Real Faith Walks With God

Introduction

Well, good evening to all of you. I firmly believe in congregational independence, but not necessarily in congregational isolation. I think we need to realize that those who are Christians meeting in other congregations are our brothers and sisters, and we’re to love the brotherhood, we’re to love them. And one of the benefits of gospel meetings is that we have opportunity to visit with one another and get to know those who visit with us and then visit with them when they have such meetings. And we appreciate the presence of those who are here tonight to participate with us from other congregations or visitors from the community who may have come. You’re absolutely welcome, and we just trust that the study tonight will be edifying to you in every way.

As you get a little bit older, you notice things happening that you don’t remember seeing when you were young. Maybe you just see some things you didn’t see, but one of the things I see if I get out early in the morning is a lot of people walking. Some of them are running. Well, a lot of times they’re walking, and sometimes they’re in pairs, and you just sense that there’s a certain amount of friendship there. They’re talking. You just you just watch it, maybe both talking at the same time, but they’re enjoying the conversation. It’s very, very obvious. Do you walk? That’s one of the first things my doctor asks me. He knows I don’t run, but he wants to know, are you walking? And I’m tempted to answer, well, yes, I’m walking with God.

I’m not sure how he would take that, though he seems to be a very good man and might very well understand. But the fact is it is possible for us to walk with God. In fact, the Bible tells us about a man who did walk with God. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. I have had a feeling that Enoch living in a time when things were going downhill morally, religiously, spiritually, that he often wasn’t taking part with some of the activities that were common in his day. And I suspected some have said, well, what about Elenak? What’s he doing? And they may have answered if they understood, oh, he’s over there walking with God. I doubt they would have said that.

1. By Faith Enoch Walked With God

People wouldn’t say that now, but that may very well have been the reason he was not involved with some of the things that were being practiced in his time. What is true faith? Actually, the Bible tells us that it was by faith Enoch walked with God. Hebrews 11 5 lists him among those elders who received a good testimony by faith. And faith is said to be the substance of things hoped for. Faith is involved involves the reality of things that we don’t have yet, but we hope for them. We expect them just as surely as if we had them in our hand. And it is also the evidence of things not seen. What does faith require? He who comes to God must believe that he is.

Nobody’s seen him, but he is just as real to us as the person sitting next to us. God is real. I think sometimes children can teach us something about that. I think sometimes God is more real to children than he is to us. Our little granddaughter, uh, after Brother Gary Ogden died, was praying one night soon after he died, and said, God, if you see Brother Ogden walking around up there, tell him hello for me. I never would have thought of saying anything like that. But God was very real to her. And if our faith is what it ought to be, God is going to be very real to us. But in addition, we believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

And when we talk about having faith in God, we’re not talking just any supreme being that may appeal to you. We’re talking about the true God. There is but one God. That’s become offensive in our time. You know, in my early preaching days, when you said there’s one body, I would emphasize the fact that the body is the church, and it’s the same passage says there’s one God. You wouldn’t suppose there were many gods, would you? I can’t preach that anymore. Because a lot of people who claim to believe in the true God say, but other people have their gods too. No, the one true God is the one in whom you must have faith. You must believe that he’s a rewarder. You trust him for life reward.

2. Walking With God Involves Agreeing With Him

And that’s what that’s what Enoch did, didn’t it? He he lived his life dominated by a God he couldn’t see, and he served in hope of reward beyond this life. Walking with God involves agreeing with him. You mean Amos 3, verse 3, can two walk together except they agree? And and that’s that’s a practical reality, isn’t it? If you walk with someone in your neighborhood, there has to be a certain amount of agreement. You may not agree on politics or some other things, but you have to agree on when you’re going to meet to start your walk. You have to agree on how fast you’re going to walk. You’re going to have to agree on where you’re going to walk and when you’re going to come back from your walk.

There has to be a certain amount of agreement if you’re going to walk together. And there has to be an agreement with God. And the book of Hebrews, in describing Enoch’s walk with God, doesn’t really use the term walk with God. It uses another term. By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death. And was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. This doesn’t say he walked with God. It says that he pleased God. And so I take it that walking with God is the same thing as pleasing God. And if we go through our life pleasing God, then we are walking with God, even as Enoch walked with God.

