WALKING WITH GOD
Genesis 5:21-24
Prayer
Walking with God means living
in the presence of God.
It’s the same thing as
abiding in Jesus.
He said, “Abide in me, and I
in you” (Jn. 15:4).
My Life Application Bible
Commentary says, abiding in Jesus means:
Believing He is the
Son of God (I Jn. 4:15),
Receiving Him as
Savior and Lord (Jn. 1:12),
Doing what He says
(I Jn. 3:24),
Continuing to
believe the gospel (I Jn. 2:24), and
Loving others in
the Church (Jn. 15:12).
It’s a moment-by-moment
decision.
We can’t be neutral and walk
or abide at the same time.
We have to be actively
involved in the things God wants us involved in.
With this in mind, I will
point out eight things about walking with God.
1st---Walking with
God involves the way we THINK.
Paul said, “be not conformed
to this world:”
“But be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2).
He said think on
things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good
report (Phil. 4:8).
It’s difficult to do.
But walking with God requires
us to think like God.
One preacher (Pentecost)
said, “The greatest conflict taking place in the
world today is the battle for
control of our minds.”
The Devil is trying to con us
into thinking it doesn’t matter whether we attend
Church or not;
Trying to con us into
thinking it doesn’t matter whether we live by the
Scriptures or not;
Trying to con us into
thinking everything is alright, if we’ve been baptized
and joined the Church.
He wants us to ignore the
fact that the real evidence of salvation is fruit;
That the real evidence of
salvation is not baptism and Church membership,
but what we’re doing for God.
We have a choice;
Submit to God and resist the
Devil.
Or submit to the Devil and
resist God.
Paul said, “Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”
(Phil. 2:5).
Stop thinking like the Devil.
Start thinking like Jesus.
Change your outlook.
Bring your way of thinking in
line with the Scriptures.
2nd---Walking with
God involves unbroken fellowship.
John said, “if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin” (I Jn. 1:7).
Some people walk for
exercise.
It’s a good thing to do.
We can walk in the light of
day;
Or the darkness of night.
The Bible is saying we can
walk with Jesus.
But we have to walk in spiritual
light not spiritual darkness.
We have to fellowship one
with another.
We can’t be at odds with
those at Church.
Amos asked, “Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?”
“No!”
We have to be willing to walk
together;
To walk at the same time;
To walk in the same
direction, etc.
A homeowner said there was a
lot of dust and noise in his neighbor’s corral.
Two oxen were fighting.
His neighbor was urging them
on with a stick.
He asked, “Instead of urging
the oxen on with a stick, why don’t you stop
them?”
His neighbor said, “I can’t
use them to pull my ox cart until they decide
which one is boss.”
“If I harness them together
before they fight it out, they will pull in different
directions.”
“I will have trouble
controlling them.”
That’s the way it is with
God.
If we’re going to walk with
God, we have to learn who’s boss.
We can’t walk our way.
And walk with Him.
Two men were walking on the
road to Emmaus.
Jesus joined them.
They had never seen Jesus
before.
They didn’t recognize Him.
He asked, “Why are you so sad”
(Luke 24:17).
They said, “We thought Jesus
was the Messiah.”
But He was crucified.
His body was missing.
Some women say, “He’s alive.”
“We don’t know what to think.”
Jesus said, “O fools, and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have
spoken” (Luke 24:25).
Then, He explained what the
Old Testament says about His death, burial and
resurrection.
They approached Emmaus.
Jesus acted like He intended
to walk on down the road.
But the men asked Him to stay
with them.
He went in;
Ate with them.
And while they were eating,
their eyes were opened.
They learned who Jesus is.
Then, He disappeared.
“And they said one to
another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he
talked with us by the way,
and while he opened to us the scriptures”
(Luke 24:32)?
Notice, two things:
1) “While He talked with us
by the way,” and
2) “While He opened to us the
Scriptures.”
Walking with God involves
talking with God.
And walking with God involves
the Scriptures.
It involves praying,
And learning the Scriptures.
