A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Today on A Daily Walk, be encouraged to walk with God, just as Enoch did long ago. When it says that Enoch was taken by the Lord, it means he did not see death. Only two men in scripture did not see death: Enoch and Elijah.

The Lord took them home uniquely. And as we walk with the Lord, I believe that we are assured that we will be taken by the Lord, whether he comes for us in death or he comes for us in life. He's coming for us. So, friend, if I can encourage you to follow the example of Enoch and walk with God. Walk with God.

Guest (Male): Jesus is coming soon. Judgment is coming to this planet. So, how are we to be living in light of that? Simply put, we are to walk with God. And that's modeled for us by Enoch, and we're about to hear about his life, ministry, and an interesting prophecy that he gave recorded for us in Jude. Today and Monday on A Daily Walk, Pastor John Randall will be finishing up our study in Jude, a series we're calling Contending for the Faith.

John Randall: In writing his epistle, Jude did his best to prepare the church to be able to contend for the faith. And the reason is because there was a spiritual battle all around them and relentless attacks were coming from false teachers. Jude gave an ongoing and even detailed description of these false teachers by linking their behavior to Old Testament examples of unbelief, of rebellion, and immorality.

He also pointed out their insubordination and irreverence for authority. And he made sure to expose their life and their teachings that were similar, he said, to the destructive examples in the Old Testament of Cain, of the prophet Balaam, and the sons of Korah. Then Jude compared these false teachers to five illustrations that could be observed in nature. They looked very promising, but they never really delivered.

But now we come to another interesting passage in the book of Jude that requires clarification. And so this evening, it's important that you pay close attention. I don't want to lose you on this because I'm going to go a little bit deeper, a little more in-depth, which I pray will bring us to a clearer understanding of what it is that Jude is seeking to communicate.

Again, keep in mind first of all, context. The verses after, the verses before, you keep scripture in context and that's the best way to understand scripture: reading it in its context. And so in the context of what we've been reading, he's talking about false teachers. He's talking about what they act like. He's talking about what to look out for.

And now he comes to this example in that context and he says, "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also." What men? False teachers. He prophesied about them saying, "Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on all."

Now the first time that we read of this man whose name was Enoch is back in Genesis chapter 5. In Genesis chapter 5, this is what it says concerning Enoch. It says in verse 21, "Enoch lived 65 years and he begot Methuselah. And after he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years." They lived a lot longer back then.

"And he had sons and daughters. And so all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him." Very little is known about Enoch other than these verses here in Genesis and a few passages in the New Testament. But the primary thing that Enoch was known for was this: he was a man that walked with God.

What are you known for? When your name comes up, what's the first thing that people would say about you as a man, as a woman? How is it that you are defined or characterized by people that know you in the church? But more importantly, how about people who know you outside of the church?

What would they say about you? You're a person that walks with God? Is that what they know of you? That's what Enoch was known for. He walked with God and he was walking with God in the midst of very difficult days. In fact, if you know anything about the book of Genesis and you've read the chapters before, in chapter 4, we find out that there was an increase of ungodly men upon the earth.

Every intention of man's heart was wicked continually, the Bible says. Violence continued to escalate upon the earth. People were calling evil good and good evil. Sounds a lot like today. That's when Enoch was walking with the Lord. It was before the flood, before the judgment of God came upon the earth.

But the Bible tells us that Enoch was walking during this time, not long after Cain had murdered his brother. Enoch was a contemporary of Adam. I mean, their lives overlapped and so there was murder upon the planet. And this degeneration of men followed the line of Cain. Some of his descendants are mentioned. Lamech was one of them, Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-Cain.

These were some of the descendants of Cain and they followed in his ungodly footsteps. Jabal was known for agricultural business. Jubal was the father of music and entertainment. Tubal-Cain was the father of industry and primitive technology. So imagine this: the days are evil but knowledge is increasing, technology is increasing, business is increasing, industry, entertainment's increasing.

Civilization today even with all of its abundance of art and technology doesn't save. In fact, there are many things that should be created for the betterment of mankind, but all the knowledge has led to make mankind worse. People creating things for the sole purpose of leading somebody into an addictive lifestyle or destructive lifestyle. Things that are being created by people to ensnare people.