3. Pleasing God Is the Highest Motivation to Obedience

Pleasing God is the very highest motivation to a life of obedience. Faith always involves obedience. You’ll just see that all through the scripture. And faith, when it’s motivated by a love for God, is the highest motivation there is. There are many qualities of God that motivate us to obedience. For one thing, we know that God punishes sin. In Romans the first chapter and verse 18, the writer tells us that God is just and that his wrath is expressed against all ungodliness. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And then I turn to the 2nd Thessalonian letter. And in this letter, Paul especially speaks about what God has in store for those who are persecuting the saints.

Beginning with verse 7, he says that Christ is coming to give you who are troubled rest with us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and for the glory of his power. You believe that? If you believe in the God of the Bible, you believe that, because that’s what the Bible says about God. He’s a God of wrath against all unrighteousness. And this most certainly is something that causes us to obey him. This is faith working through fear. If we believe this about God and we are fearful of God’s wrath, then it’s going to affect us.

This is really good. Some people say you ought not preach about the wrath of God. But Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 11 that knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. And occasionally someone is actually rescued from sin because he has faith in punishment of God. I remember one man who was living an ungodly life. But he just constantly said to me, I don’t want to go to hell. I don’t want to go to hell. And this was really tugging at him. It was causing him to think twice about the conduct of which he was characterized. And so we need to realize that. Actually, fear is good. But there’s another quality of God, and that is that God rewards righteousness. That’s right here in the text, isn’t it?

He who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he’s a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And in 1 Corinthians 15, we spoke of that just a little bit yesterday. He argues the resurrection of the dead, and he says, therefore, in view of this, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You’re not investing something in a rat hole. When you live for God, it’s a good investment. You’re going to gain reward after a while. And this is good. It’s good for people to be stirred through the hope of the gospel. In fact, back in the Romans the eighth chapter and verse 24, it says that we are saved by hope.

We are saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if he hopes for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. That’s what we saw yesterday morning, isn’t it? That Christians need perseverance. It’s great to believe in Jesus and be saved from your past sins. But if you’re going to receive that final reward, you’re going to have to persevere. And he says that’s what gives us perseverance, this hope that we have.

And that’s God’s love. And it’s the fact that God can be pleased. You know, in Job the first chapter, God almost bragged to Satan about his servant Job. And I’ve wondered sometimes, well, I guess I really haven’t wondered. I just thought how wonderful it would be if God could say to the devil, have you observed my servant’s soul? I’m sure he hasn’t. I haven’t attained that. But wouldn’t it be great to be the kind of person that God would be so pleased with that he would even point him out to Satan. And in Hebrews 11 5, we read about Enoch, didn’t we? That he pleased God. And so God can see us do things just as a loving parent sees us do something and he’s pleased with it.

I’m glad he did that. That’s what I wanted him to do. He’s showing it love by doing that. But not only can God be pleased, but God can also be grieved. In fact, it’s interesting that all three persons of the Godhead are spoken of as being characteristic characterized by grief. In Genesis 3 of the sixth chapter and verse 6, it grieved God that he had made man because man had become so wicked. In Mark 3 and verse 3, Jesus looked about with anger because these people had been and was grieved because of the attitude that these people were showing. And Ephesians 4 30 tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. And so God and Christ and the Holy Spirit can all be grieved. And it saddens me to think of the possibility, and I’m sure it has happened, that I would do something, and the Lord would look down at me.

The Lord for whom he died, who died for me, and say, I wish he hadn’t done that. I’ve sometimes felt in past years, my parents now gone, they’re looking down at me and being grieved by something I did, something I said. I I was talking to someone just the other day about a particular instance when I grieved my parents and didn’t intend to, but I still remember it so very clearly. We want to please the people we love, and we do not want to grieve them. And if we love God as we should love, then this is the very best possible thing. For in the book of Galatians, the fifth chapter of verse six, it is said that in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availed anything but faith working through love.

When our faith in God is so strong that we really believe that he’s watching us and knows what we do, and we do something in order that we may please him, or we refuse something because we would grieve him. That’s just the highest possible motivation to real, real obedience. Those who act out of fear do only what’s necessary to avoid punishment.

They just want to be sure they stay out of hell, and that’s all they’re concerned about. On the other hand, even those who work out of hope only do what’s necessary to receive the reward. Do you think I have to do that to go to heaven? Is that really the question? Is that the real question we want to ask? The real question that we need to ask is what did God want? What will please God? When we act out of love, there is no limit to what we’ll do except the limitations of being sure what God wants. I guess a personal illustration that most older people have had, parents particularly. We moved from New York to Atlanta as we had gotten a little bit older. And our children helped so much.

