Amos chapter 3, it's right after
Hosea. We're going to look at this morning
an amazing progression of the grace of God upon sinners. amazing progression that God
has upon His church, His people, His sheep, lost sheep, found
sheep. We're going to look at one verse
in Amos chapter 3 and verse 3. Amos 3 and verse 3. Can two walk together except
they be agreed, or how can two walk together except they be
agreed? This statement is literally true
in worldly things, in worldly things, like interests, breeds,
familiarity, or friendships. talking to somebody and they
talk about something that you like, then you can hit it off. If you don't understand what
they're talking about, then you listen or you just stare blankly
somewhere else. But this, can two walk together
except they be agreed, this is of the utmost importance in all
things grace, gospel, and redemption. We will, we must agree with God
in those things which he reveals to us personally or we will not,
we cannot entertain any thoughts of true fellowship or true salvation. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? The sinner and the Savior, that's
what we're looking at, the sinner and God. When we're born, we're born enmity,
at war with God. We're at war with Him. So we
don't agree with anything. He says this is what you need
to do, I'm not going to do it. This is what your parents say
to do, I'm not going to do it. What your teacher says to do,
may or may not do it. These areas that we will, we
must agree, are mainly who God is. The knowledge of the holy,
I think Bruce has gone over that, the knowledge of the holy is
the beginning of wisdom. We must agree with what God says in the
word, not my understanding or not my interpretation, what he
says about himself in the word. He rules and reigns in righteousness. He is of pure eyes than to behold
iniquity. And the context is, and not do
something about it. That's why he sent his son. That's
why he's gonna destroy the world. Who is God? He's not this weak,
effeminate person that is presented for most pulpits today. He is
sovereign, we say. He is righteous. He is all glorious. He is holy, without sin, without
iniquity. He suffered and bled and died,
God, in the person of Christ, but not for himself. So that's
one of the first things that we must agree about. And anybody
who has a cursory knowledge of the scriptures, and if you just
start in Isaiah 40, 40 through 49 of Isaiah, you're gonna get
a bunch of stuff about who God is, what he is, where he's at
now. Secondly, who we are. We are
totally, completely, depraved. That means we cannot do anything
spiritually to please God in and of ourselves. Why would Christ
come? Totally depraved. None righteous. No, not one.
We looked at that last Sunday, I believe, or maybe it was Wednesday,
out of Romans 3. There's none. Our throat's an
open sepulcher. And he's just getting that from
Psalms. That's not a new doctrine. In
the garden, Adam fell and plummeted the whole human race into sin. Into sin. I heard somebody say,
not too long ago, I guess he was trying to preach or something,
but he said something about, you know, man, he said he's not
that bad. And I thought, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Terrible, horrible. Now again,
spiritually, friendly to your neighbors, you should be. To
those that you're in authority over, we should be. But in the
eyes of God, we cannot move one step towards Him. The third thought,
generally, who Christ is, He's God incarnate in the flesh. He is our the sinners substitute. That means he took our place
on Calvary so we would not face God's justice and judgment. He
bore it all for his people. Can two be agreed? Can two walk
together except they be agreed? Nope. Nope. Not at all. Christ is the reason why we can
stand here and worship and not be wiped out, not be annihilated. Fourthly, how God through Christ
can commune with dead dog sinners and not annihilate us. Because
God, through Christ, honored his law, honored his justice,
and he gave us, that's the negative, but we must have a positive righteousness. He gave us his righteousness.