So the time in which Enoch walked with God was a time in the earth's history when evil was prevalent. But something else about Enoch's day and that is this: death was a reality. It was universal. The Bible tells us when Enoch walked with God, death was a reality both the descendants of Adam and Seth.

You'll see a phrase repeated over and over in the book of Genesis: "and he died." Adam lived 930 years and he died. Seth lived 912 years and he died. Enosh lived 905 years and he died. Following the flood, the longevity of man continued to decrease even more so.

But it was during that season that Enoch started to walk with God when he turned 65. What happened at 65? Up to that point, we don't know. Enoch just lived his life. It doesn't say much about whether he lived for the Lord or walked with the Lord. It doesn't appear that way. But when he was 65, something happened. You know what happened? He and his wife had a baby.

Methuselah was born. By the way, a little Bible trivia: Methuselah was the oldest man ever to live on the earth. If anybody ever asks you that question, it's one of those key Bible trivia questions, you'll be the winner at the Christian party. Methuselah. But it was from the time that Methuselah was born that Enoch actually began to walk with God.

And why? Maybe he came to the realization of what it was to try to raise a son in the midst of an ungodly world and suddenly he realized, "I've got to do something about this. I need to walk with God." It's amazing how God uses our children in our lives and how concerned we are for how they're going to grow up in this world.

Our grandchildren. What's it going to be like for them to grow up in this world? Whatever the cause was, he started walking with God when Methuselah was born and he continued to walk with God thereafter. It was a turning point in his life. And Methuselah, of course, lived to be 969 years old and he died before the flood came.

Perhaps God told Enoch, we don't know for sure, this is speculative at best, but maybe God told him when Methuselah's life is over, judgment's going to come. He had some indication of judgment. He knew it was coming, but he didn't know when. But he lived with God from that moment on.

We also find out that Enoch's walk with God, and I want you to pay close attention to this, it was intimate. It was an intimate walk with God. There are various Old Testament phrases such as walking before God, walking after God, which speaks of a blameless conduct of one's life. But here when it says that he walked with God, it's also described of Noah.

Noah walked with God and it's a picture of walking at the side of God. That's intimate. That's personal. Walking with God. The minor prophets would use this phrase to describe an intimate walk of the priests as they would go into the Holy of Holies to speak directly to God. It's the same emphasis, the same phrase, the same idea.

And did you know something? That's what God desires to have with you and me: an intimate walk with him, a close fellowship with him. Some people are just acquainted with the Lord but they don't really walk with the Lord. But listen, he wants to be your friend.

Jesus said, "I no longer call you servants, but I call you friends." That's what he desires: a friendship, a relationship with you. Enoch walked intimately with God. But I also want to say to you that Enoch walked obediently with God. The phrase "walked with God" indicates obedience.

To walk with God, you walk in obedience to God. The metaphor for walking gives us the picture of walking along the same path, going in the same direction, and therefore obeying the word of God. 1 John, you may remember it from our previous studies, 1 John chapter 5 says this: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome."

Walking with the Lord means walking in obedience to his commandments, to his word. And I also want to say to you that Enoch walked consistently with God. 300 years he walked with the Lord. That obviously speaks of a consistency within his life. His walk was not, "I'm going to walk with God today, maybe tomorrow, depends on how I feel or what's going on."

No, he walked with God consistently and faithfully. And I believe that because Enoch had an intimate relationship with God, he walked in obedience to God's word, there was a consistency in his walk with the Lord. He lived by faith and he sought to please God.

How do I know that? The Bible tells us in the New Testament commentary on Enoch's life, Hebrews chapter 11. Here's what it says concerning Enoch: it says that "by faith, Enoch was taken 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."

He walked closely and intimately with the Lord by faith, and the New Testament declares he pleased the Lord. That was his life. It was about walking with God, and when you walk with the Lord, it's pleasing to the Lord. I pray that's our desire tonight: to walk with God, to be pleasing to God.

But now we come back to the book of Jude. And here Jude indicates that Enoch was not idle, but he was actually prophesying to the fallen world that he was living in. He was warning people out of the world that judgment was coming. And that is why again in verse 14, "Now Enoch, same guy walked with God, now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on all.'"

Now the question arises: where is this found in the Bible? When was Enoch prophesying? Where do you find it in the book of Genesis? Perhaps you've read through Genesis and you don't remember reading this part about Enoch. The reason you haven't read it in the Bible is because it doesn't say it in the Bible, except for right here.

