
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Walk closer with your God than you have in the past The nearer you walk with God the more you will enjoy of him whose presence is life itself
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Isn't that a picture from Genesis 5? When you're that close to God death doesn't exist anymore.
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God is life itself the light of life And you'll be the better prepared for being placed at his right hand where there are pleasures forevermore.
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Oh do not follow Jesus far off Think of the love of Jesus Let that love constrain you to keep near to him and though you would die for him.
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Do not deny him Do not keep at a distance from him in any way
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Walk with the Savior Let's pray Father we thank you for your word.
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We thank you for your promises Lord We thank you for these glimpses you give to us
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Lord that you are the one who acts you are the one who undertakes salvation by your grace For your glory
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Lord, there was nothing intrinsic in Enoch For him to earn your favor.
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It was simply your grace Was your grace that gave him new eyes and a new heart ears to hear a heart that longed
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You were with him Lord your desire was toward him as it is with us and we're humbled We're humbled
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Lord because of your love. We're humbled Lord because of our sinfulness Because of how easy it is for to become cold and jaded and indifferent to the realities of the gospel
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How it becomes easy Lord to walk in the well -worn paths of the world instead of trotting those painful steps of the
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Savior Knowing that they lead to joy everlasting. Let us be like him. Let us walk in all these ways
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Lord Let us be as Enoch was Believing that you are and that you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you
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I pray for my own life For my brothers and sisters here that together we would be diligently seeking you
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That we would walk closer to you now than we have in the past. I pray for those in this room
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Lord that have no walk with you We've been walking on a wide path of destruction, but they haven't been walking with you.
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Oh Lord. Give them eyes to see Give them the horror of their judgment Give them the the light of the grace of your free offer
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That all those who come to you will in no wise be cast out. They'll be saved Let them walk in that joy that only belongs to your sons and daughters