In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of recognizing the influence we have on our children. He highlights the biblical concept that children inherit the nature and characteristics of their parents. The speaker encourages parents to take responsibility for their children's behavior and not to blame them for their own stubbornness or disobedience. He also discusses the contrast between Jerusalem and Babylon, emphasizing the significance of leaving a lasting impact through our lives rather than seeking fame or recognition. The sermon also addresses the sins that emerged in the descendants of Cain, namely sexual sin and violent anger, and emphasizes the need for total victory in these areas. The speaker concludes by highlighting the example of Enoch, who had a life-changing crisis that led him to remain faithful to God for 300 years.

We saw it in our last study that in Cain and Abel we see the beginning of two streams which end up in the book of Revelation as Babylon and Jerusalem, both are religious streams. Cain was not an atheist. Cain did not approach a false God. He approached the true God, but he approached the true God in a wrong way. Abel came with blood in his sacrifice, he came with faith in his heart, and he came with righteousness in his life. And that's the thing that made the difference. There was blood in his sacrifice, faith in his heart, and righteousness in his life. And I think above everything else, he had what the Bible says are the acceptable sacrifices of God, a broken and a contrite spirit. And we can say that essentially the difference between Jerusalem and Babylon is this. Jerusalem comprises of those who have a broken and a contrite spirit. That is the sacrifice that God accepts. We need to compare this verse in Psalm 51 with the sacrifices that these two brothers brought. It says in Psalm 51, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou is not despised. And if the word of God says that God had respect unto Abel and to his sacrifice, it must mean that Abel had a broken spirit. Because behind that sacrifice was a broken spirit. That's what made it acceptable. Whereas behind the offering of Cain was an arrogant spirit, one who was self-confident and capable, and God rejected it. It's the same today. There are those who come to God in faith with a broken spirit, and they are accepted. There are others who come in pride and self-sufficiency, and who are rejected no matter what they bring. And we must never forget it, because we live in the midst of a Christendom that does not place the emphasis on the heart behind the offering. Always the emphasis is on the offering. If a man gives one lakh to a Christian work, so much is made of that. Oh, one lakh. It may be Cain giving that one lakh. That doesn't seem to disturb a lot of Christians. It does disturb God. Or someone gives something for the Lord's work, his full time, he gives up his job or something. That's not the thing. The point is what's behind that sacrifice. Is it a broken spirit? Otherwise we can never build a church. And it is those who do not have a broken spirit who end up persecuting those who do have a broken spirit, calling them heretics, etc. There's a very interesting word we see in Revelation chapter 18, concerning Babylon, verse 24. Revelation 18 is all about Babylon. And in the last verse of this chapter on Babylon, Revelation 18, 24, it says, And in Babylon was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and listen to this, and of all who have been slain on the earth. Who was the first? Abel. The blood of Abel, it says here, was found in Babylon. So we have New Testament confirmation of the fact that the religion Cain started was the religion of Babylon. Revelation 18, 24 proves that beyond doubt. And that's why it's very important for us to study Cain. Because then we have an understanding of Babylon today. Now we move on to Genesis chapter 4. We saw that Cain was also a picture of the Jews who crucified Christ. Abel was a picture of Christ and Cain was a picture of the Jews. And we can say that the Jews had a Babylonian religion and Jesus had the religion of Jerusalem from above. And one persecuted the other. It's the same thing happening today. When we proclaim the truth of Jerusalem in the true church, there is always the Babylonians who are there to persecute. But we read here that God had mercy on Cain like He's had mercy on the Jews and He spared him, He spared the Jews. But it says here finally, verse 16, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. This is hell. Hell means no presence of the Lord. There's a phrase in English called a God-forsaken place. The only truly God-forsaken place is hell. That's really a God-forsaken place. What is the fire of hell? The fire of hell is the fact that God is not there. Mercy is not there. God's mercy is removed. And that is what makes hell, hell. So we see here, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, which means wandering, east of Eden. Which means there was some manifestation of the Lord's presence, probably at the gate of Eden. When he went out from the presence of the Lord means he went away from there. Maybe that was the place where they offered these sacrifices, at the gate of Eden. And then, Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Now, this is not the Enoch who walked with God. This is quite a contrast to that Enoch who comes later on in chapter 5. This is another man who was the son of Cain, the first son of Cain. And it's very interesting to see what Cain did. He