There's not a record in the Old Testament of Enoch prophesying to the world. And here's where you need to pay close attention. Jude quotes from an extra-biblical source to make a point about false teachers. And he quotes from an apocryphal book called the Book of Enoch, chapter 1, verse 9.

And by quoting this truth from an extra-biblical source, Jude was not validating the Book of Enoch as a part of inspired scripture. But there was a truth found in that book that he quoted. He wasn't the only one to do this, by the way. The apostle Paul would often quote different authors, authors that those he was speaking to were familiar with.

Do you remember in the book of Titus in chapter 1? There's one example: in Titus chapter 1, verse 12, he said, "One of them, a prophet of their own," by the way, this prophet was Epimenides, I can't even say it right, but it's close. He quotes from one of their prophets. Not scripture, but a prophet of theirs.

And this is what the prophet said: "Cretans are liars, evil beasts, and gluttons. This testimony is true." I mean, he just takes a line out of a secular source. He said, "You know what they're like? They're like what your prophets talk about. They're lazy gluttons, beasts. That's true. That's right." He wasn't validating.

Now it's not like let's go out and get all the writings of Epimenides because they're inspired. He was just making a point. And that is exactly what Jude is doing here by quoting from the Book of Enoch, an apocryphal book, versus the canon of scripture. All right, you ready? About to go deeper. Here we go.

Apocrypha? What is that? What does that even mean, Apocrypha? It's fun to say, but what does it mean? Pay close attention. Some of you perhaps come out of a religious background of Roman Catholicism. And in Roman Catholicism, their Bibles you may notice have several more books than most Bibles.

More books in the Old Testament than the Protestant Bibles, and they are referred to as the Apocrypha. The word Apocrypha, by the way, means hidden. The nation of Israel treated the Apocrypha with respect but never accepted them as true books of the Hebrew Bible.

The early Christian church debated the status of the Apocrypha, but few Christians, if any, believed they belonged in the canon of scripture. The Apocrypha, their books, teach many things that are not true and are historically inaccurate. But there's some truth in them. That's why they weren't included in scripture.

While many Catholics accepted the Apocrypha, the Roman Catholic Church officially added the Apocrypha to their Bible at the Council of Trent, mid-1500s AD, primarily in response to the Protestant Reformation because the Apocrypha had writings that supported some of the things that the Roman Catholic Church believes which are not in agreement with the Bible.

Such as praying for the dead. You can't pray for the dead when they're dead. It doesn't do any good. Also petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers. There's only one person that can answer your prayers. That's the Lord. That's God. And listen to this carefully, and I don't say this to be mean or rude, I'm just saying it to be biblical and truthful.

You don't go through Mary to get to Jesus. You go to Jesus. He's the one mediator. Maybe you didn't know that, but I want you to be clear on that. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Not Mary, it's Jesus. And so that's who you go to. You pray in Jesus' name.

You don't pray to saints. You don't pray to Mary. You don't pray to anybody but Jesus. And so these were some of the things that the Apocrypha taught and they said we need to include that because that will validate some of our practices, although unbiblical. Therefore, due to the many theological errors, it was not included in what is called the canon of scripture.

Canon of scripture? You know when I first heard that, the canon, I thought like what do you mean like a canon, canon? Like fire the canon? Why do they call it a canon? And I had to study it a little bit more to find out that the word canon comes from the rule of law that was used to determine if a book measured up to a standard.

So the canon, when it came to the Old Testament and having the canon of Old Testament scripture, there were several important facts that had to be considered. First of all, the New Testament quotes from or alludes to every Old Testament book except two. Jesus also effectively endorsed the Hebrew canon, Matthew chapter 23, verse 35, when he cited one of the first narratives and one of the last in the scriptures of his day.

The Jews were meticulous in preserving the Old Testament scriptures. They had a few controversies over what parts belong or do not belong, but the canon of scripture, the Hebrew scriptures, were put together long before the New Testament canon.

I encourage you to do your own personal study on the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of the most amazing finds ever. And if you come to Israel with us in May, you'll see where they found them. We'll take you to the caves, not in them, but you can see where they found them. It's pretty amazing.

Now when it came to the New Testament, how did we get all the New Testament canon together? We've got the Old Testament canon, but what about the New Testament? The early church again had specific criteria in order for these books to be considered as part of the New Testament.

