The Walk of Faith - Part 4 — Larry Ainsworth

Well, I can truthfully say for myself that I really enjoyed the singing. You just touched my heart with your singing. You've done beautifully in congregational singing. I was especially thrilled with the specials that we have, especially the young ladies as they sang for us this morning.

It's been a good time, and I think we ought to thank our brother Glenn for the good job he's been doing with the song leading, and we do appreciate it, Glenn. And I think, Glenn, since they have been doing such a good job singing, let's not go out and knock on doors in the morning.

No, really, when you say things like that, I'm surprised you've still got that much hair on your head. See, I made that mistake several years ago. That's why I don't have so much hair. It's been good to meet so many of you here this weekend.

I'm encouraged in the conversations that we've had. Some of you have kind of, I don't know whether you're putting me on notice or what, but it was interesting this morning, I walked out and one brother said to me, and I know what he meant, but it was just the way he said it, he said, thanks for the sandpaper.

And it took me a second to grasp what he was saying. And I hope I haven't been abrasive to you. I hope it's been the word of God that has spoken to your hearts. Now I know this dear brother was telling me that it was, I don't know how many of you have ever worked with wood, but you know sometimes when you, especially if you've ever worked with cedar, that sometimes it loses its fragrance.

But you just take a little light grain sandpaper and you go in there and you buff it up a little bit and that smell and the aroma comes right back again to be released over and over and over again. And sometimes we do need a little sandpaper in our lives.

You know, the Lord is working on us, you know, as they take precious gems, they take them from the soil and they work with them. We were talking earlier this morning about how the Lord takes a gem and he polishes it.

He polishes it till it's just perfect. And then he takes it and he puts it in just the right setting. So they'll give forth and all of its brilliance that all those around may see it and enjoy it. And we're like that Malachi, the third chapter tells us about the Lord is making up his jewels and what it is to come under the hand of our living God and to be polished up by his hand.

Had a good day. I think some of you got a little sun like I did, my if the glare is too great for my forehead, you'll just have to put on your sunglasses. But I didn't realize until somebody coming in said, well, you really got a sunburn and noticed that we're going to continue on in our studies this evening.

Christ’s Teaching on Heavenly Treasures

We're going to study a very interesting man before we get into the study of the man I'd like to see. I'd like to read with you some of the precepts that this man understood very clearly from our Lord's Sermon on the Mount.

Will you turn to Matthew, the sixth chapter, please? Matthew, chapter six, going to read some lengthy portions with you this evening. You might be encouraged in the word of God, Matthew, chapter six, and we'll begin reading it.

Verse 19. Do not lay up for yourself treasures upon earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters. For either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will hold to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life as to what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor for your body as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food and the body than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you being anxious can add a single cubit to his life span?

And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.

But if God so raised the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious in saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or with what shall we clothe ourselves?

For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Let's just take another moment to speak with the Lord in prayer. Father, we again would come into your presence this evening.

We thank you for each and every heart that is here. We would pray again, our Father, for thy Spirit to work among us to speak to our hearts concerning those things that we need to hear, that truly our lives might be one that glorify and honor his precious name.

We commit ourselves to you for this evening, and as we look into your word, our Father, we pray that truly we might be spoken to by thyself. For this we would pray in Jesus' name, amen. Tonight I'd like to share with you about a man who walked with God.

Enoch’s Walk With God

Super interesting man. It's in the Old Testament, Genesis chapter 5. We read there, please. Genesis, the fifth chapter. Genesis chapter 5, verse 21. And Enoch lived sixty-five years and became the father of Methuselah.

Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

Now, if you will notice in this portion of Scripture that it starts out with Adam. You'll notice in verse 5, Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and he died. You notice in verse 8, Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and he died.

You read in verse 11, and so the days of Enoch were nine hundred and five years and he died. Verse 14, and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years and he died. We notice that all through this portion of Scripture at the end of each man, it says he lived and he died.

But in the midst of this portion, we read of a man who lived three hundred and sixty-five years, but he did not die. For this man walked with God, and he pleased God, and God took him. What a commentary on a man's life.

We read four verses in the Old Testament concerning this man called Enoch. We read in the New Testament four verses concerning Enoch, eight verses in all in the Holy Writ of God, but eight dynamic verses concerning a man's life that lived three hundred and sixty-five years here upon this earth.

And in those eight verses, I think we have some wonderful lessons for us to learn. For in the portion that we read in Matthew, as our Lord stood on the mount and taught his disciples and the multitudes that followed, he said some very interesting things.

