Enoch, The Man who Pleased God - Part 6, A Final Word
2004 : Week 17  |  Website Version  

This is the final message in Pastor Wingate’s series on Enoch. We hope it has been a blessing to you; it’s full of revelations that will help us grow closer to Jesus Christ. We continue to pray that the Lord would provide us with outstanding messages, like this series, in order to bless all who read them…

Of all I’ve stressed about our walk with God, I cannot overemphasize the importance of a daily encounter with God. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gives an illustration of two men having their daily encounters. In this parable of the publican and the Pharisee, both men went to the temple to pray:

	11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
	Luke 18:11-12

The other man, a publican, wouldn’t even lift his head while he prayed:

	13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
	Luke 18:13-14

I dare say that this publican had already made a conscious choice to walk with God. His eyes were on Jesus alone. He was motivated by love and powered by the Holy Spirit or he wouldn’t have been able to approach a temple patronized by men who scorned him. He made himself low so that God could be exalted.

What motivated the Pharisee? It appears it was checklists, fasting, tithes, etc. Where were the Pharisee’s eyes? They were on the publican. What’s sad about this is the Pharisee probably didn’t even realize it. Let us learn to please God with our daily walk like this publican did; like Enoch did.

So we see that Enoch was named in God’s honor roll even though only ten verses were devoted to him in the Bible. But what powerful words in these verses! What a powerful testimony! Let me ask you, how is your faith? Are you walking with a walk that is pleasing to God? Are you walking with love as your motivation? Are you cognizant of the Holy Spirit? Are you treating your life as a marathon, not a sprint? Is your prayer life more like the Pharisee’s or the publican’s?

Let me close with this illustration. One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground with outstretched arms calling to his son, “Jump, Son, jump; I’ll catch you!”

The boy had to either jump or die. But all the boy could see were the flames and the smoke and the blackness. As you can imagine he was afraid to jump, afraid to leave that roof. His father kept yelling: “Jump, I’ll catch you!”

But the boy kept protesting: "Daddy, I can’t see you."

The dad replied: "But I can see you and that’s all that matters!"

The boy jumped because he trusted his father.

The Christian life enables you to face life and to meet death, not because we can see, but because we are seen. Not that we know all the answers, but because we are known. In a book I’m reading by Ray Pritchard, he quotes another author who said:

When you come to the end of everything you know and you’re faced with the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things will happen. Either you will have solid ground to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.

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

Pastor Ralph E. Wingate, Jr.

**Words of Jesus Christ appear in red.