Genesis History (Cain): Walking Separately

The title this morning is Walking Separately. And there’s a number of interesting points that I could bring out. A lot more that I could bring out if I had more time. But there’s a number of things I’d like to bring out as we consider our study this morning. First of all, turn in your Bibles to chapter 4 of Genesis. And as you remember, when we completed our last study, Cain became infamous as the first murderer. And beyond that, he murdered his brother. The Bible tells us, beginning with verse 16, chapter 4, verse 16, “Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and he dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.” Now there’s certain words that I want to emphasize because they bring some difficult passages to light later on. And if you don’t know why I’m emphasizing something at a certain point, just absorb it and later on the light will come on.

I want you to notice that Cain went out, or he went away from the presence of God. Now can you really go away from the presence of God? Well, does God always know where you are? Yes. But there is an attitude of abiding in the presence of God. And Cain basically turned his back on God. He and his descendants. Now you know, Jonah tried to flee from God. The Bible says, I think it’s Psalm 139, “Whither shall I flee from Your presence?” If you make your grave in the bottom of the ocean, He’s there. You can’t really hide from God. But Cain turned his back on the presence of the Lord. Also keep in mind that the shekinah glory could be seen at the gates of Eden. And the people would go there and make their offerings there. And Cain turned his back on that. Now God had told him that he was going to be a failure as a farmer. His first love was farming. But God said the ground is going to be double cursed because of what he had done. The blood of his brother Abel had been used as fertilizer. And so he decided to abandon farming. And the Bible says that he built a city. “And Cain knew his wife,” this is verse 17, “and she conceived and bare Enoch. And he built a city and he called the name of the city after his son Enoch.” And that word means to dedicate.

Now you might wonder, how many people are in the world at this point? Well, you’ve got Cain. And folks get choked wondering where did Mrs. Cain come from. And we explained, if you weren’t here in our last study, Cain married his sister. All of the early patriarchs probably married their sisters or first cousins. Remember Abraham did. He married his half sister Sarah. Isaac and Jacob married their cousins. It was not until the time of Noah that it was forbidden to marry your sister. So that was very common back then.

And you might be thinking, why build a city? Now I did some math. And I’m not a great mathematician, so you check on me. But even very conservatively, what was the average lifespan of people before the flood? 900 plus years. And since man was perfect, did they have any fertility or reproductive problems? Or would we assume they were very, virile and fertile? And that being the case, if they had a child every other year… I know some of you sitting here haven’t even waited that long. But if they had one every two years, and you start doing the math, in 40 years that means you have 20 children, right? And then, you know, they can start reproducing let’s say 30. After 140 years, there could have been 6 million people in the world. Now I did that a couple of times on a calculator. You check on me. But let me just put it this way. There was more than enough for a city. So Cain, his clan and his family grew very rapidly. And they built a city. First time a city is built in the Bible on earth it’s man, the first murderer, building a city. And from that date to the present, cities are hotbeds of iniquity. The only time that a city is mentioned in a positive light in the Bible is the New Jerusalem, the holy city. Now the reason for that problem where cities are usually a concentration of evil in this world is because the human heart, in its fallen condition, is desperately wicked. And cities are a concentration of people, predominately sinners. Abraham chose to live in the mountains. Lot went down to the two sin cities. And what happened to him? We’ll talk more about the country living here before we’re done.

So Cain he built a city and he left the presence of the Lord. His posterity, his clan, and he became the head of this clan, they turned their backs on God. And it begins to go through some of the descendants of Cain. And it especially mentions one in verse 19 by the name of Lamach. And it says, “And Lamach took for himself two wives.” Okay, we’ve got to pause right here. How many wives did God give Adam? And even Cain says he took his wife. Singular. But now all of a sudden we find a man named Lamach and he takes his wives. So you have the birth of bigamy, if not polygamy. And he has them at the same time because he addresses them together. And this is an interesting character because something happens and the Bible doesn’t elaborate a lot but it says in verse 19, “Then Lamach took for himself two wives, the name of one was Ada and the name of the second was Zilah. And Ada bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.” And they have these sons that are the fathers of different industry. “His brother’s name was Jubil.”