One of the most interesting things that he said was, lay not up for yourselves treasures here upon this on this earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where nothing can touch them. Absolutely nothing will have any impact upon them.

The question that we ask ourselves today, where am I laying up treasures? But see, the Lord went on because he knew us and he says, listen, what about your heart? For where your heart is, there's where your treasure is going to be.

Where are we thinking of today? One of the things that you can tell about Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp is that there are a group of men that are committed to laying up treasures in heaven. They are committed to see that souls have the opportunity to be fed the word of God for eternity sake, that the saved may come here and enjoy the word of God and be built up for the unsaved to come in the camps and to be spoken of, of the eternal security that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, that there is salvation in no other but Jesus Christ.

They are committed to this. We see it by the work of their hands. We see it by the work of the ladies who labor day in and day out to see that this camp is fed and cared for. We see the men as they labor in the various aspects to keep this camp going.

What a monument of service to the Lord, the living God. And yet these men are not looking for worldly acclaim, for they have seen the vision that God has laid down in his word to his son as he spoke at the Sermon on the Mount.

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. One of the things that I think Enoch grasped hold of hundreds and hundreds of years before the man of Calvary ever set foot upon this earth. He knew what God expected of him because he walked with God.

What an interesting commentary. He walked with God. Our question is, how do I walk with God? Does it mean that God came down and took Enoch by the hand and said, let's go for a walk? Now there are times in my life, my wife will say to me in the evening, she'll say, honey, let's go for a walk.

And we get up, put on our walking shoes and we take off and walk a couple miles. And we enjoy the time together. We have time to talk, the time of fellowship together to discuss things that are upon our hearts and just to be with one another.

Enoch walked with God. Why? Why do I walk with my wife? Do I need the exercise? Oh yes, I need the exercise. You definitely can see that. But what is the point of going for a walk? It's because we want to.

We want to be with one another. We want to share our lives together. Enoch walked with God because he saw in that relation something so special that he didn't want it any other way. For he saw in that time of fellowship together, there was something there that nothing in this world could offer.

Not a walk with his wife, not a walk with his son Methuselah, not a walk with his father Jared, nor a walk with his grandfather, I always have a problem with this, Mahalalal, nor with his great-grandfather Kenan, nor with his great-great-grandfather Enoch.

For these men were all alive during the life of Enoch and he saw them and he talked with them and he fellowshiped with them. I wonder what it would have been like to go back, if we could, and talk with these men.

These men that were the grandfathers, the great-grandfathers, the great-great-grandfather of this man Enoch. Or to talk to Methuselah, his son. Or to talk to Mrs. Enoch and say, what kind of man is this man Enoch?

I wonder what they would have said. I wonder what their commentary would have been on his life. Can you just see his son Methuselah? Well, what kind of father have you got there in your dad, Enoch? He's special, very special.

There's something about him that's completely different than all of the other guys' dads. He's got something in his life that speaks. It has something to do with the God that we know. What about his father, Jared?

I wonder, if we had asked him, what of your son, Enoch? Jared, what do you think? Would he have said, oh, he's a rare gem, a very rare gem. Or would he have said, well, I don't know, he doesn't quite meet my expectations.

He's preoccupied all the time. It just seems like he isn't really here. Or did he understand his son, Enoch? Well, that's all something that would be plain supposition. We don't know. But the important thing is that we read in the Word of God that Enoch did walk with God, and he was a very rare person.

Following God’s Direction

What does it mean to walk with God? Well, first of all, when we say we're going to walk with somebody, there has to be an agreement as to the direction. Now, it says, Enoch walked with God. It doesn't say God walked with Enoch.

It says, Enoch walked with God. Now, let me ask you this. If you just think about that statement, who do you suppose decided the direction of the walk? Absolutely. It wasn't a question. Well, I wonder which direction we should go.

It wasn't a physical direction. It was a direction in life. We were to ask you today, write me a few sentences. Tell me about the direction that God has taken you in your life. I wonder how many of you could pick up a piece of paper in a matter of a few seconds, begin to write down the direction that God is leading you.

Or would we have to sit and say, well, the direction that God is taking me. We may have to ponder it a while. We may have to think about it. Maybe we can come to no kind of decision. We might say, why is that?

Is it possible that we have not allowed ourselves the opportunity to let God lead us, or to take us in a direction, that we're busy trying to find out for ourselves what we want to do, where we want to go.

Some years ago, I had the joy of working for our company in a civic project, and it was doing vocational guidance for the Omaha public school system. And it was always a joy to go into the various schools, high schools and junior high schools, and start talking to the young people about, what do you plan on doing with your life?

