Sermon #25 Jude Sermons

Title: Enoch’s Prophecy

Text: Jude 1:14-15

Date: Tuesday Evening — April 12, 2005

Tape # Jude #25

Readings: Bob Poncer and Bobbie Estes

Introduction:

The title of my message tonight is Enoch’s Prophecy. Our text will be Jude 1:14-15. But everything written in the Word of God about this man Enoch is contained in just a few short verses (Gen. 5:21-24; Heb. 11:5-6; Jude 1:14-15). So let’s read everything God the Holy Spirit tells us about him.

(Genesis 5:21-24) “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: (22) And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: (23) And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: (24) And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

(Hebrews 11:5-6) “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. (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.”

And our text…

(Jude 1:14-15) “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.”

Proposition: Back in the days before the flood this man, Enoch believed God and gave a prophecy concerning the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Divisions:

1. Who was this man, Enoch?

2. What did he do?

3. What was his prophecy?

Enoch

I. Who was this man Enoch? — Jude tells us that the man whose prophecy he is about to give us is “Enoch, the seventh from Adam.”

This does not mean that Enoch was the seventh man after Adam, but the seventh generation after Adam in the line of the chosen (1 Chron. 1:1-3). He is called the seventh from Adam, particularly to distinguish him from another Enoch, one Cain’s of descendants with the same name, who was the third generation from Adam (Gen. 4:17). — Others may and often do confuse the elect with the reprobate; but he who wrote the names of his elect in the book of life before the world began always distinguishes them!

Those early patriarchs of the church were taught of God, and being taught of God, they taught the things of God to others in their day and to us. In fact, Enoch’s name means “instructed” or “trained.”

· Abel shows us the necessity of blood atonement by Christ, the necessity of coming to God by faith in Christ.

· Seth and Enos show us the need for and the blessedness of public worship. Just after they are named, we read, — “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26).

C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “Those who worshipped through the atoning sacrifice separated themselves from the rest of men, assembled a church in the name of the Lord, and worshipped, calling, upon the name of Jehovah. The heart must first believe in the great sacrifice with Abel, and then the mouth must confess the same with Seth.”

· Enoch is held before us in the Book of God as an example of faith in Christ, as an example of what it is for the just to live by faith. Enoch is held before us as an assuring demonstration of the fact that all who believe on the Son of God please God, that all who trust God are “accepted in the Beloved,” eternally, immutably, everlastingly accepted!

That is precisely how he is set before us in Hebrews 11:5. — “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.”

Walked with God

The Holy Spirit tells us that “Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:24) — What a statement! — “Enoch walked with God!” That is astounding. As Adam walked with God before the fall, “Enoch walked with God” by faith in Christ after the fall. The text does not say, “Enoch thought about God,” or “Enoch worshipped God,” or “Enoch served God,” or “Enoch talked with God,” or “Enoch talked about God,” though he certainly did all those things. The Holy Spirit uses these simple words to describe the one outstanding feature of this man’s life upon which he would focus our attention: — “Enoch walked with God!” In his daily life Enoch walked with God, realizing God’s presence as his living Friend, in whom he confided, by whom he was loved, “Enoch walked with God!”

How did Enoch walk with God? Is it possible for men and women such as we are to walk with God today? Is it possible for us to really walk with God? It is impossible for anyone to understand how Enoch walked with God, or how we can walk with God, or why God took him to glory apart from that which God the Holy Spirit tells us in Hebrews 11:5-6.

· Some use Enoch as an example of sinless perfection.

· Some use him to teach the deeper life doctrine.

· Others use him to promote self-righteous morality.

But the Spirit of God explains that Enoch’s life was an example of faith in Christ. — “Enoch walked with God…(and) he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” That is the heart desire of every true believer. We want to walk with God in sweet fellowship and please him in all things. How can this desire be accomplished? How can you and I walk with God and please him?

This is the thing we must see, if we are to understand what it is to walk with God and please him. — It was not Enoch’s conduct that pleased God, but his faith (Heb. 11:6). More specifically, it was Christ, the Object of Enoch’s faith, that pleased God.

What do the Scriptures mean when they assert that, “Enoch walked with God”? How did Enoch walk with God? What does that statement imply? The Holy Spirit tells us, while Enoch walked with God, “he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” But how, how did this man please God? What was there about him that pleased the Lord?

I know this: — Enoch did not always please God, nor did he always walk with God. Enoch was a man like us. He was not born a saint. He did not simply decide one day that he would start walking with God. Enoch was a fallen sinner. He too was a son of Adam. Enoch was, like you and me, a fallen, depraved sinner, with a wicked heart, by nature departing from God.

He was born in spiritual death. He went astray, like all others, as soon as he was born, speaking lies. He was a man who needed pardon, cleansing, redemption, atonement, justification, and regeneration, just like us. Before he could please God, his sin had to be removed and righteousness had to be imputed to him. Otherwise, God could never accept him and be pleased with him. In order to have these things, Enoch must believe God. He must have faith in Christ. For righteousness comes by faith in Christ “unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22).