You’ve heard of jubilee and jubilation. It springs from the name of this patriarch. “He was the father of those who play the harp and the flute. As for Zilah, she also bore Tubalcain.” And that’s a combination of two names. “An instructor in every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.” Now those names, very quickly, I want to review that for you. Jabal means stream. Jubil means ram or ram’s horn. You know during the jubilee they blow the ram’s horn. Right? Tubalcain means a producer and a smith. And so this man Lamach, he and his posterity gives birth to these leaders of these different industries, you might say. But then something else is stated here. It tells us that Lamach evidently makes this utterance, in verse 23, “He said to his wives, Ada and Zilah, ‘Hear my voice oh wives of Lamach. Listen to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me. Even a young man for hurting me. If Cain is avenged seventy fold, then Lamach seventy-seven fold.’” Now what he’s saying is, he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Cain and he murders. But he says, “At least I was provoked. This young man,” through some dispute or quarrel, “wounded me. I defended myself and I killed him. So if God is going to avenge Cain and he was unprovoked, sevenfold, when I had a cause for murder, then I’ll be avenged seventy-seven fold.” And as you get on later in chapter 6 it says, “The thoughts of men’s hearts were only evil continually and violence filled the land.” There were no deputies roaming around. And murder became a way of life. So just wanted to give you a little back ground here.

Something else that I discovered as I was looking through these genealogies—it traces the genealogy of Cain and then in a moment we’ll be tracing a little in the genealogy of Seth—is that there seems to be a counterfeit lineage. A counterfeit heredity. Four of the first seven generations of Cain have the same names as four in the first seven generations of Seth’s family tree. And it’s almost as if the devil is trying to confuse or create a counterfeit in advance of the genuine. You know it’s often true that the counterfeit precedes the genuine. That’s when it’s the most tricky. In the book Great Controversy you’ll read that just before the second coming of Jesus there will be a counterfeit revival that precedes the genuine. Do you know before Jesus came, have you read in the book of Acts, Gamalial said, “There have been two other false Christs that came before this man Jesus.” Counterfeits that preceded the genuine. Is there going to be a counterfeit second coming before the genuine takes place? A counterfeit appearance of Christ? And here’s this generation of these counterfeits. Some of their names were Enoch, Mahalial, Methusial, which is very similar to Methuselah, and Lamach. All four of those names. I thought that was interesting. I don’t know exactly where to go.

But men began to multiply. Now not only were the descendants of Cain multiplying, the descendants of Adam and Seth were multiplying. Now first you need to notice in Genesis chapter 4, it tells us that God gave Adam and Eve a replacement for Seth. Genesis 4:25, “Adam knew his wife again,” this is after the murder of Abel, “and she bore a son and named him Seth. ‘For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel whom Cain killed.’ And unto Seth to him also a son was born and he named him Enosh.” Now the word Enosh means mortal. It’s almost as though Seth is a, I don’t want to say reincarnation, he’s more like a resurrection of Abel. Abel was a type of Christ. And God gives Adam and Eve another son who is after the image of Adam. As a matter of fact, if you read in Genesis 5:1 and then again in verse 3, in the book of genealogy of Adam, “In the day that God created man He made him in the likeness of God.” Adam is the son of God and the likeness of God. But then in verse 3 in chapter 5 it says, “And Adam lived 130 years and he begat a son in his own likeness.” Now obviously that means Adam had Cain and Abel before he was 130, right? Because he had Seth afterwards. Adam is made in the image of God. But Cain is in the image of Adam. In the image of fallen Adam. Man is now mortal. So Seth has a son and he names his son Enosh. Mortal, we are mortal. Seth evidentally does not think like Cain. He realizes we’ve got a short probationary time to choose God. And they began to call on the name of the Lord.

You know I the Hebrew, I looked this up. It can be translated after he names Enosh, it says, “And men began to be called by the name of the Lord.” Now this is why this is important. When we get to chapter 6 in just a few moments, there’s a very difficult passage. One of the most common Bible questions we get on our radio program regards Genesis chapter 6. When the sons of God saw the daughters of men. How many of you have wondered about that? If you’ve heard questions about that, I’m trying to establish something here that I want to be very clear later. And it’s that Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and built a city. And his descendants. You’ve got a city, you’ve got people, right? And Seth has a son and they began to call on the name of the Lord. They became, instead of being called the sons of men, mortal, they are now called the sons of God. And they begin to serve God.

Now just in order to keep things in their chronological order, I want to return to chapter 5 and I want to bring out another character very quickly. Oh wait. Before I do that. Chapter 5 verse 4. “After he begat Seth the days of Adam were 800 years and he begat sons and daughters.” That means over a period of 800 years he had other sons and daughters. Can you imagine having a family with like 600 in it? That’s not counting grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I mean, you and I think we can’t imagine that. Well we can’t imagine living 900 years either, can we? We can’t imagine what the world was like before the flood. And you and I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when Jesus comes again. The Bible says it’s not even entered into our hearts. Things have changed friends. Amen? Sin changed things. Then it says here Seth lived 105 years and he had Enosh. And after he begat Enosh, Seth lived 800 years and had sons and daughters. And you go through the family tree here and it says, “sons and daughters.” That means it’s only naming the primary firstborn sons through whom the Messiah would come. That’s not saying they didn’t have other children. They probably had hundreds of other children. You and I just… It’s mind boggling for us. For some of you it’s terrifying to think about that. But it’s a fact. And you start thinking about how many people were probably on the earth by the time of the flood. I heard one number that was over a billion. And the person they have a pretty compelling argument using the math. Even conservatively, there were a lot of people that lived back then before the flood.