And these included: first of all, was the book written by someone who was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ? Do the books pass what they called the truth test? Did it concur with other already agreed-upon scripture? The New Testament books accepted back then have endured the test of time, and Christian orthodoxy has embraced these with little challenge for centuries.

Folks, I just want to say this to you also, and this is important to remember: ultimately the church councils did not decide what books were scripture. The word of God is God-breathed. God decided what was scripture and he just revealed it to man. God moved on the heart of human authors what to write. God-breathed.

We believe this doesn't just contain the word of God but that it is the word of God. It is inerrant. It is inspired. God-breathed is the scriptures. And when you think about it, the Bible is fascinating: a collection of 66 writings that were penned by more than 40 authors on three different continents in three different languages over a period of 1,500 years.

And yet when you look at the scriptures because of fulfilled prophecy, archaeological evidence, internal consistency from the very first book of the Bible in Genesis to the last book, Revelation, the biblical writers are absolutely consistent in what they teach.

They don't contradict one another. Also you have the manuscript evidence which is overwhelming. If you really want to study it and get into it, you'll be very confident that the Bible you have is the Bible that has always been the word of God.

Which brings us back to Jude and his brief apocryphal quotation. Again, keep in mind that Jude's quote is the only quote as it were from this source. Again, the apostle Paul as I mentioned quotes in Titus, but by quoting a truth from a secular source did not mean we should give additional authority to that source.

And it's important to remember that. And I bring that up because there are many times in ministry when someone would say, "Hey, what do you think about the Gospel of Thomas?" I don't. "What do you think about the Book of Enoch?" I don't. I don't think about any of those things because I have the scriptures.

You might find some things that are interesting in there but again, it's not scripture. Just be mindful of that. So Jude quoting from this book, all it means is that that particular statement was true, which is interesting because scholars collectively believe this: that Enoch was indeed prophesying that judgment was coming. He was prophesying that.

So here's a man faithfully walking with the Lord, raising his son to know the Lord, prophesying about judgment that was coming, was pleasing to the Lord. But did you know what the Bible says at the very end concerning Enoch's life? And this is the best part.

Because in Genesis chapter 5 and verse 24, it says that "Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him." What happened to Enoch? God took him. God took him before judgment came upon the earth. And in one sense, Enoch serves as an Old Testament picture for us of what I believe points to the rapture of the church.

That before judgment came, God said, "I'm taking Enoch home." A picture of the rapture of the church prior to judgment being poured out. By the way, when it says that Enoch was taken by the Lord, it means he did not see death. Only two men in scripture did not see death: Enoch and Elijah.

The Lord took them home uniquely. And as we walk with the Lord, I believe that we are assured that we will be taken by the Lord, whether he comes for us in death or he comes for us in life. He's coming for us. So, friend, if I can encourage you to follow the example of Enoch and walk with God. Walk with God.

Guest (Male): Urging us to walk with God in these difficult last days, that is Pastor John Randall on A Daily Walk. He's at the tail end of a study in Jude, and this final message in the series is called Stay in the Love of God.

Did you join us late? Or maybe you want to share this message with a loved one? You can hear the program again at adailywalk.org and then share the content with friends and family. You can also hear John's messages through our free app. This is a great way to listen to current and past teachings from Pastor John. Just search for Calvary South OC.

Here's a question for you: has this ministry blessed and encouraged you in your daily walk? If so, we'd like to know. You can email us at adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Let us know the station you listen to as well. Here in the month of May, we picked out a resource we think moms will benefit a great deal from: it's A Mom After God's Own Heart, 10 Ways to Love Your Children, authored by Elizabeth George.

She writes, "God has put you in a unique situation where you have tremendous influence in the lives of others. Be a mom after God's heart. Help your children, no matter what their ages, experience God's love, God's blessings, and God's provisions."

We're making it available for the cost of $12. Ordering is really easy online at adailywalk.org or just call 877-242-0828. Please remember us in your prayers and your giving to the Lord. We want to help as many people as possible in their daily walk through the teaching of God's word, and you can help to make that possible through either a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support.

Donations can be made online rather easily at adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. Well, next time on A Daily Walk, we'll complete our study in Jude as Pastor John Randall again encourages us to stay in the love of God.