Gen 5:24, And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. 
	In this morning’s reading, we have the lineage of Noah, traced from Adam. While the bulk of the reading tends to be simply a factual accounting of the birth and lives of the generations up to Noah, we must not just skip over it as if there was nothing of importance contained therein. First, everything within the Word of God is important since it is His Word and He inspired the writers to record what He wanted written. 
Second, to just quickly read through the names is an injustice to the very people God chose to include in His Word. It is no insignificant thing to have God record one’s name in scripture and it carries great implications. Sometimes the recording is in a negative vein, as we considered with Cain’s argumentative attitude of hatred and unforgiveness. Sometimes it is as a wonderful expression of following after the heart of God, as we will consider this morning with Enoch. In either avenue, never let us devalue what God has inspired and thereby overlook great treasures of immeasurable consequence.
Now then, concerning the Enoch of our passage, outside of this 5th Chapter of Genesis, he is mentioned four other times in scripture. Two of those are lineage passages, including the lineage of Jesus as recorded in Luke, Chapter 3. The other two times are in the Letter to the Hebrews and in Jude. Not very much, historically is recorded in the Word, but what is mentioned deserves our complete attention. To be named once in scripture is something of importance, but to be considered by the Spirit of God in reference to faith and as a prophet indicates a man of God worthy of note.
Initially, Enoch is praiseworthy because he is in the lineage of David and Jesus. He presents to us a heritage that is pleasing to God, so pleasing that not only did one of the greatest kings of Israel come through his line, but the Promised Christ was counted as his descendant. God was so honored with the life that Enoch presented before all men, that God blessed Enoch with the exemplary sanctification of the greatest legacy and birthright of mankind. That is one aspect of the reflection of Enoch being pleasing to God.  
The other is that Enoch so blessed God in the life that he lived that God took him. He was one of the very select few men who did not have to taste physical death. In the case of Enoch, as we read, And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. This means that God was so satisfied with the life that Enoch lived, that he did not suffer earthly death. Enoch pleased God in a very personal manner, in a living relationship with God that showed the full valuation of Who God was to him. He prized his relationship with God to such an extent, that God was thoroughly pleased with him. This does not mean that Enoch was perfect, because there is no man perfect except Jesus Christ. However, Enoch apparently so revered God that God took him directly into heaven.
We read of this same type of relationship in regard to the Prophet Elijah, that he did not taste death because God took him into heaven in a chariot of fire and a whirlwind before the eyes of Elisha. 2 Kings 2:8, Then it came about as they were going along and talking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. As with Enoch, Elijah was so pleasing to God in the manner of his walk on this earth that God lifted him from the face of this earth without the taste of death. The known rarity of this physical blessing of God is so limited, that, to my knowledge, it numbers only these two examples. To live such a life in a manner so pleasing to God is no trivial matter. It behooves us to reflect upon what was at the heart of Enoch’s walk with God. 
As we stated, Enoch is mentioned, outside of genealogy, only two other times in scripture. The first is Heb 11:5+6, where this morning’s passage is quoted. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up;  for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 
As testified unto in this passage, it was by faith that Enoch pleased God. He lived a life of faith in God to be his everything on this earth. That is the relationship pattern that we want to see in evidence in God’s taking pleasure in His people. Enoch satisfied the heart of God so completely, that God, the rewarder of faithfulness, blessed him with not having to taste the stench and horror of physical demise. 
	What we need to take to heart is what this walk with God in faith entails with regard to our lives. What are the characteristics of a life that is pleasing to God, lived in the faith of Jesus Christ? You see, we have a tremendous advantage in the manner of our lives, in comparison to Enoch. He lived his life looking forward to the salvation of God. He knew God. We are under the all-encompassing umbrella of God’s grace in Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who now lives forth from us. 
Therefore, our lives should fully encompass the reality of the relationship that Enoch had with God by faith. By the very faith of the Son of God, we are to please and to honor God in an ever greater and increasingly more encircling reality of life. As the writer to the Hebrews so eloquently and forcefully states, And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. In the living faith of Jesus Christ, we not only believe that God is, but we learn to seek Him with all our hearts and minds and beings. We render unto Him the opportunity that He desires to be Our God and we, His people.
As we listen to the very heart of God in His purpose for His creation, we come into the understanding of Lev 26:11+12, 'Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 'I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. This is what God always longed for with mankind. He wanted to enjoy such a rapport with humanity that opened a walk together with one another in friendship and personal connection. This is the apparent relationship that existed between Enoch and God. It definitely is the connection that is ours with God as His Beloved in Christ Jesus.
For us, this is the key. This relationship, this walk with God is only possible through Jesus Christ. As the preacher declares in Eccl 6:7-12, All a man's labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have, knowing how to walk before the living? What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and a striving after wind. Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun? 
We do not know the course of our lives. We may live a long and prosperous life, or we may be gone from this earth in the next instant. What man, in his folly and the arrogant stupidity of his natural self, seeks after is for his own interests and appetites. We do not seek after God’s interests until we have come into a living walk of faith in Jesus Christ. When He is our desire, when He is our source of wisdom, when He is our strength and our purpose for living, then, and only then, can we know what it means to walk with God. It is at that point that we are enabled to know God as Our God and that we are His people, giving Him honor and pleasure in the lives that we live before Him.
It is in Christ that we come to the walk of faith as described by the Psalmist in Ps 84:7-12. They go from strength to strength, Every one of them appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah. Behold our shield, O God, And look upon the face of Thine anointed. For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God, Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in Thee! 
	To quote Spurgeon on this point, "They go from strength to strength." That is, they grow stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to affliction." Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders. End quote. (from Spurgeon's Morning & Evening, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 1999, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
	This is the walk of faith that we learn as we rely upon God to be our strength through His Son, Jesus Christ. We go through the process of maturity in Him as we face the trials and the situations and allow ourselves to count on Him to get us through all of them. We begin to realize that we are unable to face this life in ourselves, and never were intended to do so. All along, God ordained that we would live by His grace and all-sufficiency, not by our own wits and abilities. 
Yes, we live in a manner that honors the Lord to the very best of our capacity to do so, but it is never with the idea that we can do anything worthy of earning God’s trust and respect. It is always with the heart that remembers and praises God that all that we are, all that we have, all that we do is only because we are blessed by God’s call in our hearts to respond to His love in Jesus Christ. Every aspect of our life begins, is maintained, and finds fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 
This walk of faith requires a commitment to God such as none other that we have ever made. This world hates the very concept of commitment, because it means that we set aside our wants and our desires and our self-realization for the sake of the very name of Our Lord God Almighty. This type of commitment is anathema to the world order, but is fully honoring to God. 
Listen to the heart of it as spoken by the Psalmist in pledge unto God. Ps 1:1-3, How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. 
	The blessing that we have in our walk of faith on the earth is the blessing from God that He is well-pleased with the sacrifice of our praise. We need to come to the place where we recognize that every aspect of our lives is a living sacrifice unto God. It is not our own to do with as we so choose as driven by the whims and fancies of the lies of this realm. We are to be firmly planted, as trees with strong and deep roots, bearing fruit, the fruit of righteousness and faith unto the Lord for His harvest on this earth. 
As we so commit our ways to Him and so choose to walk with Him in the relationship that honors and pleases Him, we will come into the complete realization that God is worthy of all praise and admiration and glory. We will find ourselves knowing a little of the heart of Christ wherein all that we do we do unto Him. We will learn to walk in a manner of life that presents unto God His heart’s desire in the creation which He made in love. So be it!
And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 113:1-3. Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the Lord is to be praised. Amen.