Hebrews 11:5-6 Walking with God in a Wicked World

What would your epitaph say? For Enoch, a mysterious figure from Genesis, it simply read: "He pleased God." While most of what we leave behind remains unseen—typically just a name and two dates separated by a dash—Enoch broke even this pattern by never experiencing death at all.

Nestled within Hebrews 11's "Hall of Faith," Enoch's extraordinary story teaches us what it truly means to walk with God. This isn't mere religious jargon but a profound relationship concept—two beings moving in the same direction, at the same pace, in complete agreement. Scripture reveals that walking with God involves living in newness of life, walking according to the Spirit rather than the flesh, walking in love as children of light, and walking in truth.

What makes Enoch's testimony particularly relevant is the context of his faithfulness. He lived in a world Genesis describes as thoroughly corrupt, where "every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually." Violence dominated society, wickedness prevailed everywhere, and moral decay had reached its zenith. Sound familiar? Despite these circumstances—or perhaps because of them—Enoch maintained an unwavering walk with God for 365 years until he was simply "taken away."

This biblical account powerfully demonstrates that faithful living isn't determined by external circumstances but by internal commitment. Hebrews reveals the essence of Enoch's success: "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Enoch embodied both elements—living with constant awareness of God's presence while trusting completely in His goodness.

The message for us today couldn't be clearer: regardless of how dark our world becomes, walking with God remains not only possible but the most fulfilling way to live. Through intentional communion with God, alignment with His purposes, and courage to speak truth, we too can please God in our generation. What greater legacy could anyone hope to leave behind?