Our son Gardiner lived up that area, and he was just in nearly every day, even though it was some miles from his home, helping us kind of get packed up. And our oldest daughter Cherry, John’s mother, some of you know John, John’s father was with the airline, and so she could come up, and so she came up three times to help us pack. And then our son-in-law, one of our sons-in-law, came up and helped us load the truck. And then John came up and drove the truck back to Atlanta. And I just sat and watched. That’s primarily what I did. They were doing most of the work. And I just sat and watched. And I thought back about when they were little. And when they were little, I had to motivate them sometime by fear.

You don’t get there and get that room cleaned up within ten minutes, you’re going to wish you had. And sometimes they wish they had.

They just didn’t just didn’t get the job done in a reasonable time. And when they did, it wasn’t a very happy thing, but sometimes they did it most of the time. Or it might be, I would say, well, if if you get the room real clean, everything’s real nice, we’ll go get an ice cream. Well, that’d work a little bit better. They’d get in there and hustle around a little bit. But I sat there watching them, knocking themselves out to help us. And I thought, how could I punish them if they don’t? I wouldn’t. How can I reward them for what they’re doing? I couldn’t. And yet, because they loved us, and because they didn’t want to grieve us, and because they wanted to help us and wanted to please us, there they were, just doing everything they could for us.

And that’s the way it is when we love God. We don’t have to be pushed into something. We don’t have to be frightened into something. We don’t have to be paid for serving the Lord. The whole question is, is that what God wants? And if that’s what God wants, my faith in God is such that he’s as real as my children or my parents were, and my love for him is such that I’m going to do all I can to please him. And it would be a sad thing for me to think that I might even grieve him in any way. And sometimes the question is, is the New Testament a law? Well, it’s not a law like the Old Testament. I believe it’s a law, all right.

4. The Scriptures Encourage Pleasing God

But about all you need, if you really love God, is just evidence that this is what he wants. If you know this is what he wants, then you’re going to do it. And your faith in his wisdom is such that if he hasn’t asked for it, you realize his wisdom is greater than yours. And consequently, he must not want it. He was capable of telling us everything he wants. And consequently, pleasing him has faith enough to ask, are we sure this is what the Lord would want? If I have such faith, then I’ll be aware of his presence. I’ll always want to please him, just as we want to please those we love. And this is exactly what the scriptures encourage, pleasing God. In 2 Corinthians, we read this yesterday morning.

In 2 Corinthians, the fifth chapter, the apostle Paul speaks about his aim in life. And in verse 9, he says, Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to obey every rule. That’s not what he says. And yet that’s what he did. Because what he made it his rule was to be well pleasing to him. And then turning over to the Colossian letter, in the Colossian letter, chapter 1, this is what he desired for the Colossians. Verse 10, he says, that you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing him. And in 1 Thessalonians, the fourth chapter and verse 1, he says this to the people in Thessalonica. Finally, then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should find more and more, just as you received from us, how you ought to walk and please God.

5. Faith and Love Are Tested Most When We’re Alone

Look at that, those two things put together. Walk and please God. That’s what Enoch did. By faith he walked and pleased God, and that’s exactly what we must do. Well, faith and love are tested most when we’re alone. Have you thought about that? In Matthew the sixth chapter, verses one through six, the Lord speaks about different things that people did, whether it was praying or whether it was fasting, uh, whatever, or giving alms, and he said that there were those who did it to be seen to men. They even sounded a trumpet before them so that people would see them giving their alms. I hardly knew what that meant. One time I was parked right next to a little uh park along about what we commonly call Christmas time, you know, and my wife was shopping, and I was sitting in the car, and I heard a big gong, and I looked around to see what that was.

And it was a fellow standing up there real smiling, he’d put a dollar in a little box, and when you put a dollar in the box for charity, you could ring the bell. Well, that’s the same thing. The question is, do you give to someone who is in need simply because it will please God? That’s what God wants, and not because it will please men. What good thing have you done recently that was known only to God? Nobody knew. That’s not wrong for somebody to know. It’s wrong to do it to be known by men, to be seen by men, to be rewarded by men. People may Jesus said, your life can’t be hid, really. But how many things good have you done that only God knew about it, and you didn’t let anybody else know?