Now I want to bring your attention to chapter 5 verse 20. The seventh generation from Adam was a man named Enoch. Not Enoch the son of Cain, another Enoch. He is the son of Jared. And it says in verse 21, “Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methuselah.” Now something else I want you to know before I get there. It says Adam lived 130 years and he has Seth. Seth lives 105 years and he has Enosh. Enosh lives 90 years and he has Cainun. Cainun lives 70 years and he has Mahalial. Mahalial lives 65 years and he has Jared. Enoch lives 62 years and he has Methuselah, or 65 years and he has Methuselah. Do you see something that’s happening here? They start out having their children and they’re over 100, have the first child. And that is very consistently going down in age. You know it says in Isaiah the child shall die 100 years old. You ever read that? People get confused and think, “What kind of prophecy is that? In heaven it’s talking about the wolf lies down with the lamb, the days of the tree are like the days of My people. The child will die 100 years old. What?” Child going to die 100 years old, that’s an unfortunate translation. That word die also means cease to be. And what it says is a child will not cease to be a child until they’re 100. Now at what age in our bodies do we cease to be children? Puberty? Teenage? Some of you still aren’t there. It depends on how you were raised. But you know, typically they figure that somewhere between 13 and 18 you are supposed to be considered a man or a woman. And bodies change, you begin to mature.

Stephen was telling me yesterday he’s thinking about getting married already. While we were washing the car. I said, “That’s good. When are you going to do that?” He said, “Maybe when I’m 30.” I said, “Good. That’s the right age.” He said, “No, maybe 27.” I said, “Alright, that might do.” Then he said, “Maybe 25.” I said, “That’s it. No sooner.” But you know, back then they matured much more slowly. They grew slower. And in heaven it’s going to be restored to that original plan where children will be maturing slowly. We’re going to… You know the Bible does say children don’t stay children forever in heaven. Malachi says they go forth and grow up. Right? So they’re going to grow up, but we’re going to enjoy them longer. And they’ll not cease to be children until they’re 100. That’s all that means. And you can see here that with sin, because our lives were shortened, the importance to reproduce sooner was more pressing. And men began, and women began, to mature and reproduce sooner.

In any event… It says Enoch lived 65 years and he begat Methuselah. After he begat Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and he had sons and daughters. Now a couple of things I want to bring to your attention. Both with Seth and with Enoch, after they had a child, their attitude about God changed. Enoch lived 65 years and he had Methuselah. After he begat Methuselah, he walked with God. Here it says after Seth had Enosh they began to call on the name of the Lord. Now, I’ll do a survey. You might want an audience shot, those of you in the studio. How many of you who are parents, after you became parents, your concept of God and His love was greatly enhanced? Let me see your hands. When you become a parent it does something to you to help you recognize how much God much love you. Because you’ve got this, if you’re normal, you have this natural affection and we are prewired with this sacrificial love for our children. And then when you think about how God loved the world so He gave His Child, it greatly expands your concept about how much He must love us. And also the way that we are willing to love and provide for our children, we have a better understanding of how He loves and provides for us.

Jesus drew on this when He said, “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask?” Christ constantly tried to help us understand that God is not just the almighty creator, how did Jesus refer to Him? Our Father in heaven. Seth had Enosh, Enoch had Methuselah, and their experience with God was transformed because of that. Now I’m not saying that to tell you to go out there and reproduce like bunnies so you can get closer to God. I’m saying that just for those of you who have become parents, you’ll understand what’s happening here in the Bible. That’s not the way to have a revival with God, to go have children. It’s a way to have tribulation.

Now I’m going to return to Enoch. As a matter of fact, I’m going to finish up with Enoch walking with God. But I… Because the Bible does this. It goes forward then it backs up and it elaborates. I want you to move down with me to… Well, it tells us that, of course, Enoch had Methuselah, Enoch walked with God, and God took him, Methuselah then had Lamach, Lamach had Noah, and Noah had his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. That verse, 32, is a confusing verse. Because when you add up the ages in the Bible it always tells when the first born son was born. It doesn’t do that with Noah’s three sons. And when they’re trying to add up the ages in the Bible, it’s hard to know, were they triplets? Shem, Ham, and Japheth. At what point were they born? Did he wait 500 years before he had a child? That’s not like anyone before him. And so, it’s silent there. And when people are trying to track out at what time Adam was created, Bishop Usher’s chronology, they come to about 4,004 B.C. But right here with Noah is a weak link in the chain, because it doesn’t tell us how old Noah was precisely when one of the sons was born.