It was by faith in Christ that Enoch pleased God (Heb. 11:6).

(Hebrews 11:6) “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.”

Enoch was not pleasing to God by virtue of his conduct, his works, his disposition, or his personal character. There was nothing at all remarkable about the man by nature that caused God to look upon him with pleasure. God was pleased with Enoch because Enoch believed God!

He believed that which God had spoken. Enoch’s faith was the same as Abel’s before him and Noah’s after him. The faith by which Enoch walked with God and pleased God was the same faith that the dying thief possessed when he cried, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke. 23:42). And it is the same faith that God’s elect have today.

This is vitally important. If you want to walk with God, you must believe. Walking with God is neither more nor less that believing God. The only way anyone can walk with God and please him is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Enoch had experienced a mighty change by the power and grace of God. The Lord God had changed his heart. God changed the bent, bias and direction of his will. This fallen sinner had been given life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:1-10). This was a work of grace, without which Enoch could never have walked with God and pleased him. Long before Enoch was translated into glory, he had been translated in his heart and soul. He was delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. That which the Holy Spirit commends to us is not Enoch’s character and conduct, but Enoch’s faith in Christ, the grace of God upon him.

· Enoch believed God’s Revelation. — The Word of God.

· Enoch believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer God had promised.

· Enoch believed God’s promise of immortality and eternal life in Christ (Jude 14-15).

Enoch believed that God is and that he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He could not have given this prophecy had he not believed God.

His Testimony

So, when we are told that “Enoch walked with God” and that “he pleased him,” this is what the Holy Spirit means for us to understand: — Enoch believed God! Understand this: — Nothing pleases God except his Son. The only way you and I can walk with God and be pleasing to him is by faith in his dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6; 1 Pet. 2:4-5).

(John 14:6) “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

(1 Peter 2:4-5) “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, (5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

Look at Hebrews 11:5-6 again.

The testimony that Enoch obtained was the testimony he obtained, not among men, but in his own conscience by trusting Christ. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God assured him, just as he does every believing sinner today, that he pleased God.

The highest form of sanctification is exactly the same as the earliest beginnings of salvation. — It is believing God. — To grow in grace is to grow in faith. The strongest believer lives exactly as the weakest babe in Christ: — by faith in Christ! We stand before God by faith! We grow strong only as we know ourselves to be weak and lay hold on Christ’s strength by faith. Having begun in the Spirit, we are not then made perfect by the works of the flesh! We do not begin and go a certain distance by faith in Christ, and then finish our course, making up the difference by the works of the law. Salvation is by grace alone! Our standing before God is by grace alone! Our acceptance with God is by grace alone! To walk with God is to continue as we began: — by faith (Col. 2:6-7).

(Colossians 2:6-7) “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: (7) Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

The believer’s life is a life of faith! I stress this point because it needs to be stressed. Enoch pleased God because he believed God. He walked with God by faith. We are sometimes tempted to strive after some imaginary “higher ground” or “deeper life,” by looking to our feelings, or our works, instead of looking to Christ alone.

That is horribly evil. Any doctrine, any religion, any sermon, any thought that leaves you looking to yourself, that turns your eyes away from Christ is evil. We are not to look to our feelings, but to Christ. We are not to look to our works, but to Christ. We are not even to look to the image of Christ created in us by the Holy Spirit, but to Christ alone! Jesus Christ alone is our acceptance with God. By faith Enoch walked with God. By faith Enoch pleased God. Let us follow his example.

Four Things

Enoch’s walking with God by faith implies many things. When I read that “Enoch walked with God” and that “he pleased God,” my heart cries out, “That’s what I want as I make my pilgrimage through this world — I want to walk with God and please him in this world!” — What is it to walk with God? – Four Things!

1. To walk with God is to live in the realization of his presence (Phil. 4:4-5).

(Philippians 4:4-5) “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. (5) Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”

2. To walk with God is to enjoy familiar communion and fellowship with him (1 Thess. 5:16-18). — This is what Paul means when he says, “Pray without ceasing.” Live in communion with God.

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) “Rejoice evermore. (17) Pray without ceasing. (18) In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

· Seeking His will (Prov. 3:5-6).

· Trusting His grace.

· Submitting to His providence.

(Proverbs 3:5-6) “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

3. The word “walked” implies perseverance and continuance.

Enoch persevered in faith. He walked with God for 300 years! His religion was not in spurts. His communion with God was steady and constant. He walked with God, steadily, for 300 years!

