Enoch, The Man who Pleased God - Part 3, Enoch’s Testimony was Bold
2004 : Week 14  |  Website Version  

This is Part 3 in the excellent series submitted by Pastor Ralph E. Wingate, Jr. We continue to pray that the Lord would use it to speak to you and bless you…

Last week we focused on the first reason that I believe Enoch’s life pleased the Lord. Today, I’d like to continue by focusing on two other reasons I believe Enoch pleased the Lord:

Enoch pleased the Lord by his testimony, as we see in today’s verses from Hebrews 11. The Greek word for testimony means to be a witness, to bear record or to have a good report. The same Greek word is used for good report in Hebrews 11:2 and for testifying in verse four. Testimony is wrapped up in our belief of who God is. It is summed up in the word faith.

On the surface, Hebrews 11 appears to do a poor job of convincing us of Enoch’s faith. Very little evidence is offered in comparison with some of the other heroes of faith. I believe that the writer was fully aware of this problem, and here’s his point: he sees faith in the story of Enoch, not because it's carefully outlined (because it’s not), but because verse 5 says that Enoch pleased God. And what is the only way to please God? The answer lies in verse 6:
 
         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.
 Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)
 
The obvious conclusion is that because Enoch pleased God, Enoch possessed a God-honoring, noteworthy faith. It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you like to have your life summed up by saying that your testimony was pleasing to God? The Greek word for please means to gratify entirely. Enoch not only pleased God, but he pleased God entirely, completely and fully.

Genesis 5 presents some interesting truths about Enoch. He lived sixty-five years, and he begat Methuselah. After he begat Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, during which time he begat sons and daughters. He lived three hundred sixty-five years, and Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him. Notice the sequence of events. Enoch was sixty-five years old when Methuselah was born. But, that's not the impressive thing. Verse 22 says that Enoch walked with God after Methuselah was born for the rest of his days three hundred years! Can you look back over the last year and say, this last year of your life, you were fully and absolutely pleasing unto God? Probably not. Can you look back over the last month and say that every decision you made, everything that you did, was totally pleasing to God? Again, probably not. And yet, Enoch completely, totally pleased God for three hundred years. What an incredible testimony!

Let me say something that may be dangerous. Often as Christians, we talk about having a good Christian testimony. We want to have a good testimony before the world, we say. We talk about not doing certain things because we don’t want to put our testimony at stake in the eyes of others. We try to be careful about making sure our friends and acquaintances are pleased with the way we are conducting our Christian life. But if this is the primary way we think about our testimony, then our emphasis is all wrong! You see our testimony is not ultimately the testimony that we have to keep before men. Our testimony is a testimony we have to keep before Almighty God. As we keep our testimony before Him, then everything else will begin to fall in line. Our main concern needs to be what God thinks of what we’re doing and saying and conducting our lives. Enoch had this testimony not that he pleased man, but that he pleased God.
    3. Enoch’s message was bold
Enoch also pleased God because he preached a bold message in the midst of a wicked world. Genesis 6:5 tells us the condition of the world. Enoch was dead by then, but Scripture reveals that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Yet in the face of wickedness, Enoch’s message was bold. Jude 1:14-15 says:
    14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (KJV)
Imagine saying that to a wicked sinner today! The word ungodly is emphasized four times in the same sentence. These are the only spoken words of Enoch recorded in Scripture. Here was obviously a man who wasn’t controlled by the world or its philosophies. He preached the judgment of God. Surely he must have made enemies speaking out for God, and yet he did it, and he did so for three hundred years. This is a bold testimony that lasted a lifetime.

God’s faith and grace is real. Let us walk by faith as Enoch did.

Pastor Ralph E. Wingate, Jr.

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Hebrews 11:5

5  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.

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