Chapter 6 verse 1, “Now it came to pass that when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.” Now I want to read this to you from another version. And some of you may have a copy of one of these versions with you. This is from the Living, actually the New Living Translation, which is largely a paraphrase and not even a translation. I’m not going to ask you to tell me if you have a Bible that reads similar, but this translation, and others like it, have caused untold confusion regarding this verse. Here it goes, Genesis 6:1, “When the human population began to grow rapidly on the earth that the sons of God saw the beautiful women of the human race and they wanted them as their wives. And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time for they’re only mortal flesh. In the future they’re only going to live 120 years.’ In those days, even afterward, giants lived on the earth.

For whenever the sons of God had intercourse with human women they gave birth to children who became heroes mentioned in legends of old.” Now have you heard before that these sons of God were angels, or fallen angels, or aliens that had intimate relations with human women? Can you point to anything else in the Bible that would support some kind of a crazy story like that? That is National Enquirer Translation. I don’t know any other way to say it. The first time I heard that I went, “What?” Because Jesus says very clearly that angels neither marry nor are they given in marriage, right? They’re not… Do you think angels are lusting after humans the way humans do with each other? The Bible says He made each one after its kind. And, if anything, angels would be interested in angels and they don’t even reproduce among themselves. Why would they be interested in humans that are made lower than angels? This is absurd. And did you know that you can’t even cross… I’d better be careful what I choose here right now. You can’t cross a porcupine and a skunk. I mean, no matter what you try, they just won’t fertilize. Why would humans and angels be compatible that way? It’s so absurd. And then the other idea that it’s aliens. You think God’s allowing that? No, no, no. What does it mean though?

Now how many of you will believe what the Bible says? Will you believe the Bible? If we let the Bible be its own interpreter, let’s find out who are the sons of God. First of all, in the gospel of John 1:12, a lot of verses here, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God.” So who are the sons of God? Those who received Him. Did Cain receive the Lord? No. Did Seth and his descendants receive the Lord? Yes. Isaiah 56:5, “Even them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters.” The sons and daughters of God were the descendants of Seth. Here’s a quote from the book Patriarchs and Prophets, page 82, “Many…” It will give you a little history about what was happening during this time. “Many of the worshipers of God were beguiled into sin by the allurements that were now constantly before them. And they lost their peculiar holy character. Mingling with the depraved, they became like them in spirit and in deeds. The restrictions of the seventh commandment,” the one on adultery, “were disregarded. And they took them wives of all they chose.” It suggests that the descendants of Seth saw the daughters of Cain, that they were beautiful, and they began to take multiple wives from them.

“The children of Seth went in the way of Cain,” the Bible tells us in Jude 11. You don’t have to wonder what happened. “The children of Seth went in the way of Cain.” They began to lose their distinctive worship of God. They compromised. The same way the southern king of Judah began to worship the idols of the northern kingdom. The same way the protestants have began to embrace the paganism of Catholicism. It’s just the history of the world that humans, by virtue of our nature, seem to gravitate to the lowest common denominator. As long as they maintained a distinction, and the descendants of Cain stayed up in the mountains… I’m sorry, the descendants of Seth stayed up in the mountains and worshiped God, and they had more of a nomadic lifestyle, they remained pure. But when they began to come down to the valleys for commerce or whatever purposes, they saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they began to intermarry. And they were unequally yoked. They no longer walked separately. And as a result, they began to adopt their customs, and their religion, and turn their backs on God.

I want to give you a little more evidence here. It says, “They fixed their minds on worldly prosperity and enjoyment, and neglected the commandments of the Lord.” What happened to Lot? When Lot was living with Abraham, God blessed him. He prospered. His family was safe. When Lot cast his eyes toward Sodom, and his daughters began to marry the men of Sodom, did he lose those daughters? Did he end up losing his wife? Because he compromised and he was unequally yoked with the people of Sodom. He almost lost his life when the angels came. There’s a time for us to remain distinct. Let me give you some more Scriptures to ratify the sons of God were not aliens. I really want to make this clear. 1 John 3:1, 2. You know this one. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.” So who are the sons of God? Those who accept the Lord. The descendants of Seth. Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.” 2 Corinthians 6:18, “I’ll be a Father unto you and you will be My sons and My daughters.” Galatians 3:26, “For you are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Revelation 21:7, “He that overcomes shall inherit all things and I’ll be his God and they will be My sons.” So this concept that the sons of God were angels or aliens…