3rd---Walking with
God involves steady progress.
Many walkers walk for a
certain time: thirty minutes or an hour;
Or a certain distance: one
mile or two.
Some keep up with how long
and how far they walk.
They try to walk a little
longer or a little farther each week.
Peter advised us to, “grow in
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ” (II
Pet. 3:18).
“Growing in grace” requires
increasing our spirituality.
“Growing in knowledge”
requires learning the Scriptures, listening to sound
teaching and preaching,
getting to know Jesus better and better.
It involves spending more
time with Jesus than we used to;
Going farther with Jesus than
we used to.
There are those who used to
walk with the Lord;
Who were fervent in the Spirit.
But Satan hindered their
walk.
They’re walking less not
more;
Growing weaker not stronger.
Peter’s advising us to resist
Satan’s efforts to retard our growth.
He’s advising us to keep
moving;
To keep pace with God;
To stay by His side;
To not fall behind;
To not quit or sit down to
rest.
To grow in grace and
knowledge, we need to read our Bible and pray
regularly.
One good way is to start by
reading and praying for just three minutes.
Do that for a week.
Increase your reading and
praying to five minutes.
Do that for two weeks.
Increase your reading and
praying to ten minutes.
Do that for three weeks.
It’s like increasing your
walking from thirty minutes to an hour, from once a
week to once a day;
Like increasing your distance
from one mile to two.
It will cause you to grow in
grace and knowledge.
In 1970, David Kunst decided
to walk around the world.
He walked every day.
He walked for four and
one-half years.
He walked 15,000 miles.
He wore out twenty-two pairs
of shoes.
But he actually walked around
the world.
God’s not asking us to walk
around the world.
But He is asking us to make
progress.
Anyone in this room can be a
spiritual giant.
But you will have to commit
yourself to it.
And stick with it.
4th---Walking with
God involves separation from the world.
King David was dying.
He wanted to give some final
advice to his son Solomon.
What should he say to Solomon
at the close of his life?
“Be thou strong therefore,
and show thyself a man;”
“And keep the charge of the
LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his
statutes, and his
commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it
is written in the law of
Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest,
and whithersoever thou turnest
thyself” (I Kings 2:2-3).
Be strong.
That Chevrolet commercial
says “Like a rock.”
Chevrolet isn’t talking about
Jesus.
But Jesus is the Rock.
Did you ever wonder about the
physical attributes of Jesus?
He walked everywhere He went.
Walking stimulates the heart
and lungs;
Strengthens the bones and
muscles;
Increases the blood flow in
our body.
Jesus was a carpenter.
He probably built furniture
and houses.
He probably was strong.
David was saying, “Walk in
His ways.”
Be a person of conviction.
Keep His statutes,
commandments, judgments, and testimonies in the
Scriptures (Law of Moses).
Notice, this.
Keep His Commandments “that
thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest,”
Keep His Commandments “Whithersoever
thou turnest thyself.”
“Whithersoever thou turnest
thyself” means “wherever you walk.”
If you want to succeed in
everything you do, keep the commandments of God
wherever you go.
Here’s something else.
Jesus said, “whatsoever we
ask, we receive of him, because we keep his
commandments, and do those
things that are pleasing in his sight”
(Jn. 3:22).
Some people are offended when
we display the Ten Commandments.
Some people don’t want to
live by them.
A court recently [fall of
2003] ordered Judge Roy Moore to remove the Ten
Commandments from the
courthouse in Alabama.
When he refused they removed
him from office.
But King David said, if we
keep the Commandments we will succeed in life.
And Jesus said, if we keep
the Commandments and do things that are
pleasing in His sight, we
will receive the things we pray for.
5th---Walking with
God involves unfailing perseverance.
Some people stop walking.
Adam and Eve stopped.
They walked with God in the
Garden of Eden.
But they stopped long enough
to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil.
God came down to walk with
them.
They were afraid and naked.
But it was not so with Enoch.
He walked with God three
hundred years.