built a city. And there we have, as we go through this chapter, you'll see the rise of five things that begin with Cain's descendants. And the first thing that begins is the beginning of city life. God made man to live in a garden. God made man to live by the sweat of his ground, but Cain was the first person who built a city. And we know that there is a lot of evil that has come through city life. But Cain was the one who began that. And he called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. This desire to perpetuate one's name is there began with Cain. He wanted to glorify the name of his son. This city will be called Enoch, so that for generations people will remember my son. We see it today also, so-and-so memorial building. You know where it began? With Cain's son. So-and-so memorial church. You see, Babylon is there right from there, naming something after a person. This room was donated by so-and-so. It's there. Cain began that type of stuff. This fan was donated by so-and-so. I've seen it. It's amazing. This chair was donated by so-and-so in some church building. It started with Cain, who put a name to that city to perpetuate one's name. It's a terrific lust. Grandfathers who are very eager that their grandchildren should be named after them. Cain started this business. This name must be perpetuated. Why can't we just live and die, and let it be forgotten? Why this great lust, this spirit of Babylon? It's permeated all over. It began with Cain. And yet, what about Abel? No city was named after him. But do you know what the word of God says about Abel? Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, and you'll see a contrast. There you see the difference between Abel and Cain. The difference between Jerusalem and Babylon. Hebrews 11.4 By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts. And through faith, listen to this. Though no city was built after his name, though he is dead, 4,000 years later, and now 6,000 years later, he's still speaking. He's still speaking more than that other son of Cain's called Enoch. That city which Cain built for his son is destroyed long ago. In fact, most people don't even know about it. But Abel, his life still speaks. What do we see the contrast in these two things? Abel speaks by his life. Whereas Cain wanted his son's name to be exalted. And that is the difference. Do you want people to know your name? Your name should be well known. Or are you more concerned that your life should bless others? This is the difference between Jerusalem and Babylon. And we need to see it. Never mind if nobody knows our name. Never mind if people forget all about our name. But if our life can make an impression on them that even after we are dead and gone, even if no grandchild of mine is ever named after my name, I'm not interested in that. But that the influence of my life should carry on to generations. That's much more important than having a silly name carried on. That's something we need to be gripped by. It's not a small thing. Because we all love our own names. There's a book written by a world famous man in America called Dale Carnegie who wrote a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's written for businessmen how to promote your business and how to be a good speaker and all. One of the things he says in that book is the sweetest word in the English language to any human being is his own name. You see, he studied human character and he said that. And so when you speak to a man he says, frequently use his name and he'll really be happy with you. It's really, he studied human character. We love our own name. And when people speak about our name, it means something to us. Unless we have cleansed ourselves from this spirit of Cain and of Babylon, that it means nothing. That we are only interested in our life. Think of that, my brothers and sisters. The rise of city life and promoting one's own name. There's a verse in Proverbs 10.7 which says, The memory of the righteous is blessed. That is Abel. This contrast actually in Proverbs 10.7 is between Abel and Cain. Son, the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. It's not a name. It's a memory of a righteous, God-fearing, humble, kind, pure, upright man. We don't know what his name was, but the influence of his life really blessed me. Covet that, my brothers and sisters, that we leave that impression when we leave the earth like Abel, instead of having some room donated by us or some fan donated by us, which informs everybody about our name. That'll rot. So that's the first thing we see here. The next thing we see in Genesis 4 is, in verse 18, Now Enoch was born Erad, and Erad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methuselah. Methuselah became the father of Lamech, in Genesis 4.19, and Lamech took to himself two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Silah. Once you begin to move away from God, you begin to perpetuate your own name, and you begin to move into immorality. Two wives, one is not enough. Coveting another woman, after being married to one. Maybe society does not permit people to have two wives now. People are scared to do that. There was no rules those days. But the spirit can still be there in a man today. Though he's married to one, he's not happy with that one. And sometimes he wishes he had married somebody else. What spirit does he have? He has the spirit of Lamech, who wants another wife. But he won't take one, because society does not permit it. If he were living in Lamech's day, he would have had two