And I was sometimes amazed at how many would say, what are you thinking about doing with your life? Got any direction? Sometimes it was juniors and seniors in high school, and I was always amazed at, especially in the senior highs, how few of them knew of a direction for their lives.

But yet I'd go to the junior high schools and talk to them, and how many of them knew exactly what they wanted to do. And I thought, what happens between junior high and senior high to change their minds?

Is it that there are so many things beginning to crowd in on, what is the best thing to do? I've made this little discovery in my own life, that if I allow God the opportunity to show me the direction, it's much greater and much more rewarding and much more fruitful than if I decide for myself.

Yes, when we walk with God, we have to form an agreement with God that we'll go His direction. We also notice that walking means that there is not a static position. We can't stand still if we're walking.

For in order to walk, there has to be movement. It's not static. It's moving. And when you're with God, there is no standing still. God will not allow one of His children to stand still. You must walk.

Now, you may walk dragging your feet. You may go forth. And you may hate every moment that God shows you the direction that you're going. But God is merciful. And many times, He takes us down paths that we wouldn't choose.

We don't want to go that way. I wonder how many of the disciples, when the Lord said, as we discussed the other morning, when He told them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I wonder if our Lord Jesus Christ would have given to them.

Now, men, I think you ought to know this, that at the end of your lives, all of you, all of you but one will meet a violent death. I wonder how many of them would have been eager to climb out of the boats.

How many of them would have been eager to leave the tax collector's booth. I wonder if they would have understood and desired still to follow Him. It's moving. But yet those men, in the three years that they walked here upon the earth with Him, they were men that changed the course of the world because they walked with the Lord.

We see how Peter, when he stood up and spoke, thousands were changed. We think of John who sat down and penned the gospel and how many through the ages have read the gospel of John and with tear-filled eyes and hearts that have been humbled, they bow down before the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and know that Jesus is Savior.

And how many of us have rejoiced as we read the revelation of Jesus Christ, knowing that these things are to come to pass but we shall be with Him for all eternity. Yes, walking with God is not static.

It's moving. It's directional. And it has a purpose. You know, when my wife and I go for a walk, we have a purpose in our walk. We want to be with one another. We want to share some things. I've often wondered in this walk that Enoch had with God.

Enoch, why do you want to walk with God? What's the purpose of walking with God? I'm sure that Enoch would come with these words. Larry, I can't find words to explain this to you. But know this, that in walking with God, He has revealed to me Himself.

He has revealed to me things about Himself that I cannot explain to another soul. You will just have to know that it is something so special that it always bids me to continue. I never want it to end.

I want to go on and on and on. And right there is the answer. The walk with God that Enoch had was so pleasing to God that God, one day, as Enoch was walking, the communion was so great that He was gone.

He was not, for He was translated. He was with God, and the communion continues on, lo these thousands of years. Isn't that wonderful to think of? Enoch was so blessed, even while he was here on earth, he walked with God.

And it was such a great form of fellowship, such a great communion. He was so close to God, and God loved him so much and was so pleased with him that He just took him to Himself. He would not pass through the portals of death.

He would not see the decay of the grave. He was one day there, and he was gone. I wonder if we would go back and talk to his family about what happened to Enoch. Well, we don't really know. All we know is that one day he was with us, and one day he was gone.

I don't know whether Enoch had laid down ahead of time some kind of explanation to them of a premonition that he would one day be gone or whatever. I don't know what kind of preparation he made with his wife or his son Methuselah or talked to his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather and all the rest or his neighbors around him.

I don't know what explanation was given, but I have it on the basis of the inspired writer of God, Moses, that Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Now, maybe you have some answers, and you can share them with me later.

But the thing that we see here is that Enoch enjoyed his walk with God because it had a purpose. He enjoyed that purpose so much, allowing God to reveal himself to him. He understood that this walk with God developed a relationship that was so special for it was a commitment to God.

Commitment in the Walk of Faith

One of the things that speaks to our lives as Christians is this, that when we walk with God, it makes us want to commit more and more of our life to him. That as we walk down the pathway of life with our Lord, and as he reveals himself to us, we want to give more and more of ourselves to him, that the communion and the relationship may grow and prosper more and more, not for ourselves, but for his name's sake.

Now, the word of God speaks to us in many ways about our walk. As we go through the word of God, we read these words, walk before me in righteousness. We see that we are also exhorted to walk in his ways, in his statutes, in his laws, in his paths, in his ordinances, in his instruction.

We are also commanded walk after the Lord. We're commanded to walk in the light of the Lord. But we see that Enoch and another man called Noah were blessed by God for they walked with God. Enoch understood the harmony that we see in Matthew chapter 6.