And God looks at us, and I know this is, it's true, and we don't
blush to say it, but when God looks at us, he looks at us through
his son, and we are as his son. We are as his son. Also, I believe
we will agree with our Lord on how God, the Holy Spirit, takes
the things of Christ and illuminates us to serve and walk in his ways
and not our ways. And reading a lot about it, and I
don't know why this theme keeps coming up, but I don't know the
Latin. I could try to say it, but it
doesn't matter. But it's Martin Luther said,
simultaneously righteous, yet a sinner. And he had the Latin
words. And then I was talking to David
Pledger and he said, well, I just preached a message called the
sinner saint. So on the way home, we looked
it up and listened to it. We have two natures. How God, the Holy Spirit, takes
the things of Christ and illuminates us to serve and walk in His ways,
not ours, because the old man never gets any better. And this
is a constant struggle, a constant battle. I know myself, but I
wonder how wicked we think the old man is. You just kind of
know the old man, because you just look at your life. Just
look at your life. This past week, things of this
world caught your eye. The glitter and the gold of the
things of this world caught your eye. And that was more important
than maybe reading the scripture. That was more important than
reading the word. We have stuff. It's a constant battle. As Tim
James would say, don't feed the wolf, or as Henry would say,
till the garden. Because if you leave that garden
fallow, it's gonna grow weeds. And this is a constant struggle.
How can we know the gospel? How can we live for Christ? And
yet this, well, that's, when Henry made a comment years ago,
I really questioned whether it was true. He said, as you get
older, it gets worse. And I'm thinking, you get more
like Christ. Sometimes. Sometimes, but each
one of us, we have to deal with our anger, Peter. We have to
deal with our lackadaisical, coldness in worship, coldness
at home, coldness in things at work. That's just what we are.
We don't agree with it. We don't allow it. We mortify
the deeds of the flesh. It's a constant. But we have
to go to Christ for grace. And the Holy Spirit enables us
to walk with him. Another thing that we will agree
with him is he's risen and therefore we will raise with him. If there
is no resurrection, this whole thing of the gospel is, there's
no need in preaching it. He rose and we can agree together with
God and Christ and God, the Holy Spirit that he rose from the
dead and therefore we will rise in him. So brethren, Do we, are
we made to see eye to eye with God regarding him, ourselves,
his darling son? And this is of utmost, this is
critical. This isn't just like a guy I
met, it was a preacher I met years ago. He said, so you're
that five point Calvinist. I said, is there any other? Because
he didn't believe in particular redemption. This is critical. who God is, who we are, who Christ
is, how God through Christ could commune with us, the Holy Spirit. Well, Henry said, and I know
Nate and I have talked about this, if you're wrong on the
fall, you're wrong on it all. And that man that I met, that
preacher that I met down south, he was wrong on the fall. And
that's it, he was wrong. I didn't listen to him talk. I didn't listen to me. and walked
away. This truth, this gospel is not
a minor issue because if God uses it to save, and Romans 10
says he does, we must believe the gospel, we must believe Christ
or we cannot be saved. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? He's gonna make you agree. He's
gonna make you willing in the day of His power. He's gonna
make you agree. He's gonna uncle, you know, uncle. But once we
agree, turn to Genesis chapter five. Once we agree, oh, what benefits is awaiting the
saved sinner? Genesis chapter five. Genesis chapter 5 and verse 24. Bruce and I talked
about this passage forever and somebody, Paul Mahan has a really
good message on this years ago, but I read something recently
and that's what sparked, put these two verses together. Genesis
chapter 5 and verse 24. Once we agree with God, by the
Holy Spirit, through the gospel, believing what he says regarding
himself, believing what he says regarding ourselves, believing
what he says in the scriptures regarding Christ and the Holy
Spirit, Enoch walked with God and he
was not, for God took him. Once we agree with God, regarding
these things. The people who walk with God
will necessarily grow in grace. How do you spend time, a lot
or little, even a little, how do you spend time with someone
like the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father? How do you spend
time and not grow in grace. See that's what concerns me when
somebody says well I'm growing leaps and bounds and you don't
see it. And I've said this before and
I've said it many times. The people who have no church They usually, when you talk to
them, and you talk to them a couple years later, and a couple years
later, they haven't changed. They haven't grown. You know,
that I can perceive. They always are struggling, and
I can name several examples. There's no need to do that. They're
the same. And that's why gathering together
is so important, or listening to the gospel regularly or frequently. And if you can't, open your Bible. God communes with his people
through his word. We cannot suppose a perpetual
walk with our Redeemer year after year without us being strengthened,
instructed, and more able to glorify God. I got six things here. To walk
with God as our favored brother Enoch did, it implies several,
six things. It is to lay hold of God by faith,
actual faith. And what do I mean by this? Enoch
and our faith is real. It's alive. It's not a mere belief
in some creed. He and we live daily upon Christ
by faith in him who died for us. This is not a head faith.