Spring and summer;
Fall and winter;
Hot and cold;
Rain and snow;
In times of trouble;
And times of peace;
In times of need;
And times of plenty.
Martin Luther said, “I know
not the way God leads me.”
“But well do I know my Guide.”
This great man of God was
saying, “I don’t know which way God wants me
to go.”
“But I know He will get me
there.”
When life gets difficult;
When we get sick or lose a
loved one, those who are walking with God can say,
“I’m not alone.”
“I’ll persevere.”
“He knows the way.”
“All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his
purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
6th---Walking with
God gives intense satisfaction.
I’ve heard elderly people
say, “I’m ready to go;”
I’ve stood in front of
caskets and heard people say, “My loved one’s better
off.”
There’s a lot of satisfaction
in a life lived for God.
Someday, we’ll be in that
casket.
We need to do something about
this before we get there.
Paul said, Enoch “pleased
God.”
That’s the right attitude.
There’s something wrong, if
we don’t want the summary of our life to be that
we pleased God;
Something wrong, if we don’t
want to hear God say, “Well done, thou good
and faithful servant” (Luke
25:21).
I want to give you some quick
pointers on pleasing God.
For one thing, “No man that warreth
entangleth himself with the affairs of this
life;”
“That he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (II Tim. 2:4).
Christianity’s not a
playground.
It’s a spiritual battlefield.
And some are losing the
spiritual battle because they’ve managed to get
tangled up in extracurricular
activities;
Tangled up in hobbies,
sports, or whatever.
We should never think that we
can replace God with these things.
And please Him.
Those who do are losing not
winning.
For another thing, “I will
praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify
him with thanksgiving.”
“This also shall please
the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath
horns and hoofs” (Psa.
69:30-31).
We please God with songs of
praise and words of thanksgiving.
We can do this wherever we
go.
But we’re more apt to do it
when we’re in Church.
For another thing, may God “Make
you perfect in every good work to do his
will, working in you that
which is wellpleasing in his sight” (Heb. 13:20-21).
How do we please God?
Not by SAYING we’re a
Christian,
Not by putting an angel, a
ceramic church or a Bible on a table in our house,
Not by putting a needlepoint
or plaque with a verse of Scripture on the wall.
We please God by doing His
will.
By being doers of the Word
and not hearers only.
7th---Walking with
God brings future blessings.
Moses said, “Enoch walked
with God: and he was not; for God took him”
(Gen. 5:24).
Paul said, “Enoch was
translated that he should not see death” (Heb. 11:5).
The Latin word for “translated”
means “carried over,” “carried across,” or
“caught up.”
One minute Enoch walked with
God.
And the next minute God “carried
him over,” “carried him across,” or
“caught him up” into heaven.
God plucked him up into
heaven.
This will happen to the
Church at the Rapture (I Thess. 4:13-18).
Jesus told the Church at
Sardis, “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which
have not defiled their
garments;”
“And they shall walk with me
in white:”
“For they are worthy” (Rev.
3:4).
Some Sardis Church members
just pretended to be faithful.
Some just lived off of the
Church’s reputation;
Some were sinning.
But Jesus said, “I know that
a few of you haven’t defiled yourself.”
“You’re worthy to walk with
me in heaven;”
“And wear robes of
righteousness.”
8th---Walking with
God involves faith.
Paul said, “Without faith it
is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).
Without a living faith;
Without an active faith;
It’s impossible to please
God.
He told the Thessalonians, we
don’t try to please men, we try to please God
(I Thess. 2:4).
Our faith doesn’t cause us to
try to please people;
To try to be popular;
To try to make a name for
ourselves.
Our faith causes us to try to
please God.
Will anyone make a commitment
to walk with God today?
You take one step that will
bring you closer to God.
Then, a second step,
A third, a fourth, etc.
And before you know it, you’re
on the trip of a lifetime.
That first step could be a
first step down this isle.
But you have to decide
whether you will listen to God.
Or listen to the Devil.
Will you listen to God?
Will you do what He wants you
to do today?