He saw the harmony. He saw what our Lord meant when he spoke to us, even before our Lord was here on earth. So many things are brought out in the Sermon on the Mount. We read quite a portion. I wonder, in Enoch's walk with God, do you think he was concerned about laying up treasures here on this earth?

I think not. He was concerned about laying up treasures in heaven. For he knew there was eternity. He knew there was eternity. He understood when the Lord spoke of watch the eyes. Understand your eyes.

You know, it's interesting. I always told my wife, I said, the most beautiful thing on earth to watch, the most interesting thing to watch is people. I'm a people watcher. I love to watch people. I love to look at people.

People are wonderful. I tell you, if you want an education, look at people. Look at eyes. Eyes tell you a lot of things. It's one of the things they especially teach in counseling. They say you have to look at the counselee's eyes.

Because if the counselee's eyes are downcast, it signals you something. If they're looking at the ceiling, it signals something. If they're darting back and forth this way, it signals you something. These things are all things that we pick up on.

And they help us to be better counselors. To understand what's going on inside. But you know, you look at eyes. Some eyes, you know, this little while ago, Glenn was trying to say, you know, I don't see something on your face.

I don't see the smile on your lips. Or the gleam in your eyes that say, I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to him. Not for time alone, but for all eternity. You know, Enoch understood that. He understood what it was to belong to God.

And he wouldn't have it any other way. For he walked with God. You know, it would have been interesting if Enoch would have only walked with God for 65 years. You know, we could have said, I understand that.

But you know, it says that Enoch was 65 years old. He had Methuselah. And he walked with God 300 years. Now that's a fair piece to walk. That's older than you and I are, Glenn. Almost, that's right. 300 years.

I'd like to ask, how many of you here think you'll reach the age of 300? Glenn? Lance is working on it. But we know that in his flesh, we can almost rest assured we're not going to reach 300. But we know that if our Lord Jesus Christ was to come in the clouds tonight and say, come up higher.

Come up. Your work of service is done. Age would mean absolutely nothing, would it? Because time would stop for us. Because eternity would begin. And eternity has no time. That's what I'm waiting for.

I'll be so glad to be done with schedules. You know, we're scheduled to death. I don't know about where you work, but you know you go to school, you got bells that ring to tell you to go to this room and bells that tell you to go to that room.

I remember all through school, I said, man, I hate bells. So when I got out, I said, I'm going into the workforce, I'm not going to have to worry about bells anymore. That was great. Except I went to work, and the first place I went to work, they didn't have bells, they had buzzers.

And then it was a buzzer to tell you to go to work, a buzzer to tell you to stop and take a break, a buzzer to tell you to go back from break and go back to work, a buzzer to tell you to go to lunch, a buzzer to tell you to come back from lunch, a buzzer to tell you to go to break again and come back, and buzzer finally, go home.

Boy, I was glad. No more buzzers. Always schedules. Day in and day out. This schedule has to be met by this such and such a time. This schedule has to be here and here and here. I told my wife, I said, I've never looked forward to retirement before.

But I said, you know, it's getting on the horizon. And I'm not that, I'm still not that old. I started young and I said I'm going to quit early. But you know, I said, that's one of the things is it schedules.

Boy, I said, that's one thing about when we get to heaven. No more buzzers. No more production schedules. Praise the Lord. If nothing else. That'll make heaven worthwhile, wouldn't it? That's just a little humor there if you want to call it that.

Sick humor, I think Bill would call it. But you know, as we look at the life of Enoch, we see so many things that are important to us or should be important to us. And he understood this relationship was a commitment of his to God.

But you know, more importantly, I think Enoch understood this, that God was committed to him. Do you believe tonight? Do you believe tonight in your heart that God is committed to you? You might say, certainly, I believe that.

He sent his son to die for me. How could you even think to question me upon that area? Well, I believe that for years. And it hasn't been that many years ago that I finally understood what it meant that God was committed to me as an individual.

God loves me. You know, we sang in Sunday school. All of you have. I'm sure at some time or other. Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Sang that, didn't you? Did it make any impression?

Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me. Yes, I can accept that. I remember reading John. Yes, Jesus does love me. We have a head knowledge that God loves us. But love demands commitment. Love demands commitment.

You know, it's always interesting to me when I draw young people into my room to counsel with them, especially about their upcoming marriages. And my first question to them is always, what does marriage mean to you?

What does marriage mean to you? A lot of them will look for a few moments. And those words, sometimes very, very heavy upon their lips. Because we don't like those words. It means being committed. Not committed like to a jail or to a hospital.

