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(Preached twice at Spring Head Mission and Bishop Street, dates not recorded)

Genesis 5.24 “Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him.”

Hebrews 11.5 “Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

“Enoch walked with God.” That was a favorite text of old preachers of an earlier generation, and what a useful and helpful text it is. It is seldom nowadays that one hears a sermon on walking with God. I can only guess that the cause lies in the fact that we know so little of that great experience. I shall return to that presently, but I want to begin with the second of the scriptures I have read to you.

THE MAN WHO SATISFIED GOD

Enoch, says the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, “had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Moffatt translated that, “the record was that he had satisfied God.” That made me sit up and it gave me my subject—the man who satisfied God. The idea behind it is that of a servant who has given satisfaction to his master.

That record is very remarkable when you remember the height of the divine standards. Everywhere in the Bible it is made clear that God is not unreasonable. He makes allowances for the blundering efforts of his children. He sees and reads their hearts and judges according to what is there. He is equally clear that for His own the high ideals are set, and high standards are held. Jesus is more than our pattern, but he is our pattern, and in him God has given us an example. His standards demand whole-hearted endeavors and sustained effort. “It does not take much brains to be a Christian,” sneered a skeptic to Samuel Chadwick. “No,” was the reply, “but it takes all there is.” And it takes more than brains. It takes all there is of man and his spiritual energy, and that’s a high order. The problem is that so many of us are unable to pass when judged in light of the ideal. Well, here was a man who, when judged by divine standards, had the testimony that he “satisfied” God.

THE LIFE THAT SATISFIED GOD

What was the life that satisfied God? And where is the record of it? Come back to the first text. “Enoch walked with God.” That is all that is said about this primitive saint. His is the briefest biography in the Bible. It must have deeply impressed the chronicler. In a chapter that reads more like a record of births, marriages, and deaths than a page from the inspired Word of God, the name of Enoch is twice mentioned in a way that suggests the joy of the chronicler at coming to the name of a man of whom more can be said than that he lived, had children, and died. He began not one, but two, sentences with “Enoch walked with God.” No more than this. Enoch’s name is immortalized, not because he did anything grand in this world’s estimation, he did not wield a sword like Lamech or play instruments like Jubal, but because he made an impression on his age of the high known quality.

The Bible is the only book in the world which proclaims uniformly the supremacy of moral and religious qualities. It keeps eulogies for the good rather than the great. All we know is that he lived a life of truth and great godliness, and that the Bible gives him a prominent place in the pantheon of workers, and a name to be remembered forever as a man who walked with God. Which means that he sought God’s company and had no desire for anything but what lay in God’s path. His was a life of fellowship and progress, an anticipation of the New Testament; walking in the light with God. Such a life is the life that satisfies God. If such high honors are given to such a life, it is worth your while to ponder—

WHAT WALKING WITH GOD MEANS FOR US

It means substantially the same in every age—a vivid eagerness for God’s presence and the habit of daily communing with Him. You will not walk with God in any vital sense unless you have deliberately chosen to meet and walk with Him. The prophet Amos said, “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?” The meaning of the question is, unless they have made an appointment, you do not meet God carnally. No, we should have a meeting place where spirits meet and blend, where heaven comes down, our souls to greet. If we walk with God, it will be because we would rather go His way than travel any road dictated by personal desire, love of ease, or love of gain. Our song will be, “I’d rather walk in the dark with God than go alone in the light.”

Look at it from the opposite side. Where is our walk with God, brothers, when we turn aside because the way we are going seems rough and steep and some other way seems easier and offers pleasures and treasures that appeal to us? William Cowper had that in mind when he wrote: “The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be, help me to tear it from Thy throne, and worship only Thee.”1

Whatever else it means, walking with God means walking in the light, and it means making religion the everyday business of life. God is always with us, but we are only near Him if we recognize and feel His presence in us. God is barely ever in our thoughts except in seasons of trouble. We are not walking with God if we only pray once weekly or even daily. He means not only praying to Him in the morning, but realizing His presence all through the day, so that you can call on him at any time, seeking his guidance, finding his help, learning his will. I once heard a preacher preach on the text of Zechariah 10.12: “and they shall walk up and down in the name of the Lord.” That is it, having God as our constant companion, walking beside us all the way and all the days.

Walking with God means a life of progress. Our meaning of the word “walk” is “to go on.” The man who walks with God is not content with any experience of the past. He will ever be moving on to higher ground, growing in grace and increasing in knowledge. One of my friends (T. J. Cot) said, “Religion is walking and talking with God, and the quality of religion depends on who does most of the talking.” Notice another thing about Enoch—

WHERE WE FIND EXCUSES, ENOCH FOUND OPPORTUNITIES

We excuse ourselves on the ground that with such unpropitious and evil company as surrounds us, walking with God is impossible. But Enoch had the same kind of environment. Our writer says that he was a contemporary of that godless heathen, Lamech. That says a great deal. In the Epistle of Jude, we are told that Enoch had to lift up his voice in protest against the evils around him. Things were not easy for him, but he walked with God. And the fact that we are placed in a godless environment is no excuse for turning from God, but a reason for maintaining a closer walk.

We make family cares and duties an excuse for neglecting religious exercises. Of Enoch it is expressly stated that he walked with God after the birth of his son, Methuselah. Whatever he had done before, when a child came to his house, he knew he had to ponder the path of his feet. I have known homes where the coming of a baby made a break in the religious habits of a home. And yet if anything should lead us to a closer walk with God, it is the fact that we need the grace which comes from such a walk and that little children will be likely to follow in our example.

IS GOD SATISFIED WITH ME?

Those who have walked most closely with God will bear most emphatic witness that they are satisfied with Him. The questions we ought to ask is, “Is God satisfied with us?” Enoch’s record was that he satisfied God. Have we a like record? That is a question not easily answered. Certainly, no person who walks closely with God will himself answer in the affirmative. He will call himself an unprofitable servant, and not in much modesty. The person who, of all persons, might have claimed that he had met God’s highest demands was the Apostle Paul, but he said he was the “least of all.” He was forever following after the ideal.

We shall never get beyond the need of God’s grace and we shall always know ourselves as sinners saved by grace. We shall never get to the point where there is no more room for growth and progress. What I can see and want to urge is that God must be dissatisfied with many of us. Our progress has been so slow, our walk with Him so hesitant. But I have known some people who were modern Enochs. In the spirit of their humility I know that God takes joy in them and that the Savior saw the travail of their road and was satisfied. We are sure for them are the words, “well done.”

Why should we not be following those who in their lives satisfy God? At least we know the things that grieve Him. Let us not rehearse them. Let us instead pray for and seek after a closer walk with God. That is the ideal Christian life. Not so much work we do for Him as what we suffer Him to be to us and for us. It was Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet, who chose the better part. It was Enoch who satisfied God. In one of the simple songs of salvation, Dora Greenwell has a word for us: “And oh, that He fulfilled may see, the travail of His soul in me, and with His work contented be, as I with my dear Saviour.”

1. He is quoting a line from the hymn “O for a Closer Walk with God.”