wives. Lots of people living today, even so-called believers, if they were living in Lamech's day, they'd have had two wives. Because they're not happy with the one they have. My dear brothers, if you're not happy with the wife you had, you've got the spirit of Lamech. You're wishing you're married to somebody else. And the chances are, if you were living there, you'd have married another one. That is Babylon. Unfaithfulness in married life is the essence of Babylon. The essence of Babylon. And there's a lot of this marital unfaithfulness in the thought life of lots of so-called believers. God's not fooled just because some of them talk about the new and living ways. The spirit of Lamech. You see what began to rise when Cain went out from the presence of the Lord? God's grace left him. And then all the spirit of Babylon developed so quickly. Marital unfaithfulness, the development of city life, and the man naming the city after his own son. Then, verse 20, had I give birth to Jebel, he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe. Then we see the rise of musical instruments. Very interesting to note that musical instruments were not invented by the descendants of Abel or set after him. They were invented by the descendants of Cain after he went out from the presence of the Lord. I'm not saying, therefore, musical instruments are sinful, just like I'm not saying that living in a city is sinful, even though the first city was built by Cain. We're all living in a city now. But we must remember that city life began with Cain. There are dangers, we need to beware of that. Musical instruments began with Cain's children. Never forget that. Then you've got to keep that in mind even when we have music in the church, or so-called Christian music. The spirit of the word can easily come in, just because the words are Christian. So much of so-called Christian music today is absolutely godless. I can't imagine Jesus Christ sitting and listening to any of that rubbish. It's called Christian because it puts the name of Jesus in it. I'm sure Jubal would have been glad to put such names also in it if it made his music more popular. It's the spirit, not the words. We've often said in the church, when you listen to a man preach, don't listen to the words. Listen to the spirit of the man. Gauge the spirit of the man. Remember this, my brothers and sisters, wherever you listen to people speaking. If you just listen to the words, I've heard believers, even so-called new and living way believers, as they call themselves, saying, oh, so-and-so is all right, he's speaking the right thing. Nil discernment. Nil. They can't discern his spirit. They can't discern the way he begs for money. They can't discern the way he violates scriptural principles. If you, oh, but he says so many nice things, he's so kind, he's so good. When will they have discernment? Listen to the spirit of a man. The same thing in music. It is not the words. It's the spirit behind it. It can never be justified by words. Just like preaching cannot be justified by words. It's the spirit. And there we have to judge ourselves to be able to get discernment. When man or a woman doesn't have discernment, can be pretty sure they are not judging themselves in their private lives. That's why God doesn't give them discernment. They remain undiscerning, only listening to words. Undiscerning about music, undiscerning about so many so-called Christian preachers. So there's the rise of musical instruments, string instruments, breath instruments, lyre and pipe. Verse 22. As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal Cain. Here's the, one of the grandchildren being named after the grandfather, Cain. I'm sure Cain would have been quite delighted that this chap named his son Tubal Cain. He was a big shot, Cain. Think of that. Godless, rejected by God. And they honored him. Man had drifted away, that whole generation of people. The forger of all implements of bronze and iron. The rise of industry. That's another thing that began with Cain's children. Industry. Implements of bronze and iron. I think mostly for fighting. Fighting with one another. The beginning of all these instruments of war. Began with Cain's children. And, for other purposes. Cain was obviously admired for his, this chap to name his son Tubal Cain. And the sister of Tubal Cain was Neema. And Lennox said to his wife, here's another thing. We've seen the rise of city life, the rise of bigamy, marital unfaithfulness, the rise of musical instruments, rise of industry. And now one more thing. The rise of false grace. False grace began here. And watch it. Lamech said to his wife, Adon Zillah, listen to my voice. You wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me, and a boy for striking me. But do you think God will judge me for that? No. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, like God said in verse 15, Lamech, me, 77-fold God will protect me. Even though I've killed somebody. What is that? The beginning of false grace. Quoting, what? Quoting God's word. Because you read in verse 15, it was God who said to Cain, if anybody kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And here is Lamech, who's got a hold of one word of God, and he says, God has said, vengeance will be taken sevenfold, much more on me, 77-fold. The beginning of misquoting God's word, the perversion of God's word, to justify and protect oneself even though one is a murderer. Think of that. That's Babylon. God, He will protect you brother. Even though you've sinned. And we see here why this man murdered. It's quite amazing. I killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. Can you imagine? This grown up man, that some boy came and hit him and he killed him just for that. Can you imagine how man, when they go away from the presence of the Lord, he, his children, grandchildren, they just become more and more evil. What are the sins we see in this chapter? Notice the sins that come forth first, after Cain has gone away from the presence of the Lord. Marital unfaithfulness, sexual sin, and the second is anger. Anger, making a man violent. Keep that in mind. These were the two sins that come forth in the descendants of Cain. Sexual sin and violent anger. That's why we say, in Jerusalem we speak about total victory in these two areas. A man who doesn't seek victory, complete victory in the sexual area, complete victory over his outbursts of temper, he can sit here, as I've often said for 25 years, he'll be a pillar in Babylon in the final days. Sure. Without a doubt. Doesn't matter where he sits. We need to see the development of Babylon here. And Adam had relations with his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth. For she said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him. And to Seth, to him also was a son born, and he called his name Enosh. And then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. This is a contrast to all these other children, that on the other side, another generation of people were calling on the name of God. They were not naming cities after their sons, they were calling on the name of God. It was a God-fearing seed. It's interesting to see there, something, a principle that comes very often in Scripture of God choosing the younger son. Very often. We see that in the case of Cain and Abel. We see that in the case of Ishmael and Isaac. In the case of Esau and Jacob. And in the case of the ten older children of Jacob and Joseph. The younger. In the case of Aaron and Moses. Moses was younger to Aaron. In the case of David, who was younger to his seven brothers. The first will be last. The last will be first. And we can't understand that in the day in which we live. Because in our day, in our generation, there's not so much difference between the older son and the younger son. Nowadays all our children sort of call each other by their first names and grow up. But in the older generations, the older son was like a real big shot. He was fierce. He was like the big brother, the boss in the family, who ruled everybody. And all the other brothers were like small little punes running around to do his errands for him. There are a few people like that today, also remnants of that stone age still living in these days. But God bypasses all this. These big shots who think they are the head of the family, you know, big brother, and chooses the one who is despised and being pushed around by everyone. And if you're one of those who's being pushed around by others, you can take hope, take heart from these examples, that God picks up the weak and the despised and the rejected. Not the ones who are big and pushed their way around. The point is not where you were born in the family. It's not your fault if you were born first, second or third. The point is an attitude. God despises all those who have a big brother attitude towards others, whether it's in a family or in a church or anywhere. He bypasses them completely. And I think Cain was like that, probably fostered by his parents, foolishly. But there was another seed, a younger seed, they began to call on the name of the Lord. Now we come to chapter 5 and verse 1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. It's a very interesting contrast. In Matthew 1.1 we read this is the book of the generations of Jesus Christ. In the King James Version, that's how it's translated. We can say the Bible has got two books. The book of the generations of Adam, what Adam produced, and the book of the generations of Jesus Christ, Matthew 1.1, what Jesus Christ produced. The old creation and the new creation. In the day when God created him, he made him in the likeness of God. Now see this. He created them male and female. That is man and woman. And he blessed them. And to both of them he gave one name. It's very interesting that the word of God says he named them the margin Adam. And that is why a woman takes the name of her husband when she gets married. Because God named both of them Adam. Even though her name was Eve. It meant that she had to leave her old connection to her father and mother. That's the meaning of cutting off that name of the father in order to take on the name of the husband. Some people do it, but they don't do it in spirit. When you take on the name of your husband you mean you have to cut off the name of your father. That's how it was. That's how God intended it, so that you can be totally united to your husband. And when Adam had lived 130 years he became the father of a son in his own likeness. You saw the contrast there? God made Adam in his likeness and Adam produced a son in his own likeness. Quite different from the way he was made by God. Teaching us right from the beginning of scripture that we produce children with the same nature as when you see a stubbornness in your child you see yourself. You're looking into a mirror. When you see disobedience in your child, you're looking into a mirror. Yeah. Think of that parent when you see something in your child. Remember this verse. You have produced a son in your own likeness. You have