But you know, committed to each other. Good. Why should you get married? Oh, that's easy. I love her. Or I love him. Great. That's wonderful. Glad to hear that. I don't read that as a basis for marriage in the Word of God.

You don't? No, I don't. What's the basis of marriage? Uh, hmm. What God wants us to. God tell you? Yeah, uh, well. It's interesting. Boy, actually, that's what I love about counseling. It's great. Because boy, when you're in the driver's seat, you can drive all over.

But I'll tell you, they know what I'm getting at. It's to bring them around. You know, sometimes we have all these little pets saying, why do you want to get married? Oh, because we love each other. Is that a reason for marriage?

Not according to God's Word. Does God want you to be married to one another? So many of you young people are thinking of life partner. How many of you have really committed to before the Lord? Lord, is this the one you want me to marry?

Sometimes I almost have to smile when I talk with young people. I had one young man. It's a friend of mine. He's told me four different times, I know this is the one the Lord wants me to marry. Last time I told him, I said, are you sure?

Now, why would I ask him a question like that? Because you see how easy the heart is deceived? How easy it is for us to manipulate the Word of God and not to really have it and possess it as our own? Enoch possessed the relationship that he walked with God and he loved God and he was committed to God and he knew that God had that same commitment to him, that he loved him and wanted to commune with him and be with him.

And oh, the divine communion that went on as those two went through life together. It was precious in the eyes of Enoch and it was more precious in the eyes of God because God said, come up, Enoch. Come up.

Let's perfect the relationship. And wouldn't that be great if God was to write over our relationship a standard or a title? Would it be that Larry pleased God? I often wonder what's going to be the title over our relationship?

What about your relationship? Can God say that of you? Can He say that of you? That your walk with Him is pleasing to Him? I oftentimes wonder, does God today ever take people as they're walking through life and their relationship with God is so great?

The one day God just says, I want Him to be with me. I don't want Him to have any more with the world. I just want to bring Him home. And He takes them. I've often wondered. Now, I know that there have been many of His children that He has loved and He's loved their relationship.

And I firmly believe that He took them home. He allowed them to pass through the portals of death. But nonetheless, they came home. I just finished not too long ago reading an excerpt in the life of Dawson Trotman, one of the founders of the Navigators Movement here in the United States.

A man who touched the lives of hundreds and hundreds, yea, maybe even thousands of young people throughout the world. And how that man loved his Lord. And how the Lord spoke to him in just a few days before his death.

He said to his beloved wife, I feel the Lord calling me. I may not be with you much longer. And I think it was but three days later, Shrew Lake, New York. Large Lake. A boating accident. And Dawson Trotman went home to be with his Lord.

I think of others. We've all read the stories. Or if you've ever read Fox's Book of Martyrs. How you can read that book and not have tears come to your eyes. As we think of the yea, the hundreds and hundreds and thousands that have given their lives.

They went through great sacrifice. And God took them home. What are they going to have to give to their beloved Savior? And he says to you, to you, my special ones, the martyr's crown. To the eleven. The martyr's crown.

To the thousands. Since then. They will receive the martyr's crown. For this, they will have to give back to him. Enoch walked with God because he loved God. It was a sweet commitment between the two.

Enoch’s Prophecy of Coming Judgment

But you know, we have recorded in the Word of God some very interesting words. Turn back to a little book before the revelation of Jesus Christ called the Book of Jude. Remember that Jude is writing to us concerning the apostate.

He also has some interesting things to say. And he quotes. And about these also, Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied saying, Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly.

All of the ungodly of all of their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which the ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Against the Lord of life. The seventh generation from Adam.

Stop and think about that commentary on Enoch. Adam was the first. Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam. Now, if we go across the other way, the seventh, we see another man, an ungodly one by the lineage of Cain.

There was the ungodly. For we see that in the world there was the ungodly, even in the time of the seventh generation from Adam. Mankind had just had a good start. And we notice that sin was all already becoming rampant in the world.

Do we think that Enoch had an easier time of walking here upon this earth than we do today? You know, I always used to think when I was I think over and hear all these things about all these people who walk with God and who did these things, even in life as we knew them, I thought, yeah, but they don't face the temptations and the trials and the things like I do.

Now, they've got it easier, you know. Somehow, God has spared them from all these things. But I wonder, do you think that Enoch had it any easier in his day than we do today? Do we think that Satan was any more subtle in his tactics than he carried any less during the days of Enoch than he does for us today?

The intensity of his purpose was great. It's always been to destroy man's relationship with God. It was that in the Garden of Eden and it has not changed. Do we believe that Satan was any easier on Enoch than he is on us?