And when you were tempted, what things have you refused to do simply to avoid grieving God? Nobody would ever know. But I’m not going to do this because I know it would grieve my God. When you’re making a decision, regardless any uh concerning any action that you may be considering, to what extent do you think about that? Will this please or displease God? The most urgent concern should be always in lifetime’s decision. What about a career? Not how much money will I make? Not what kind of prestige will he give me in the community? Not what will allow me to retire early. But which career can I choose that will most please God? It doesn’t have to be preaching necessarily. I think that’s a good work.

I’m thankful I’ve done it. But what will please God? And marriage, by all means, that should be the first question. I remember when I was thinking about marrying my wife, I went to a gospel preacher and asked him what he thought about it. But you know, we ought to ask God. And if you can just imagine going to God as your counselor, Jesus is called a wonderful counselor. And you say to the Lord, Lord, what uh what should I do about this marriage? Is this the person I really ought to marry, or should I not marry this person? What do you think the Lord would say? Now, I’m not asking what the preacher would say or what the elders would say or what the congregation would say or what the world would say.

I’m not even saying ask him what you might be able to defend with some kind of an argument that you might make. I’m just saying this if you should go to the Lord and ask him, would you be pleased with this marriage? What would he say? I think down deep in our hearts, especially if we’re Bible students, we know pretty well what the Lord would say. And what about those daily uh decisions, such as, should I go to worship this morning? Should I get up even on a short night and get to nine o’clock Bible class or worship or whatever you have at nine o’clock, wherever you are? Uh should I get up that early? What would the Lord say? What when I’m thinking about what I’m giving?

It’s not what will the treasurer think about the amount. That’s not that’s not that that that doesn’t make any difference. But if the Lord were here and looking at my check, what would he think about it? Would he be pleased or would he think, well, I saw him spend a lot more for something else recently that really didn’t make any difference? And companions, is this a good person for me to have as a close friend? And when I’m getting ready to get dressed, is this what the Lord would advise me to wear with us to church or to the beach or wherever you’re going? What would the Lord say about this particular dress? And when we’re surfing the internet, or going through the television channels, or listening to music, or choosing a movie.

If I asked the Lord, what would he say? Would he be pleased with my doing this? Or would he be displeased? Now there are two mistakes we make, serious mistakes. The first is just not to even think of God. And I rather suspect that’s what happens with most of these decisions that we make. We just don’t even think of God. The first thought may be, do I want to do it? The second thought may be, well, what are people going to say about it? The third may be, will it get me in trouble, or will it be a good investment or something? But do we really think of God? If we fail to think of God, this is a lack of faith. You know, that was the problem with Moses.

Sometimes we’ve talked about his striking the rock, and I don’t really think that was exactly what God wanted. It sure wasn’t what God said. But the primary thing God said, Well, you didn’t believe me to sanctify me. You didn’t even think about me. And I think that was the case. Moses was so angry with those people wanting water that he went out there and struck the rock and said, Must we? That was himself and Aaron. Must we fetch water for you, you rebels? He wasn’t even thinking about God. And that was unbelief. That was unbelief. Our faith has failed when we make decisions in life and don’t even think about God. On the other hand, if we think about God and decide we’re just going to go ahead and do what we’re going to do, regardless of what God thinks about it, that’s just a lack of love.

It’s a total lack of love. And that’s a very, very serious matter. Romans 132 speaks about those who do things they know, disbelieve God, but they do them and approve of others who do them. That’s a serious. What do you think about a parent? That you see tell a child not to do something, and he just looks right up at the parent and says, I’m going to do it anyway. And the parent says, Okay. How do you feel about that? Okay, how I feel. Sometimes I say, I wish that is my well, not really. But but we just don’t respect a parent who will let a child say, I’m not going to do it. Or let a child say, I’m going to do it anyway. We don’t respect a parent like that.

Do we respect God if we think we can just do what we want to do and say, I know you don’t want me to do it, but I’m going to do it anyway. Or I know you want me to do it, and I’m not going to do it. My friends, that gets to be very, very serious. Either one of these is spiritually fatal. Temptation tests our faith and love. When I’m conscious that God sees and knows all that I think and all that I do and I say, and I know you want me to do it, but I will not, or when I know that you do not want me to do something, and I say, I’ll do it anyway, it’s deliberate rebellion. Sin in its blackest, blackest form.