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Transcript

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All right, Hebrews chapter 11 is where we're currently at. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 5 is where we start. Well, taking a little bit of a diversion here in the book of Hebrews until we find a new book to land on. No rush though, for sure. Hebrews chapter 11, you probably know by now, is is considered the Hall of Faith by many. Brief visit, we would see, as a almost like a museum of those who have lived by faith. And I like that because I like museums. I'm a history fiend. I love it. Another thing I really enjoy is family history. You're like, wow, that's exciting life you have there. I know. I love museums. I love history. I love family history. And sometimes two in the morning, I'll be, you know, searching out, you know, where did those people come from? Where, where did they go? How did they live? You know, and I'm I'm trying to uncover that kind of thing. But what you find most of the time in searching family history is that most of what you know is that you don't know much about those that have gone before. You you find the sad fact that most of what we leave behind is unseen. And what is seen is our name and maybe uh a number with a dash in the middle of it, you know, uh a couple numbers and dashes there. Um, and and that's rough. Well, today we meet an individual in verse five who doesn't even fulfill that. He's got a birth date and a dash, and then just disappears. Enoch, interesting chap there in verse five. Let's read verse five and six, and let's let's look at this guy. By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So here we see a man that you maybe have never heard of before, a man named Enoch. Enoch lived by faith. Now, the interesting thing that we see here, and we'll talk about this, is that he was taken away and did not see death. Interesting, it does not happen much. We'll talk about that, but also notice with Enoch here that he had a testimony in verse five. A testimony that he pleased God. So what we can say about Enoch's life without knowing much is that on his epitaph, it wasn't really a gravestone, right? Because he didn't die, but uh Enoch pleased God, and that's a good epitaph to have. That's a good thing that we want people to say about us. We please God. Now, for the bulk of his story, we need to turn to Genesis chapter five. You can hold your place in in Hebrews, but turn to Genesis chapter five. Genesis chapter five is a chapter that maybe if this was your daily reading and you got to Genesis chapter five, you're already turning from it. You know what I mean? Because if you'll notice, it's a genealogy. Does that stuff just kind of frustrate you in the Old Testament? You find a list of names, names and ages, right? That's what we get in Genesis chapter 5. And as you read this, we're not gonna read the whole thing, um, but as you read this, you see that there's kind of a rhythm to it. Um notice, uh, let's let's start in verse 16 to get some of this rhythm. It's a genealogy. Exciting. After he begot Jared, Machalel, which is fun to say, lived 830 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Mahalel were 895 years and he died. Jared lived 162 years and begot Enoch, our man Enoch. And after he begot Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died. Verse 21. Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with God, verse 24, and he was not, for God took him. So in this rhythm of life, right? This so-and-so lived so many years, begot his son, lives so many years, and then died. Um, in this rhythm of that, we see Enoch kind of breaks the whole thing up, right? Because he didn't die according to this. Over and over again, it's that thing of life. And then one guy stands out, Enoch. Now, a few things we notice here on the surface is that people lived a long time. Never like trip you out here in the book of Genesis. Why did people live so long? Well, it was before red food died, I think, right? Before Twinkies, and the atmosphere was just completely different, right? We don't exactly know what it was like, but people just lived a lot longer. Perhaps the oxygen content was a little bit higher. Um, they lived a long time because after the flood, things go downhill quick. And 120 years, although still a long time to live, becomes more the norm there after the flood. And into our day, that you know, 120 years would be outrageous. Um but here it it goes, they live for a long time. In fact, Methuselah, uh Enoch's son, is the longest uh living, and I think he's 696 years, he lives. Uh, it's it's right around there, but but uh a long old time. Now, that though isn't the most unique part of the story that people lived a long time before the flood. We see in verse 24, our man Enoch, that Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. So strange occurrence happens there as Enoch is just a young man, 365 years old. Um, he is one day taken. He's just no more. And Enoch didn't die like everyone else, he just seems to be taken. What seems to be here a preview of what's known in the New Testament as the concept of the rapture. Um, that one day God will just take an entire generation of believers and will be translated there into to heaven. You can read about this, it's not really the main point of our study today, but 1 Thessalonians 4, 15 through 18, and 1 Corinthians for later study, 15, 51 through 52, it describes this moment when those of us who are alive and remain will be caught up to be with the Lord there in 1 Thessalonians. Um, that it would happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye in 1 Corinthians 15, 51, that all at once a whole generation of believers will be translated in an instant, the amount of time it takes you to blink, translated to heaven. Now, that's not the point of our study, but Enoch here is a preview of that. And if you want to talk more about that afterwards, it could be great conversation. We can do that. But Enoch seems to have gotten his own preview of this event some 5,500 years ago. Um, and it's fascinating. Now, for our study here in Hebrews chapter 11, and stay is we can stay here for a second, we see that he was taken uh up, and Enoch's actually go ahead and look back at Hebrews uh chapter 11, verse 6. Um Enoch's major accomplishment in um verse 5 actually was that he pleased God. He had a testimony that he pleased God, and and God rewards those that please him. Uh, what did it look like? Now we don't have much to go on here. Now flip back to Genesis 5. I like to have you jump back and forth, keep you on your toes, you know. Um, Genesis chapter 5. We don't have much to go on here of