Now, I need to be honest. There are Scriptures that lead to that. If you read in the book of Job, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Who are those sons of God? Well, they may be angels. They may be leaders of other worlds. Because you read it in its context and it’s some heavenly meeting. But here in Genesis, when it’s talking about there are two distinct classes, the descendants of Seth that worshiped the Lord, they call on the name of the Lord, the descendants of Cain that walked away from the presence of the Lord, but then they began to intermarry. And the result of those intermarriages, turn with me back to Genesis chapter 6. What happened? “It came to pass when the sons of God saw the daughters of men, they were beautiful, they took wives of all they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man forever. He is indeed flesh. His days will be 120 years.’” I disagree with the New Living Translation that says, “In the future he’ll only live 120 years.” This is telling us there’s going to be 120 years until judgment falls. Because immediately following this it tells that God calls Noah. “The Spirit of God strove for 120 years that they would turn from their wickedness before the judgment came.” The only lifespan restriction God gives is the three score and ten that you find in Psalms.

Now here’s where people get confused. It says, “There were giants in the earth,” verse 4, “in those days. Afterward the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” “Okay Doug. Obviously if the offspring,” someone is arguing, “Doug if the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men are these super-humans, they must have, the sons of God must have been supernatural creatures.” No, it’s a very common law of genetics. It’s called genetic vitality. If you get… And we’ve got doctors up here nodding. If you get two family trees of any mammal, creature, and you just interbreed within that clan, the genes become weakened. And if you get another group over here and they just interbreed within that clan, it happens in Africa all the time with the lions that are isolated by geography, and if you introduce a new lion, there is vitality in the offspring. They’ll be bigger. Animal breeders know this. How do you think they get Great Danes and some of these creatures?

They take the vitality and the strong points of certain creatures and they mingle them together. Did you know, the average height of Americans has gone up in the last 80 years? Considerably. And geneticists say it is not only due to improved nutrition. It’s improved genetics. You know what an American is? Heinz 57. The average American is a melting pot. How many of you here have got about 10 nationalities in your family tree? You’re an American. But do you know what? Those people… I don’t know why my son Micah was 6 foot 2. No one else in the family was. But you get these combinations of genetics and it creates a vitality. That’s why it was saying they were great men. Now if it said that they had horns and purple eyes, then I’d say, “Well, maybe they were aliens.” But they were humans. They were just very powerful, bright, strong humans. So it’s just a law called genetic vitality.

Now something I want to draw out of this is when the sons of God began to intermarry with the daughters of men, did the daughters of men move to the mountains and become godly? Or did the sons of God move to the valleys and become worldly? Why does God tell us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers? Because Christians are to be snobs? Or is it because there is a potential that the unbeliever will do most of the influencing? We already have… Is it easier to pull something down or to pull it up? It’s always easier to pull something down. If you’re going to push a truck and jump start it, do you want to push it uphill or downhill? How many of you would rather push it downhill? You know why? Because you’ve got a law of gravity in your favor. And when there’s a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever, the unbeliever has gravity in their favor. We are already naturally inclined downward. And so, there are exceptions. I’ll admit there are exceptions. There are times when an unbeliever marries a believer and the believer influences the unbeliever. And sometimes God is merciful that way. But typically, that’s not the way it works. God gives a lot of counsel in His Word that we should avoid intermarriages with those that we’re not compatible with.

Let me give you a couple of examples of this. In Deuteronomy 22:9-11. Here’s an interesting passage. Talking about walking separately, a separate walk. Deuteronomy 22:9, “You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown, and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.” Did you know that if you take purebred crookneck squash and you allow it to cross-pollinate with zucchini, that the seeds of those squash, because you’ve planted them together, will not yield pure crookneck or zucchini? How many of you know that from gardening? It gets defiled because they cross-pollinate. You lose that specific variety that you were after. “Furthermore,” Moses said here, he says, “your seed, your vineyard will be defiled. You shall not plow with an oxen and a donkey together.” Now there’s a Scripture for not being unequally married. I can say that and you don’t know what I’m talking about. But you know what I’m talking about, right? Because I’m not being specific. How many of you men have 4-wheel-drive trucks?

How many of you got 4-wheel-drive anything? It’ll work. How important is it to have the tires on all four wheels the same size? You know what happens if you don’t? I found out. It wasn’t my fault. Karen and I had a 4-wheel-drive minivan a few years ago. We took it into Winston Tire. The man did not know it was a 4-wheel-drive. And he ran out of the same size tire, so he put one size on the front and one size on the back that were different. The wheels were not turning the same speed. As I was on my way to Covelo it blew out the transmission because it created a resistance. When you get married, you want to have the same size tires so you are turning together, right? You know what I’m talking about? He goes on to say, “You’ll not plow with an oxen and donkey. You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.” Now this may have been an injunction for being ostentatious, but God is saying you shouldn’t be wearing cotton and wool. You know one reason for that? Because your body adjusts its temperature differently for different parts of the body. And the way your body is going to adjust to cotton is very different from the way it would adjust to linen or wool. You should be consistent. It doesn’t say it’s wrong to wear linen, or it’s wrong to wear cotton. Just don’t wear them mixed up.