6. God Does Want Us to Walk With Him

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Joseph asked. And that’s the question every one of us should ask when we consider anything that we think might be displeasing to God. But it’s time for good news, isn’t it? It’s not good news that God’s just going to ignore deliberate disobedience. That’s not the point. But it’s the fact that God does want us to walk with him. I’m not a great supporter of the present president. But if I got a note saying, I’d like for you to take a walk with me next Tuesday morning around the White House. I I’d be rather honored. I’ll just in fact I’ve got a few things I’d like to tell him, but uh I would be respectful and I would consider myself very much honored to be invited to take a walk with the president.

I remember taking a walk with probably what was the most noted pianist in the world at the time. And we took a little walk from his hotel to my car. And and I’ve remembered that. My wife told it many, many times. But God wants us to walk with him. He has shown you, oh man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

But God does want us to walk. However, we have to be holy to walk with God. God cannot walk with sin. There’s no fellowship between God and sin, or those who are guilty of sin. What is my hope then? My hope is that God has provided forgiveness of my sin so that he can walk with me, and I can walk with him. On the day of Pentecost, those who had actually crucified God’s Son. Ask, what can we do? They wanted to please God. They realized they had done something very, very serious in disobedience to God. And they said, What can we do about it? And Peter said, Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t, I think we’ve lost sight of the real meaning of gospel. It’s good news. And if you don’t realize it’s good news that your sins can be forgiven, then you just really don’t realize the seriousness of sin. You don’t realize your condition in sin.

I violated a little traffic law today. I went through a toll booth. It’s a confession, I guess, and I didn’t pay. He said you had to have coins, and I didn’t have any coins, and so what could I do? There was nobody there. So see and love smiled. I think we’ve had some other people in there. But, you know, somebody said, I think you’ll be all right. You’ve got an out-of-state tag on. I think you’ll be all right. And I said, that’s good news. It’s good news to me just not to have to pay a traffic fine. Much use, much less having to pay the consequences of crucifying the Son of God. And to some degree, isn’t that what we’ve done when we realize He’s died for us to cleanse us of our sin and we’ve gone on and sinned anyway, even knowingly, consciously.

How could God forgive us? He can forgive us because he wants to. That’s his nature. That very nature of justice and that very nature of rewarding, that very nature of being grieved and of love makes him want to walk with us. I I’ve thought a lot of times about his coming into the garden when Adam and Eve had sinned, and there they were out hiding. But what did God say? Come out from there, you rascals. No. Adam, Adam, where are you? God still loved Adam. And God still loves me, even when I’ve sinned against him. Even consciously, aware of what I was doing. God still loves me, and he’s calling me to come and walk with him. That’s what God wants. And he’s provided the means by which I can be forgiven of my sins.

And if you’ve never been baptized into Christ, you can walk with God. It’s not anything that’s specially virtuous about baptism. It’s just that’s what he’s asked. That’s what he wants you to do, to show that you want to live for him. That repentance, that’s what the repentance says. It’s a decision to live for him, to walk with him, to please him. And then the baptism is the first step of pleasing him after your confession of faith. That’s what God is calling you for. But if you’ve already done that, actually, God still has plans. For after our baptism, all of us have sinned. Does God still want to walk with? Yes. Do I still have to be holy? Yes. How can I be holy? Even when I’ve sinned again again after he washed me.

Conclusion

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a marvelous God. What a loving God. What a gracious offer. How can we resist it? How can we turn our back, either as non-Christians or as Christians on His gracious offer to forgive us of our sins. You remember that one day when Enoch was with God walking, as someone suggested, God said, Eno, just go on home with me. And he did. I like that observation. I don’t know whether God said that or not, but that’s what happened. Enoch was walking with God, pleasing God, and one day God just took him. He didn’t die, as most people die. He just went on to be with God.

I don’t think that’s going to happen exactly that way with us, unless the Lord comes while we’re alive. If he comes while we’re alive, that’s pretty well what will happen. But even if we’ve died, he has an arrangement for that too. The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. They’re not going to lose out on this walking with the Lord. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. If we walk with Him now, we can walk with Him forever. Not on this earth of sadness and grief and war and wickedness, but in that heavenly home.

As it’s sometimes been said on that golden street. We walk with the Lord forever and ever. And let me emphasize to you that that will be worth every sacrifice we have ever made, every hardship we’ve ever endured, every temptation that we’ve ever resisted. It’d be worth it when he says, Go home with me. And we go to walk with him forever. Isn’t there someone here who will respond to the invitation of the Lord? He’s calling you to walk with him. And if you’ll come tonight, we’ll assist you in that obedience that he’s required of you. And if you love him enough, you’ll want to do that.