MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,
THIS month finds us still in the Genesis room, only another attendant is waiting to conduct you, this time to a very quiet looking portrait, for which you will find you will equally require the New Testament guide.
In case you should not have your Bibles at hand, I will quote some verses, about which I wish to have a little talk with you. "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
“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.”
So this is pronounced by the very highest decision, a pleasing portrait. Men may have thought otherwise, against whom he prophesied so solemnly, as we read in Jude 1414And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 14); but can you think of any commendation higher than that he pleased God? Remember, it is not man's commendation, but God's, given to us by the Holy Spirit.
We are not told of any great thing that Enoch did, but it is certain he was a man of faith. Consequently he was an obedient man; and in the path ‘of obedience he was not only in the path of safety, but on the road where he could walk with God.
In the prophet Amos, there is a verse which 'says, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” So God's thoughts and his thoughts must have been the same.
You all know what a difference it makes, when you go for a walk, if your companion likes what you like, and dislikes what you do. You get on -splendidly and the walk is enjoyment; whereas, if your tastes differ, every moment is irksome.
Now I am sure you would like to please God; but you say, How? for we are not like Enoch. Well, dear children, Enoch's God is the same now as then. The first step towards pleasing God is obedience. God prefers it to sacrifice. Samuel the prophet told Saul, the first king of Israel, that, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." And "without faith it is impossible to please him," for faith, or believing what God says, must be the foundation of all obedience.
Now when the Lord Jesus was baptized in Jordan, God spoke from heaven, and said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." All through His life on earth, He was the obedient One, and the attitude of His soul was, "Not my will, but thine be done.”
Now I want to put you to the test of obedience. On the Mount of Transfiguration, God spoke-through the cloud that overshadowed the Lord Jesus and the disciples, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." Now, dear ones, are you willing to hear Him, and so please God? Jesus said, "He that heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life." Do you mean to hear and believe?
Again He said, "Him that cometh to me I: will in no wise cast out." Will you come? Just: as you are, without any preparation, come and accept His gift of eternal life, without money and without price. Enoch could do nothing for salvation, only believe God. Neither can you; and. if the Lord Jesus comes while you are still alive, and you are looking for Him, He will take you away without seeing death, just as Enoch was taken. And by-and-bye you will walk with Him in white, and see His face; and join in the-alleluias' of the redeemed, who have been washed from their sins, and been made whiter than snow. Walking with God here, means an eternity of joy hereafter.