done a wonderful job of producing a stubborn disobedient creature just like yourself. So don't blame that one. You've got to discipline him of course. But never forget that he got all that from you. He got all that from you. That will teach us to be a little more merciful to our children and to judge ourselves a little more. And named him Seth. Now here it says he was 130 years and as far as we know Seth was born immediately after Abel was killed or soon after. That's how we know that Cain and Abel must have been around 130 years old when Cain killed Abel. Both crossed 100 years. They were not small boys. Cain was over 100 and Abel was over 100 when they killed each other. When one killed the other rather. When Cain killed Abel. And generally speaking in the Old Testament the daughters are not mentioned. It doesn't mean that Adam didn't have any daughters. As we said the other day, by this time, by the time Seth was born the population of the earth must have been around 50,000 people at least. That's why Cain says if somebody sees me he may kill me. So Seth was not just the third human being born into the world. He was born after Adam and Eve had lived 130 years and they had children and the children got married and they had grandchildren and the grandchildren got married. They probably spread all over that part of the earth. And then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and he died. And Seth lived 105 years and became the father of Enosh. And Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh and he had other sons and daughters. All the days of Seth were 912 and he died. And Enosh lived 90 years and became the father of Canaan. Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. He lived up to 905 and he died. And so on it speaks about Canaan's son Mahalil verse 12 he had other sons and daughters and then he died verse 14. And then Mahalil's son Jared verse 15 and then verse 17 Mahalil died. And Jared verse 18 here we come to the one we want to think about. He lived 100 verse 18 162 years and became the father of Enoch. This was the 6th generation after Adam. Enoch is called the 7th from Adam and you can total it up here. Adam was 1st, Seth was 2nd. You come down the line Enoch was number 7, the 7th generation counting Adam as the 1st. Then Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch and then he died. Now an Enoch lived 65 years. Now I want you to notice one thing here. Have you noticed that none of these people crossed 1000 years? Very interesting. Adam lived to 930 verse 5. Seth 912 verse 8. Enoch 905 verse 11. Kenan 910 verse 14. Mahalel 895 verse 17. And Jared verse 2962. That's something very interesting. But all of them it says they nearly reached 1000 and they died. Nearly reached 1000 and they died. God told Adam in Genesis 2 17. In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die. That means in the same day that you eat, you will die. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3 one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. So within a thousand years you're going to die. You won't live beyond a thousand. And we see that never in the human race has anyone lived beyond one day in God's eyes. In the day that Adam ate he died spiritually immediately and he died physically within a thousand years. And all his descendants God is very faithful and exact to His word. What He says will come true exactly in generation after generation after generation after generation. That's something interesting that we need to take note of. Then we come to Enoch. It says here Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. And Methuselah means at, the meaning of that word is at His death it will come. What will come? The judgment will come. At His death it will come. And we see something. Then verse 22, then means from the birth of His son after the birth of His son Enoch walked with God. He didn't walk with God for the first 65 years but something happened when His son was being born. When His son was born some crisis came into His life when His son was born. That can happen sometimes. People who don't think about God, suddenly their wife is going in for their first delivery and the doctor says she might die and suddenly they begin to think about God. People who were never interested in God until then, they suddenly, there's a crisis. But usually what happens is, after the child is born, they forget all about it and go back to their old way of life. But not Enoch. Not Enoch. That's the difference. He had a crisis that changed the whole direction of his life from that time. He meant business. He said, Oh God you've given me a revelation of the birth of the son and I'll be true to you. And he kept that vow for 300 years. What an example. We have so-called crises in our life here and there and we forget about it so quickly. Not Enoch. He took it seriously. And after that he walked with God for 300 years and he had other sons and daughters. There's a number of things that we can learn here. It means that at the birth of this son God gave Enoch some revelation. That I'm going to judge this world and when this little child, whom you've got, dies that time the world will be judged. And if you calculate it you know that Methuselah lived for 969 years. He was the longest person to live. And the ages are all written here. You can calculate it. In the year when Methuselah died Noah was 600 years old. Noah was, by the way, Methuselah's grandson. And that year the flood came. The year Methuselah died, the flood came. That was in his