WALKING WITH GOD

Part 1

Amos 3:3

Morning Meditation 8/4/17

Amos 3:3, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

There are two men who the Bible says walked with God. The first is Enoch. Genesis 5:22 says, "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:" Then we are told in Genesis 5:24, "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." A very little is said about Enoch in the Old testament. What is said is a wonderful tribute to his relationship with God. There is no doubt that Enoch's walk with God began with a salvation relationship. Amos asks the question, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" No man is saved without repentance. And repentance is where agreement is established between the sinner and God. What God says begins to make sense to us and we come over to His way of thinking and we ask His forgiveness. When God forgives there is a release from the burden of sin and joy fills that guilty spot in our hearts so that our life is filled with the joy of forgiveness. Then out of gratitude for what God has done for us brings us to the place where we want to walk with God. To do that, it is necessary for us to know the walk that pleases Him. Remember what Amos said? "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" That makes the Bible a necessary Book in our lives. Why? Because the Bible is God's thinking on how we should walk. To put it another way, it is God's opinion. And His opinion is always right. Like for instance, you have a problem. You go to the Lord and pray and your prayer goes something like this, "Lord, I have a problem." You explain the problem to Him. And you ask, "Lord, what is your opinion about what I should do in this case?" Then you pick up your Bible and begin to read. I promise you. It may take a while but God will get you to a verse that will leap off the page and you will know that God is giving you His opinion about your situation.. Then, if you are walking with Him, you will do what the verse says.

Then there is another man in the Bible where it definitely says he walked with God. It is found in Genesis 6:9, "These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." When you read the verses that explain Noah's walk with God, you see just how important walking with God can be. Genesis 3:3 says, "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." God set a date on how long He would give man to repent of his ungodliness. God said, "his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." After God had set the date on man's sin and God's judgement He says, Genesis 6:8, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." Grace is the only way God has ever had of saving man. Noah was saved. He knew the Lord and was enjoying the gift of salvation even though the rest of the world was in the quicksand of sin.

Then God gave Noah the directions to build an ark for the saving of his family including the animals. A lot of people don't believe in a world wide flood. But you go on top of the mountains and kick around in the dirt. Do you know what you will find? Sea shells. There are definite signs that at one time the entire earth was covered with water. And it was, according to the Bible.

Both of these men are mentioned in the New Testament confirming that they were in agreement with God.

ENOCH IS MENTIONED IN HEBREWS 11:5-6, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Let's notice the following in these two verses that will give us the secret of Enoch's walk with God.

1. Enoch had faith in God. Faith is where the beginning of our relationship with God begins. Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:"

Faith in the gospel is what is necessary for the new birth to take place. Romans 10:8-13, "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

2. Enoch is a man of whom it is said, "he pleased God." What a testimony to have God say you please Him. Who gave this testimony? It would be a boast if Enoch said this of himself. I believe it is clearly suggested that God gave His own testimony that Enoch pleased Him. God said of Jesus Matthew 3:16-17, "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The verb form in Enoch's testimony is in the perfect tense. This tells us two things. First, that the testimony that he pleased God was in the past. Second, that he pleased God for a long time. The perfect tense is were the subject (in this case Enoch) acted in the past and that past testimony remained until he was caught up or when the Lord took him without seeing death. It is easy to get a good start in the Christian faith, but it is a lot harder to continue to stay true through the trials and tribulations through which one has to go as a Christian. I have seen families turn against a family member that got saved. Now I am not just talking about joining the church. Most of the time, no one will really get into trouble with the rest of the family, by joining the church, even when it is a change from the denomination that they were raised in. But when they get serious about a life change which happens when real salvation takes place, the family gets upset with that. I have heard many testify to the fact that the church in which they were raised never once preached the gospel where they could have been saved. The pastor was liberal and tried to get along with everybody and never once named sin and told people they needed to repent and believe the gospel. When a person goes to a church were they hear the truth preached and they are saved as a result, and they announce to their family that they are changing churches and give as the reason that the church they were raised in never preached the gospel, sometimes it is just about a knock down and drag out. I have seen the hurt in the new converts eyes when they told what happened when they tried to testify to their family.

3. I remember the testimony of Hyman Appleman a great Jewish evangelist. He went to a revival and was saved. He followed the Lord in believer's baptism. When he told his family what had happened, they disowned him. They had his funeral. He came home one day and the blinds were drawn and the doors were locked and they would not let him in the house. His dad wrote him a letter. He told him that they had had his funeral, he was no longer their son, they burned his bed, they had gotten rid of all his furniture, and his dad told him, "When I get through writing this letter I am going to take the pen with which I write and stomp it to pieces." That is an extreme case but I am sure it has happened many times.

Jesus said in Matthew 10:35, "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." Luke 12:53 says, "The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." Jesus knew the hardness of man's heart and what would happen in many cases, so He prepared His disciples for the hardships that they would face for becoming a Christian.

4. The next thing in verse 6 Enoch's faith is explained and used to illustrate the quality of faith that is necessary to please God. It says, "for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." The words "cometh to God" mean that Enoch sought God in prayer and found Him.

5. Enoch is mentioned in the Book of Jude. Jude 1:14 says, "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." This prophecy that Enoch made was not of our Lord's first coming when He died on the cross, it was of His second coming when He comes to redeem the earth and reign for 1000 years on David's throne. So Enoch was a prophet. Here is a man who walked with God and prophesied before the judgement of God came on the world in Noah's day. He is a type of the rapture. The Lord is coming for His saints before the tribulation period and the reign of the Antichrist.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts. This will be continued tomorrow.

In Christ

Bro. White