Now these principles, if they ever apply anywhere, it applies when it comes to being married. Not only is it important that Christians should marry Christians, I think it’s very important that Christians should marry Christians of the same faith. That’s not unique to my church. You’re not going to find a Baptist preacher, or a good Methodist preacher, or even a Catholic priest that’s going to say, “Oh, as long as you’re a Christian it doesn’t matter.” They know there’s going to be serious problems if you marry someone of a different faith. Sometimes it’ll mean you won’t know what day to take the kids to church. You know what I’m saying? Now what if you find yourself in a situation where you are married, and you are unequally yoked? Is Pastor Doug encouraging people to dissolve those marriages? Not at all. You read what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

If there’s any way you can hold the family together, by all means, by the grace of God, do it. Because who knows, Paul says, if the influence of the believing husband or wife will have a converting effect on the unbeliever. And the children, Paul says. The children. So you ought to do everything in your power to hang in there. And, of course, there are some people who, you were worldly Pagans. And one of you, when you got married, worldly Pagans, one of you accepts the Lord and the other one doesn’t. And it’s not really their fault. They thought they married a Pagan and they were compatible. You know, you can’t really be too hard on them. And then you become a Christian. Some of you were raised in the church, you wandered a while out there in the world, and you married a Pagan. And then you repent, you come back to the Lord. And the Pagan is saying, “Hey, this isn’t fair. It’s not what I bargained for. I wanted a wife who would eat, drink, and be merry with me. And now you’re going to church all the time.”

Well, you need to learn how to not compromise your convictions, but still love your spouse. And do everything you can to influence them for Christ. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 3 that by the godly behavior of the wife, or the husband, by the godly conversation, you will be preaching a sermon that can bring about the conversion of your mate. But a lot of people get into years of misery and heartache because they think that they’re an exception. They think, “I know that she’s a daughter of Cain, but she’s fair.” That doesn’t last, I’ll tell you that right now. What really lasts is the person that you’re going to have to live with. And you might be thinking, “I’ll convert her.” Or, “I’ll convert him. I know. He loves me so much, when I say, ‘Come to church with me,’ he’ll say, ‘Yes.’” How many of you know that during courtship there’s a lot of motivation that evaporates after marriage? So don’t deceive yourself. Just because he or she says yes to every question while you’re courting doesn’t mean it’s going to be that way after marriage. And a lot of people have brought a lot of heartache on themselves by thinking that God doesn’t mean what He says and they get unequally yoked.

Not only in marriage, but it’s very difficult… Ooh, I want to get to Enoch walking. I want to talk about that. But I also need to touch on this. In your business endeavors, you can buy yourself a lot of heartache by becoming involved financially with unbelievers. Because you get yourself into a snare where you have to go along with some things they may want to do, that violate your convictions and principles. You should avoid being entangled with unbelievers in your business dealings. “But Doug, are you saying that Christians should isolate themselves, and insulate themselves, and build a wall like Jerusalem and say, “We’re saved, we’re chosen, they’re lost, they’re frozen, we’re better than they are?” Is that what we’re teaching? No. Jesus prayed that not God would take the disciples out of the world, but He would keep them in the world, so they could have an influence without the world influencing them.

Enoch was a prime example of this. And maybe this is a good time for us to talk about that. And incidentally, I recommend as we study Genesis together that you get that book… How many of you have the book Patriarchs and Prophets? I recommend you take the book Patriarchs and Prophets, I’m just giving a quote here or there, and read along with me. I think you’ll find a lot of really inspired information there that will encourage you in your faith. Evidently, Enoch, after he had Methuselah, it did something to really thoroughly convert him. So his relationship with God was so thorough, he has the testimony that he walked with God. Now God sees everybody, everywhere, all the time. Jesus said to everybody here, “I am with you always.” Amen? You can have that privilege. But that’s not the same thing as you walking with Him all the time. How many of you would like to have the experience of Enoch? You know the Bible says Enoch, the seventh of Adam, was translated, he was raptured before the judgment came in the days of Noah because he walked with God.

How can we walk with God? Would you like to know the answer to that? I have a few points here that I think can make a difference. You might want to write some of these down.