this, what this pleasing God thing was all about. But verse 24 says, Enoch walked with God. Enoch walked with God. Now, that idea of walking with God is one that if you've been in the church for a while, you know, as Christian needs, right? Christianese talk that only Christians have amongst each other, right? Because we say things like that. We say things like, hey, how's your walk, man? Uh what, you know, like a I got a sore knee, so it's affecting the way I walk for sure, you know. No, no, no. How's your Christian walk? How's your relationship with God going? Um, we say things like, How long have you been walking with the Lord? Well, since I was a little guy, I came to the Lord and I've been walking with him ever since. Oh, is so-and-so still walking with the Lord? Oh, I hope I heard that person, well, they're not walking with the Lord anymore, and that's a bummer. Um, a walk with God, Christianese, term we probably all know, but it has to do with relationship and a way of life. Our relationship with God. And it's a good picture, right? Although I'm not like the biggest fan of walks, it takes a lot to get me off the couch, honestly. Um, my wife will say, Hey, you want to go for a walk? And usually that's a good thing. I mean, you can have some walks that start with a tense situation, like we need to take a walk, you know. Um, but most of them are good. Hey, you want to go for a walk? Okay, we'll go for a walk. And you go for a walk, and it involves friendship and relationship, calmness. It's usually a relaxed pace. Adam, we saw, walked with God. And it seemed to be almost literally that Adam walked with God in the cool of the garden there. Enoch, we see here in verse 24, walked with God. Noah is one who walked with God. Abraham is known as a guy who walked with God, and many others. Um, it's been pointed out about this walk with God, this relationship with God, then it requires a few things. Amos, the book of Amos, chapter three, verse three, says that can two walk together unless they're agreed. That's important, right? Can you walk with someone if you don't agree on where you're going? You know, one takes off to the left, the other to the left, and the other takes off to the right. You're not walking together if you're not agreed in that. In the destination, right? To walk with someone means that you have to agree on where you're going, or else you won't be going to the same place. To walk with someone, it involves the same path, right? If you walk with someone and you're going down two different paths, you won't be walking together. It involves the same pace, right? If one person is running and the other person, like myself, is walking, you're not walking together. And so this idea of a walk with God is important because it's a relationship that sticks together, goes the same direction as God, the same path as God. God, what do you want me to do? I want to do it. Where do you want to go? I'll go there. And and so this idea of a walk sort of makes sense in our mind because we've all done it. The Bible has a lot to say about walking with God and how we walk. Write down these passages if you want to study it a little bit later, but Psalm 1, verse 1, I'm just gonna read them off, says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. So walking with God will mean that we don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly world around us. Uh, Paul had a lot written about this walk. Uh, Romans 6, 1 says we're to walk in our lives, to live our lives in newness of life in Christ. Romans 8, verses 1 and verse 4 says we want to walk in the spirit and not the flesh. That would be a good study, how to walk in the spirit and not the flesh. Galatians 5, 16, and also verse 25 essentially says the same: walk in the spirit, power to live our life. There's a long string of these walking passages in the book of Ephesians, you can consider. Ephesians 4 1 says, walk worthy of the calling for which you have been called. Ephesians 4 17, don't walk as the Gentiles, the godless nations, uh in the futility of their mind. Uh Ephesians 5.1, Paul says, walk in love. Way to walk and live your life. Ephesians 5.8, walk as children of light. Uh Ephesians 5.15, walk circumspectly or carefully. Colossians 1 10, walk uh worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work. Paul had a lot to say about this. John had some to say about it. In 1 John, he says, uh chapter 1, verse 7, walk in light. Uh he also encouraged them to walk in love. Uh 3 John, last one, verse 3 through 4, John says, walk in truth, the truth of God's word. And he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. So the way we live our life is seen in this. Different ways to walk and live your life in love and light and the truth in the spirit, all these different things. That'd be a great study. But here we just read simply about Enoch, that he walked with God. And this wasn't a one-time thing for Enoch. It seems that he walked with God his entire life. It was a habit that summed his life up. Um, he walked with God, and in the book of Jude, we'll turn there for one more snapshot of Enoch. The book of Jude, it's only got one chapter, and it's right before Revelation. So easy to find, second to last book in the Bible, one chapter. Book of Jude, verse 14. We also read about Enoch here. Now, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesies prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against God, against him. So here in Jude, we we get a little snapshot. It's it's from a traditional uh verse there about Enoch. It's been passed down, but it's scripture, it's right here. And it says about Enoch that he prophesied. He was a guy who prophesied. Now we look at that and go, well, he was a prophet. That makes him a great person for sure. But the idea of prophesying simply means to speak God's word, to say what God says. So we read this here that Enoch told the people in his generation that judgment was coming. Judgment was coming. He even named his son something a little prophetic. Now there's a little bit of discussion of what the name Methuselah means, but many people would say that it means his death shall bring. Methuselah, his death shall bring. And there was something specific being said about Methuselah's name, uh, that something would happen when he died. Now, what happened the year Methuselah died? The flood. Methuselah died the year of the flood. So interesting, Enoch, no idea, he names his son, his death will bring. And the year that Methuselah died, the flood came. So it's possible that Enoch, in this prophetic kind of way, names his son specifically to say, something's coming when this kid dies. You be careful. Judgment was coming. And we read that here in Jude that he was a guy who prophesied to the ungodly. Judgment is coming. Now, something to notice in this while we're passing, Methuselah is also the oldest person ever recorded to have lived. 