name. Methuselah, when he dies, the judgment will come. Now the thing is we know that he lived up to 969, but when Enoch took that little baby, he didn't realize he was going to live up to 969 years of age. When you hold a baby in your hand, you don't know how long he's going to live. Every time Enoch looked at that baby he would have realized, when this baby dies, this world is going to be judged. When this, and he saw that maybe that boy growing up and getting hurt one day, got fever, and again Enoch realized when this baby dies, that's the end of the world. You can imagine how this man lived. Because he believed God's word. He believed that revelation that God gave at the birth of his son, that when your son dies it will come, and he believed it. He believed that that judgment will come, and therefore Enoch lost all interest in this world. And he said, Lord, I want to live for you then. I want to live my life on this earth in a worthwhile way. And he walked with God. You know, when Enoch was alive, Adam was just about 600 years old. Adam was still alive. Adam died only when Enoch was about 308. All the ages are here, you can calculate it. So, Enoch must have met Adam, and Adam must have told him how it was in Eden. How glorious it was there, and how he got thrown out. And Enoch must have longed, and said, Lord, I can't go back to Eden, but is it possible here on this earth, outside of Eden, to walk with you like Adam walked with you inside Eden? Is it possible? And God saw the longing of that man's heart, and he said, it's possible, even though you're not in Eden. And he walked with God. We see there of a man in the midst of all these other ungodly people, groping after God, and getting a revelation. Why do I say the others were ungodly? Turn to the book of Jude, in the New Testament. Jude and verse 14. And about these, also, whom is he talking about? Verse 11, Woe to them, they've gone the way of Cain, away from the presence of the Lord, building Babylon. They've rushed into the error of Balaam, who was also a religious fellow, who went after money. And they've perished in the rebellion of Korah, who was another religious fellow, who went after position in the church. All three religious people, various aspects of Babylon. And about such people, it says in verse 14, Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied. Saying, the Lord came, he prophesied about the second coming of Christ. Think what a revelation God gave him. Not only about the flood, but about the second coming of Christ. Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment on all, to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. Enoch was a prophet of judgment in his generation. That's why I say the others were evil around him. Think! Adam did not have what Enoch had. He could have had it. He lived for 300 years. And during those 300 years, at least 240 of those years, Enoch was walking with God and Adam was watching him. But it couldn't be said about Adam, but it was said about Enoch. And there was Enoch, one lone man, standing against a generation of ungodly people, saying that God's going to come in judgment. Enoch is the first preacher mentioned in the word of God. And what did he preach? He preached judgment against sin. The first preacher in the world didn't preach comforting messages. He preached judgment against sinners for their ungodly words. For their ungodly actions. For their ungodly attitude towards God. Read that in Jude 14 and see. And he spoke about the second coming of Christ. The judgment would come. The Lord would come with 10,000 of His saints and judge the world. That's good for us to remember. That when we walk with God, we stand against all the ungodliness of people around us. Now you can imagine Enoch was not popular. He didn't have time to sit around with all his ungodly relatives and crack dirty jokes and all the filthy things they were in. I think Enoch must have been a very lonely man. Very lonely man. Because he couldn't have fellowship with his own relatives. And they were all his cousins in those days. He was only the seventh generation from Adam. Everybody on earth was a cousin of his. And he couldn't have fellowship with them. He walked with God in loneliness. And he preached. He didn't just keep quiet. He didn't live like a hermit in a mountain. He preached to the people around him about God coming to judge them for their ungodliness. He was preparing the way for Noah, his great grandson, who would later on take the bait from him and carry on that relay race. God's always had a witness. When Abel died, there was Enoch. And when Enoch died, there would be a Noah. When Noah died, there'd be an Abraham and so on. So there's been, there was a witness for God. And I can imagine that the presence of Methuselah, as I said, played a great part. And it says here in Genesis 5.22, something else about Enoch, that he was a family man. It says he had other sons and daughters. You can walk with God and have sons and daughters. There's a false teaching which is called the Doctrine of the Devils by Paul in 1 Timothy 4 which says if you want to be holy, you must not get married. And some people even have the idea that if you want to be holy, you must have maybe just one or two children, because then you can spend more time reading the Bible and praying. It's a lot of garbage, all these human ideas. Enoch had many sons and daughters, and he walked with God. There's the first example of a man who had a large family, and he walked with God. It didn't disturb his walking with