Pray. Every day. Typically, if you’re walking with somebody you’re talking to them. If you walk with someone for a long time and you don’t say anything, you’re angry. But if you are in communication with someone and you’re walking with them, you’re communicating with them. Pray every day. Now the way that Enoch walked with God is he had that experience that Paul describes. 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Do you think that Paul is suggesting that we go around on our knees? When he says pray without ceasing that means being in an attitude where you are aware of the presence of God at all times. Pray without ceasing. I heard someone say one time, the reason that a bird can sleep on a phone line or a perch without falling off when it goes to sleep, you ever wondered about that, is because when a bird relaxes and bends his knee he is wired so that his talons constrict and grab. He can’t fall off. As a matter of fact, I’m ashamed to tell you. When I was a kid I was a little terror. I had a BB gun. I shot a dove while it was sleeping on a phone line. And he didn’t fall off, he just swung around and hung upside down. Because his knees were bent, he was asleep. When you keep your knees bent, it’s easy to hang on. You got that? When you keep your knees bent, it’s easy to hang on. And so, we’ve got to pray.

Another way we walk with God is that we need to read His Word. Now you knew I was going to say that. I’ll always say it. I’ll say it again next week. I say that so often because there is still an appalling indifference to the opportunity you and I have to know God and His will through His Word. The Bibles are available, but we get too busy to take time to really read the Word of God. You need to do it even if you don’t understand it. Keep reading, you’ll start understanding. You need to do it even if you don’t enjoy it. How many of you parents tell your kids to eat things they don’t enjoy? Fess up. Why? Because you know it’s good for them. You might not even know the good that it’s doing. You need to read His Word anyway. And you’ll get to where you understand it, and you’ll get to where you enjoy it. I actually enjoy broccoli now. I used to gag when I was a kid when my parents made me eat broccoli. You can ask my wife now. I’ll eat all the broccoli in the pot. I don’t eat peas. I never did get the victory. I never did get the victory over that. If they’re fresh in a salad, I can choke a few down. So read His Word. Psalm 119:105, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path.” You notice the reference here? The Word is helping you walk. It’s a lamp for your feet and a light for your path. So the Word better enables you to walk.

C. How do we walk with God? Trust Jesus to lead. You know, they say that when two people Tango, one needs to be the leader. And even if two are walking together, someone usually takes the initiative. Two cannot walk together unless they’re agreed, the Bible says. Let Jesus lead. Incidentally, that’s Amos 3:3. “Can two walk together unless they’re agreed?” And those words are later quoted by Christ. Hebrews 11:5, “Trust Jesus,” notice this, “trust Jesus to lead. By faith Enoch was taken away.” So how did he walk with God? By faith. He walked in a wicked generation. He lived up on the mountains, he communed with God, he’d go down to the city. And the Bible says that Enoch was a preacher of righteousness. When he would come down to the valley, Enoch had something to say. Enoch was translated. I want to be translated. He lived just before a time of the end, a judgment, which we’re living in. He walked with God. And the Bible says he preached the second coming and coming judgment. Have you read that passage there in Jude where it talks about what his preaching consisted of?

We want to walk with God consistently. A lot of people have a halting walk. In our walk we need to stay focused. And if you keep your eyes on the Lord as your goal, the Bible says not only can you walk, you can run. Looking unto Jesus we run the race. Amen? But you’ve got to stay focused on what the goal is, to be more consistent in our walk with the Lord. And I’ll give you a Scripture for that. Colossians 2:6, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him.” The same way you received Him, you walk in Him. Our lives ought to meet up with our profession. You know I heard about a missionary in India who was preaching to a bunch of Hindus who were sitting in the room. And the men sit on chairs and the women sit on the floor somewhere else. That’s the way they do it. And he noticed this one very dignified woman. She got up, she stared at him, and she walked outside. She came back in. Later in his discourse, he made an appeal to see who would accept Christ and she came forward. And he was talking to her and he said, “You know, I’m so pleased about your decision. But I’m curious. You went out and you came back in. What did you do when you got up and left so abruptly?” She said, “I knew your driver was out there, and I was impressed by what you were saying, but I wanted to know if you were genuine. I went out and asked your driver, ‘Is he really a man of God?’ And the driver said you were. So I came back in and gave my heart to the Lord.” What will your driver say? You want to be consistent in your following the Lord, to walk consistently with God.

We become like the ones we walk with. 1 Peter 2:21, “For to this you were called because Christ Jesus also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in His steps.” That’s a walk, isn’t it? You know, you become like the one you walk with. I can’t remember where I was, but somewhere during my vacation I saw a couple that had been married for about 60 years. And it just really amazed me how they looked like each other. And I wondered if they started out looking like each other. Or do you become like each other? Have you heard that adage that pets start looking like their owners after a while? There’s some dynamic in life I can’t explain, but you end up becoming like the ones that you walk with. Hopefully you’re spending more time walking with your spouse than your dog. Psalm 1:1, 2, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his delight he meditates day and night.” If we walk with God, we become like God. 1 Corinthians 15:33.