969 years old. Methuselah. If Methuselah was named his death will bring, why is it significant then that he would live longer than anyone else? Maybe because God is patient. God is patient, not willing that any would perish, Peter tells us, but that all would come to repentance. So how long did Methuselah live? 900 or 600, 960 something years, right? Okay, I got the it's 900 years, right? And you go, God is just patient. Um and and Enoch here then shows himself to be someone who spoke the truth about the world that he lived in. So he pleased God, he walked with God, he told the truth to the world around him. And we get from this in this hall of faith the fact I want to please God, I want to live like that. And we think, well, but see, here's the problem. I live in 2025. Enoch lived way back then. It was a different world. We think that way about time sometimes, don't we? We think, you know, the world was never this evil in my day. Not generally true. I think the world has gotten pretty evil. Uh technologies has really helped us see that, I think, because we see everything in our feed, right? How evil the world is. But the world has always been evil, even in the Victorian age, a very proper age of, you know, you know, society doing the right things. Jack the Ripper lived in the Victorian age. You know what I mean? And so we see this truth in Enoch and in history that the world has always been evil. Is it getting more evil? Maybe not. It's always been evil. I know we've turned a lot, but let's turn one more spot. Genesis chapter six. Important for us to see before we go. Genesis chapter six. After this genealogy that we read, we come to Noah's life. We'll look at him next week. But we come to Noah's life, and we find out in Genesis chapter six what the world was like in Noah's day, and consequently in Enoch's day as well. Verses one through four are very interesting, and lots of books have been speculated and written on this is speculation. But there seems to be a lot of spiritual weirdness going on in verse one through four. What is it? I don't exactly know, but some spiritual weirdness of the sons of God seeing the daughters of men having children that were giants in those days. Interesting weirdness, right? But look at more plainly in verse five. Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man from the earth, whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things, birds of the air, for I'm sorry that I made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Umtice verse 12. And the Lord looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt or rotten, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. So we get a picture of earth during Enoch's days. It's evil. Every thought and tent of man's heart is evil only. The world is violent. So picture it. Enoch going outside could say, it's a dangerous place out there. I could get beat up if I step outside. I could get killed. I mean, to prove the point, we studied Cain and Abel, uh, which was about a thousand years before Enoch, right? Uh and in Cain and Abel's day, 25% of the earth's population were murderers, right? That's a pretty tough statistic. One out of four people, right, murdered someone. And so the earth was just evil. And in here in chapter six, it's saturated evil. And it says it's corrupt. It's this idea of something you look in the back of your fridge and go, how long has that been there? And it's just totally consumed with rottenness. That's the world in Enoch's day. It was violent. So we look at Enoch's world and we look at our world, and we say, you know what? We have a lot in common. It's possible to walk with the Lord in a totally wicked and violent world. In a world where you look at your newsfeed, right? I don't even know why I look at my newsfeed, but I do. The algorithm, all it shows me is people getting beat up every day. You know what I mean? People getting pushed onto the tracks of the train, you know, and and you know, firebombings and wars and all these things. And I look and go, you know what? The world is violent, and the world is filled with evil. But Enoch shows us you can walk with God in a world like that. You can live your life following God in your family, right? You can raise your family in a godly way in a fallen world. Um, and so we understand that as we look at Enoch. We understand the way God feels about these things as we look at the violence and the wickedness. What does God feel about this? He's gonna judge it. Uh, Enoch told his world, judgment is coming. Now, interesting, Enoch's words of judgment that we read in Jude don't really point to the flood that was coming. There was judgment on the whole world that God would finally judge things. And really, it points to a time that's still yet to come, right? That's God's heart. I will judge evil, but I have a lot of grace, is what God would say. I have 900 something years of methuselah. Why? Because he doesn't want anyone to perish, but he wants all to come to repentance. And so we look at Enoch in this life and and and a walk with God. It's a life that tells the truth out of love and compassion for people. You don't have to go this way. This isn't okay. Don't live this way. Here's God. He's just, but he's so loving, he's so forgiving, he's so gracious that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So God hates sin, but he absolutely loves sinners. He came all this way, Jesus was born and lived and died and rose again to save us, to give us a new life that we could walk with him. That's a great message to have in this dark world. And it all comes from just this life of walking with God, getting to know him more and more every day, making your decisions right alongside him. God, where do you want to go? God, what do you want to do in this situation? God, I want to follow you. You walk with God and you follow his heart too. So, God, thank you for this example of Enoch, and we understand very clearly that he lived in a world that was just as evil and wicked as ours, probably even more. And yet, for his life, he followed you and he walked with you. He spent time talking to you and getting to know your heart. He shared the truth with his neighbors, but but he also shared uh just your love for them. I'm positive he did. God help us to walk with you in our lives. God, give us your spirit so that we would have your heart. Help us to know who you are and what you say. God uh help us to live in these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.