A Man Who Walked with God

In this part of the sermon: Martin sets the stage for Enoch's life by reviewing Genesis 4 and 5, highlighting the emergence of the 'seed of the serpent' (Cain's line, culminating in Lamech's godlessness) and…

Martin uses the analogy of a picture frame and its matting to describe the threefold perspective (Jesus, Genesis 3:15, 2 Timothy 3:14-17) through which biblical history and biography should be read and preached, setting the context for understanding Enoch.

Now, in our initial study yesterday, I suggested under the imagery or analogy of a picture frame and its border or matting that biblical history and biography ought to be read, studied, and preached in a threefold perspective. It ought to be read, studied, and preached in the light of Jesus. In the light of Genesis 3.15, secondly, in the light of 2 Timothy 3.14-17, and in the light of the principles exemplified by our Lord in His use of biblical history and biography. Now, as we begin to look at the biblical portrait of Enoch, with that triangular frame and matting setting off that portrait, i...

0:33 - 1:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I say it is a bitter, genealogical record because it records the death of Adam and all of the sons of Adam, and that horrible threat pronounces its fulfillment in the reality of death.

Martin uses the experience of losing a parent, especially one with great longevity, to help the audience understand the 'bitter sting' of death in an age where people lived for centuries, making Enoch's translation even more remarkable.

I say it is a bitter, genealogical record because it records the death of Adam and all of the sons of Adam, and that horrible threat pronounces its fulfillment in the reality of death. And in those days when people were living seven, eight, and nine hundred plus years, death would have an even more bitter sting. Think of the tremendous, extended families formed by that longevity. The massive network of relations, and with those relations hallowed memories sanctifying associations only to have the tallest men eventually toppled by the sharp ax of death. Some of us who have experienced the death...

7:20 - 8:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He was that we walked with God until God himself becomes your chief delight with God.

Martin uses the simple act of two people walking together to illustrate the necessity of agreement and shared direction in 'walking with God,' implying submission to God's path.

If you only have the actings of and still make you will have with him until you know delight in the company of God. But then secondly, Enoch walked with God because he not only had delight in the company of God, but he had a determination to means to meet out here on the. You go that away and I go together. It cannot be said that I walked with you or that you walk with me. One or the other must say, hey, let's go this way.

20:37 - 22:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Every temptation is a fork in the road.

He uses the constant chasing and conflict between ants and birds to illustrate the tediousness of disagreement, reinforcing the idea that companions in walking must be in harmony.

Every bird that splits a tree. It's the most tedious thing. They're constantly here and chase the other. If you are to walk together, they're your companion in walking.

24:14 - 24:40 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Every temptation is a fork in the road.

Every enticement and temptation in a believer's walk with God is described as a 'fork in the road,' where one must choose God's path of righteousness over sin.

And if it is said of Enoch that he walked with God and did this for a hundred years, surely the man by the grace of God. It was his enemy in God and his company detested that would take him away from God. Now. I want to amplify this every enticement in the walk of a man or woman, boy or girl with God is a fork. Every temptation is a fork in the road.

24:42 - 25:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your heart regarding mental adultery in situations like mixed bathing; recognize and confess sin.

Martin uses the specific example of mixed bathing at the conference pool to illustrate a 'fork in the road' where mental adultery can be committed, challenging young men and women on sexual purity and modesty.

And there's some of you. Among men who know from your past experience that you cannot be in that kind of an intimate mixed bathing situation where young women are not just in the water, half naked, but out on the fringe of the pool and walking around with this much of their thighs showing and in the activities, their cleavage showing. You know, you can't be in that situation without committing mental adultery. You know it from your past experience who said adultery already and adultery, I would be willing to say without being afraid of being contradicted, has been committed mentally by perhaps...

27:21 - 28:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin applies the concept of detesting sin by vividly illustrating 'forks in the road' where believers must choose God's path over fleshly desires. He uses the example of mixed…

Martin refers to himself as a 'happily married man' who has known the 'delight of the marriage bed' for 37 years, using his experience to assert that even he recognizes the pool as a 'fork' and that men struggle with lust.