God. Walking with God is not by going around Bible teaching and going house visiting and sitting with long hours of the Bible. It's a question of an attitude of heart. Enoch didn't have a Bible. He had a family, and he walked with God. And there he was a father to his sons and daughters. He didn't just leave his family and run off to the mountain to walk with God. He lived with his wife! And he had sons and daughters, and he walked with God! And that's why we emphasize so much in the church the importance of family life if you want to walk with God. Enoch had it all in proper balance. He preached the truth, he loved his children, he loved his wife, he loved his family, and he walked with God. What an example. What an example. Contrast that with Lamech. Contrast that with the other Enoch and the other fellow, Cain's son, who had a city named after him. The two Enochs of Genesis. The good contrast is Babylon and Jerusalem all over again. Same name, but what a difference. One fellow's got a city named after him. This man walked with God. We read here in Hebrews 11, and when those of us who are family people, married people, that's a great encouragement to us. That many sons and daughters need not hinder you from walking with God. And the other thing is, we know, those who are really seeking to walk with God, parents, haven't you discovered? It is our children who bring us to a sense of spiritual need. Any God-fearing father or mother will testify to that. Our children bring us to a spiritual need, and then it turns us to God. And I can imagine, it must have been the same with Enoch. His children brought him to spiritual need, and he turned to God, and he walked with God. It's a good thing that they bring us to see our own spiritual need. Hebrews 11, 5. 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, before his being taken up, that he was pleasing to God. 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. Enoch was the first man to demonstrate that you could walk with God even outside Eden. And that's a tremendous example for us. Think of that. He had no example in front of him. We have many. But he walked with God. And it says he walked by feet. Not by sight. By feet. Way back there. 5,000 years ago. He walked by feet. And he had this testimony during those 300 years. Three words. He pleased God. That's all. I'm sure he displeased most of the human beings around him. And most of the human beings must have thought he was a bit of an eccentric or a heretic or a hard man, always preaching about judgment and sin and sinners. But he pleased God. That's the point. What an example for us to follow in the days in which we're living. He pleased God. Without faith it is impossible to please him. We read back in Genesis 5. And verse 23. So all the days of Enoch were 365. And Enoch walked with God. That's repeated a second time. Verse 22 once. Verse 24 a second time. It's almost as though the Holy Spirit is repeating it. Did you hear it when I said it the first time? The Holy Spirit is saying You didn't hear it? I'll tell you again. He walked with God. And Hebrews 11, 5 we saw. He pleased God. And he was not. He was not mean. He just disappeared. He just disappeared. Like you can tell the Sunday school children, one day Enoch and God walked together on a long walk and God said to him, I think you better come home with me. And he just took him up with him. Because he wanted God's presence so much. He was so heavenly minded that God said, I think you deserve to be up here with me. You have no interest on the things of the earth. My brothers and sisters, he did not know head or tail about the new covenant. Or about the new and living way. Or about the old man and the flesh and the deeds of the body and all that. But he walked with God by faith. And he was so heavenly minded that he was raptured. What are we waiting for today? Also a rapture. We are also waiting like Enoch to be taken up when Jesus comes. But is he going to take everyone? Enoch is a picture of the bride. That's going to be a rapture. We turn to Luke chapter 17 and we see something there about the rapture. Luke chapter 17 verse 31 to 36. On that day, let not the one who is on the house top, who is good there in the house, go down to take them away. In other words, in the day when Jesus comes, speaking about verse 30, the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On the day the Son of Man comes, if you are on the roof of your house, make sure that your heart is not attached to something down inside the house. That's the point. Now we need to understand this. Supposing you are on the roof of this building. Or the roof of your house, let's say. And Jesus comes. I don't think any of us would want to go downstairs. We'd be ready to go, of course. All of us would be ready to go. Nobody would want to go downstairs. This world is a rotten place in any case. The point is not that. The point is that wherever you are, is there in your heart a string or perhaps a rope or a chain that ties you down to something on this earth that you value? Maybe some material thing, some job, something that you have got, which is valuable to you. Some gold, something. Your heart is tied to where your treasure is. There will your heart be also. Even though your body is on the roof of the house, your heart is downstairs. That's the point. Because, Jesus, if you are like that, remember Lord's wife was 32. Lord's wife's body was outside Sodom, but her heart was in Sodom. That's the point. That our heart need not be where our body is. Our