4. The phrase “walked with God” also implies progress.

Enoch’s faith was not stagnant, but progressive. At the end of 300 years he stood upon the same ground, was built upon the same foundation and was in the same company as in the beginning. But he was not in the same place. And he was not the same man. Enoch went forward in faith. At the end of his days he knew more, enjoyed more, loved more, did more, believed more, received more, and gave more than in the beginning of his walk with God.

Illustration: A believer walks with God in this world like a little child walks through the woods with its father. It is a loving walk, a walk of confidence and trust, an instructive walk, a happy walk, and a safe walk.

Enoch Prophesied

II. What did this man do? Jude tells us, in verse 14, that Enoch prophesied concerning those false prophets of whom Jude speaks in his Epistle.

Enoch was the first man spoken of in Holy Scripture as a prophet. He prophesied concerning the judgment of God that shall befall the wicked in the last day, when Christ comes again. Specifically, he prophesied that Christ will ultimately overthrow those who deny him. We will get to that in a minute. For now, I want to show you something about Enoch as a prophet.

There are many who, though unwittingly, undermine the authority of Holy Scripture, suggesting that Jude here quotes from the “Apocalypse of Enoch” (an apocryphal book) or that he is merely giving us that which was passed from generation to generation by oral tradition. In my opinion, that is a serious mistake. Jude tells us plainly that Enoch prophesied. And he knew the prophecy, though it was never written down, because he wrote by the same Spirit of Inspiration that was upon Enoch. Jude was one of those “holy men of God [who] spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:21).

Examples

There are many examples in the Scriptures of Divinely Inspired men telling us things can could never have been known, but by inspiration.

· Moses record of the creation. How did he do that? The Spirit of God revealed the specific information to him.

· In 2 Timothy 3:8 Paul names the Egyptian magicians Jannes and Jambres, even though they are never mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. He learned their names by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

· In Acts 20:35, he said, “...remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” When did the Lord say that? We are not told. It is nowhere recorded. And Paul was not around when it was made. Yet, he knew the Lord had made that statement, because he spoke as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. 3) To Peter

· Peter wrote, “...Noah, the eighth person [saved from the flood, was] a preacher of righteousness...” (2 Pet. 2:5). Where did he get the information that Noah was a preacher? Genesis does not record that fact. Peter could not have known it, except for this fact. — He wrote what he wrote by Divine Inspiration.

Moses, Paul, and Peter wrote things that only God could have revealed to them. So did Jude. When Jude wrote, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied...,” he must have thought, “That is exciting! What a blessed word of assurance this is!”

Now, let’s look at…

Enoch’s Prophecy

III. What did Enoch prophecy? Remember, this was a prophecy made before the flood!

That is the first prophecy given by a man. There was a prophecy given by God in Genesis 3:15 of our Redeemer’s first coming to accomplish our redemption by crushing the serpent’s head. But this is the first prophecy given by a man. And this is a prophecy about our Savior’s glorious Second Advent. It is interesting to observe that the last prophecy given in the Book of God also speaks of Christ’s Second Coming. That prophecy is by a man, too, — The God-man (Rev. 22:18-20).

(Revelation 22:18-20) “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (19) And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (20) He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

The first prophecy given by a man, and the last, both deal with the final judgment of God upon the wicked. Enoch’s prophecy tells us four specific things about our Lord’s glorious Second Advent.

1. First, he says, “Behold, the Lord cometh!”

2. Second, Enoch tells us that when Christ appears in his glory, he will appear “with ten thousands of his saints.” — That means, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, “with all his saints.”

3. Third, our Lord Jesus is coming “to execute judgment upon all.”

When he appears in his glory, our Lord Jesus Christ will execute judgment upon all, the quick and the dead, the small and the great, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the righteous and the wicked, the sheep and the goats. He will execute the sentence upon all. To all the righteous, made righteous by him, he will give the declaration of total absolution, eternal life, and deserved happiness forever. Upon the wicked he will pronounce everlasting condemnation, endless death, and relentless misery. And his execution of judgment will be in complete accordance with righteousness, justice, and truth.

4. This is the fourth thing Enoch declared in his prophecy. — When our Lord Jesus appears his his glory, he will “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.”

All rebels and unbelievers will be judged. The scope is universal. People will cry for rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them “from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:15-17). What an awesome day that will be!

(2 Thessalonians 1:7-10) “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (8) In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (9) Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (10) When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”

· It will be a day of terrible conviction. — In that day, every sinner will be convinced, so thoroughly convinced of his ungodly deeds that he will be forced to bow to Christ and say “Amen” to his own damnation!

· It will be a day of glorious coronation. — In that great day, God our Savior shall publicly crown us before the angels of heaven, the demons of hell, and all our foes, as kings and priests unto God, men and women who have right to enter into the holy place and reign gloriously!

· And it will be a day of great celebration. — We will triumph gloriously!

(Revelation 19:1-9) “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: (2) For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. (3) And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. (4) And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. (5) And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. (6) And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (7) Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. (8) And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (9) And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

Amen.