If a happily married man was drunk from the well of his own wife for 37 years and knows the delight, see, of the marriage bed and all. Knows that pool is a fork.

31:08 - 31:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Spend time alone with God, crying out to Him, rather than indulging in activities that lead to sin, and you will find fullness of joy.

Martin shares his personal testimony of being saved at age 17 and, despite growing up by the ocean, choosing to give up mixed bathing because he tasted a greater delight in God, countering the idea that he is an 'old man' spoiling fun.

And I want to tell you something. I'm not talking as an old man who, quote, had his fun and now is trying to spoil yours. When God saved me at age 17 as a kid who grew up on Long Island Sound, the Connecticut side, whose earliest childhood memories are those of being carried by my dad and thrown in the water. When I was about five, saying, son, it's time you learned to swim.

34:59 - 35:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the challenging context in which Enoch walked with God: an age of relatively little spiritual light, a society of increasing wickedness and moral degeneration…

Martin notes God's emphasis that the arts (music, sculpture, engineering) came from the godless line of Lamech, highlighting the secularized brutality and despising of marriage in that society.

Nonetheless, there is no indication that there was such a geographical separation of the two seeds. That Enoch did not feel the pressure of that secularized, but in many ways cultured society of Lamech. It's always fascinated me. And I still don't have the answer.

40:46 - 41:07 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the challenging context in which Enoch walked with God: an age of relatively little spiritual light, a society of increasing wickedness and moral degeneration…

He uses these contemporary references to describe the body worship and attraction based on physical form rather than character in Enoch's age, drawing a parallel to modern society.

It was Jack LaLanne day.

43:58 - 44:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's nothing but stinking rotten pride. There is no new thing under the sun.

Martin details the common challenges of raising children through various stages ('terrible twos,' 'frightening fours,' pre-adolescence, puberty, zits, wrong crowds) to illustrate the 'ordinary domestic pressures' Enoch faced while walking with God.

How many? How many go through the quote terrible twos and the frightening fours and then the convoluted pre-adolescence and then the zits come and they think they're ugly and feel the whole world is looking at the latest zit that comes out on the end of the nose.

45:39 - 46:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Mothers, teach your daughters domestic duties and responsibilities, rather than treating them like queens.

He uses the humorous but relatable example of a wife experiencing PMS to illustrate the real, sometimes difficult, domestic realities Enoch likely navigated while maintaining his walk with God.

Maybe his wife had an intense case of PMS. And she went wacko once a month. Five days before her period, from the most sweet, reasonable woman, she went out of her tree.

49:03 - 49:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the challenging context in which Enoch walked with God: an age of relatively little spiritual light, a society of increasing wickedness and moral degeneration…

Martin describes children's subtle expressions of disinterest or defiance during family worship, showing how parents must discern and address these attitudes, illustrating the challenges of raising a godly family.

He walked with God. And they were all by nature fallen daughters of Adam. They could lie as well as anybody else's kids. They could come to family worship with that look.

49:48 - 50:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing to God. For he that cometh to God, and you can't walk with him until you come to him, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.

Martin recounts linking arms with church members, explaining that this natural act of fellowship is based on a pre-existing relationship of friendship and acceptance, analogous to God's acceptance of Enoch before they 'walked together.'

I saw two of our own church members yesterday walking over, I think, to supper or the evening meal. And it was just as natural to walk between the couple and stick my arms out. And they linked arms and we walked together. Why?

57:59 - 58:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Fathers, be ashamed if you allow your daughters to expose flesh that contributes to men's lust; impose standards of modesty.

Martin shares a personal story about confronting his daughters about their attire before going to the mall, explaining his reasoning for requiring modest dress to prevent contributing to men's lust, serving as a direct application for fathers.

First day. My daughter said they were going to go over to the mall and they had begun to be young ladies and no longer sticks and began to have hips and breasts and said, dad, we're going over and mum to the wall. I said, dress like that. You are.

64:36 - 64:51 Read in full sermon