body can sit inside the church and our heart may be out in Babylon. That's the point. I tell you, if you seek to save your life, you lose it. To keep his life in this world. I tell you on that night, verse 34, this is the rapture, two will be in one bed. It doesn't mean two men, it means two human beings, husband and wife, obviously. One will be taken because he was heavenly minded like Enoch and the other, like Mrs. Enoch, will be left behind. Exactly like that. Exactly. One day the husband is gone. He walked with God. He walked with God. That's something we need to think of. People may have thought he was cranky and crazy and nut, got a screw loose, or whatever they may say, but God had a different opinion and he just took him. Who was the other person taken up? Elijah. He was taken up also in a rapture. And one thing we can see similar about Enoch and Elijah, they both preach judgment against sin. And the world thought they were crazy. People opposed them. The prophets of Baal, the prophets of Babylon opposed them. But they walked with God. And God took them. Follow Enoch and follow Elijah. And then we'll be taken up like they were taken up. You know, that's something for us to think about. We can turn now to Genesis in chapter 5 again. Verse 25. Interesting that, as I said, Enoch spoke about the second coming of Christ. And that's what we also speak about in the rapture. And he was raptured. He's a very beautiful picture of the church. 300 years of walking with God in the midst of a family life. Wonderful. Wonderful example right at the beginning of Scripture. Not a man who built a city after his name or donated a fan or a chair, but one who walked with God. And Methuselah, verse 25, lived 187 years and became the father of Lamech. Verse 26. Then Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech. And he had other sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were 969 years. This was the man, we can say, he carried debt in his name. What is his name? When he dies, the judgment will come. He had debt in his name. Methuselah. And he was the man among all the children of Adam who lived the longest. What does that teach us? God's long suffering. Shall I let Methuselah die when he's a hundred? No. Give the world a little more time. 200? No. A little more time. 300? 400? 500? 600? 962? He's crossed his grandfather's age now. No, let him live a little longer. The fact that Methuselah lived longest is an indication of God's long suffering with a world that would not listen to Enoch's preaching of judgment. That would not believe what Enoch believed. That even though God placed a witness right in the midst of that ungodly generation who walked with God and prophesied judgment, they wouldn't listen. Yet God's long suffering made Methuselah live. They saw this fantastic thing happening of Enoch disappearing. They didn't know what happened. They couldn't find his body. I think they must have said some wild animal must have eaten or they've always got some rational explanation for these things, the people in his day. They were not interested in hearing God. But God's long suffering carried on. Let me read a verse to you in the first chapter of Peter, chapter 3, verse 20. It says about those who were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah. Remember of Methuselah's 969 years, 600 of those years Noah was alive. And the last 120 years of Methuselah's life Noah was preaching there's going to be a flood. There's going to be a flood. It'll come. It'll come. And it says here the patience of God kept waiting and the living proof of that patience was Methuselah. When he died, the judgment will come. God allows him to live the longest of all human beings. That's the significance of Methuselah being the longest who ever lived. Now Methuselah also had met Adam. Adam died when Methuselah was 243 years old. So you see, Methuselah also heard all about Adam. In fact, from creation to the flood it stretches out between just two human beings, Adam and Methuselah. That's all. Between those two human beings he reached the flood. Yeah. Now we come to verse 28. Methuselah had a son called Lamech. And Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son he called his name Noah. That was Enoch's great grandson and Methuselah's grandson and said this one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed. How did Lamech know that the Lord had cursed the ground? Because Adam had told that to Methuselah and Methuselah had told that to Lamech that when I was in Eden God said the ground is cursed. It's exact quotation of what God said. These people knew. Adam told them everything. They all knew what happened in creation. They all knew about God. Then Lamech lived 595 years and he died just five years before the flood. After he became the father of Noah and he had other sons and daughters and he was 777 when he died and Noah was 500 years old. Noah became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. We read about Noah in the next chapter. What do we see in this chapter? One significant thing. And he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died and then suddenly all of a sudden one man he didn't die. He went up without dying. It's a wonderful chapter. I don't think there's another chapter in the Bible which is full of this phrase, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. In the middle of that one chapter goes up without dying. That is the church. In the midst of a world surrounded by death. Our hope is to be taken up if we walk with God like Enoch.