I love when I see some of you dip down and you write these Scriptures down. “Do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits.” Christians need to pray that God will give them wisdom and grace so that we can know how to balance being in the world and walking separately. Can you say, “Amen?” You’ve got to know how to balance being in the world. If you are mingling with unbelievers, let it be for the purpose of witnessing to them, and not letting them… You should not have your social fulfillment with the godless. It should be with the godly. But you should not isolate or insulate yourself from the lost, because how else can we be an influence? How else can we win the lost? Someone once said it’s sort of like a ship in the water. Christians in the church are to be like a ship in the water. We’re to be there so we can save people into the ship. But if the water gets into the ship, you’ve got a problem. You need to maintain that separation.

And ultimately, if you’re going to walk with the Lord, allow Him to carry your burdens. That’s the good news. The Bible tells us that we can cast all of our cares upon Him because He cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7. You know the Bible tells us Jesus is inviting us, in Matthew 11, to yoke up with Him. And He says that He will labor with us. You know two animals that are yoked together walk together. The good news is that Christ is the lead oxen, you might say, the lead sled dog. He is taking the brunt of the load. And He breaks the way for us. If we walk with Him He will bear our burdens. If you walk alone, you bear your own. And He offers to take that for us.

You know, in this little passage we’ve learned something very important. When we fail to maintain that separation and to walk with God, we lose our purpose for existing as a church. I want to finish by reading this last passage. After the believers, with the exception of Noah and Enoch, maybe Methuselah, but after the believers compromised with the world… How many of you would think that’s happening today? You see the church is compromising with the world? I don’t want to be a church like that. Do you? I want to be a Bible-based church. What happens when they compromised? “And the Lord was sorry that He made man on the earth. And He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air. For I am sorry that I have made them.’” The Bible says then,” verse 5, chapter 6, “The Lord saw that wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Man was thoroughly baptized in selfishness. And God was grieved, brokenhearted, that He had made man. What made that change? When the sons of God saw the daughters of men.

One more thing, friends, I’ve got to add here. What does a woman represent in prophecy, Bible symbols? When the sons of God began to marry the churches, the religions, of the world, these are the daughters of Babylon. This is what it’s talking about. Then what happened? The world was corrupt. We are to maintain a distinction. Amen? We are to maintain a purity. And how do you do that? Like Enoch. Like Noah. The Bible says he walked with God too. We’ve got to walk with the Lord every day by choosing to spend time with Him in prayer, in study. The Bible says that whoever abides in Him does not sin. Wouldn’t you like to have that experience, to abide in Christ? If that’s your prayer, let’s reach for our hymnals. We’ve got a perfect hymn today. It’s about Enoch. It’s Savior Let Me Walk With Thee. What is that, 554? In your hymnals. And let’s stand together as we sing.

[Singing]

How many of you would like to say, “Lord, please give me the experience of Enoch. Where no matter what is happening in the world around me, I can abide in You. I can walk with You. I can practice Your presence all the time.” Is that your prayer friends? I want to be one of those people that can be translated when Jesus comes because of that relationship. Let’s sing verse 3 together and make it a prayer in our hearts.

[Singing]

Father in heaven, Lord, we’ve talked today about some of the crucial elements of the Christian life. What it means to walk with Jesus and yet remain separate from the world. Lord, I pray that You’ll give us wisdom that we might maintain this balance to love the lost and yet not walk in their ways. Lord, some of us are alone. We’re looking for our life’s mate. We’re tempted sometimes to behold the beautiful attributes in the people in the world and to forget that very clear command that we are not to be unequally yoked, to trust You and to be patient, and to wait, that we find that person that we’re compatible with. Lord, I pray You’ll give these people strength. Some of us here Lord, we’re involved in marriages where we are committed to people who have either given up their faith or do not share our faith, and there’s conflict in the home. Give us a double portion of Your Spirit and strength so that these individuals, Lord, can have the grace and the wisdom so that they can maintain the relationship with Jesus, keeping Him as their priority and still wooing and loving their spouse by their example. Some of us may be, Lord, involved in by our work, our business relationships, the distractions of the ungodly. I pray that You’ll give us the grace and help us, like Enoch, to spend time in the light on the mountain with Thee. That we can be sons and daughters of God and not be compromising with the world in the valley below. Please, Lord, help us to be a distinct and a peculiar people. I pray that we will not be ashamed of our calling. I pray that we will cling tenaciously to the faith of our fathers and to Your Word. Help us to do anything and everything we can do that we might cultivate a walk with God. This we ask in the name of Your Son Jesus. Amen.