It's heart and soul. It's true to us as a matter of
fact. When people ask you to explain
your faith, they say, well, why do you do this? It's a matter
of fact. It's just, you know, here am I, I can do no other.
I love him because he first loved me. It's difficult to explain.
But you know, the thing is, we don't need to explain our faith,
we need to tell them about Christ. Because you get to Christ and
you'll get to faith. So firstly, it's the lay hold
of God by actual faith. Enoch walked with God. He knew
Him. He believed Him. This wasn't
experimental. Secondly, Enoch didn't just talk
or think or speculate about his Savior, but he walked with Him. He experienced Him in daily,
weekly life and habit. Habit. You know, I've seen it
And my wife says, I still do it. When you hang around somebody,
you start to, if you really love them and appreciate them, you
start to kind of take on their qualities. And Linda says, every time I
go down south or whatever, I start, I come back, I start, I talk
like a southerner. But you know what I'm saying?
It assimilates into you. Now, evil communications, that's
the other way. Hang around in this world, evil
communications corrupt good manners. It's the way it's going to be.
If you spend more time, I'll put it this way. When Moses came
down from the mountain, he was no different, was he? Oh yeah,
he was. And people saw it. He had his face. He had to put
that veil over his face. And when Jacob was wrestling
with the angel, and he put his thigh, He walked different for the rest
of his life. Some more, some less, I'm not
saying, but these are general principles. To walk with God
is to agree with God, and Enoch walked with God. So he actually
had faith. It wasn't an experimental yes
today and no tomorrow. And he didn't just talk with
them, but he lived with them. And he, as we, we know him as
our friend, our helper, our beloved substitute, and therefore, as
we walk with him, we surely will confide in him. You confide in
a friend, in a brother that sticks closer. A friend that sticks
closer than a brother. You confide in him. To walk with
God, thirdly, is to abide in him. In John 15, he says, I abide
in you, you abide in me. It's to abide. He did not have
a temporary communion or a one with fits and starts. He closely,
constantly, and truly walked with God. Are we? Turn to Acts chapter two. Here's
a good example here. Acts chapter 2, and Bruce and
I would say, those who endure to the end, the same shall be
saved. You know, I think I told you, somebody said to Ralph Barnard,
the Lord saved me. And he says, well, come back
in 10 years. Let me see. Let me see proof. Acts chapter
2, but here's the proof. Acts chapter 2 and verse 42,
and they continued, who's this? Verse 41, they that were gladly
received his word were baptized, it's essential, and the same
day were added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking
of bread, and in prayers. They continued. They continued. in calm, reassuring, most helpful
fellowship, day to day. And I ask myself, and I ask you,
is this our life? Is this your life? Is this my
life? And it's cycle. May we seek the everlasting Jehovah
God and not be satisfied with a nominal, theoretical, or token
understanding of the grace of God and salvation. No, it's abiding
in Him. And I got a note here this morning,
my Methodist confirmation. I was in 8th grade. Had to be
confirmed. So what did I do? I had to memorize
the Ten Commandments and then stand up there one Sunday and
recite. That was it. Didn't have to do
anymore. And then I could take the Lord's
Supper. That sounds like a nominal token
religion. And I can say the same for whatever
religion of works. Let's get them busy. Let's get
them busy. Fourthly, to walk with God, Enoch's
life must have had been a holy life because God is holy and
so are his children. We walk according to truth, justice,
and love. Our friend and our father's first
attribute, and we look at the attributes of God, all those
ones that Pink writes about, the one most often used, look
at the concordance, the one that's most often used to describe God
is holy. This is why it's called the Holy
Bible. It's the one most often used. So that's what we are. Our Lord knows, He doesn't know
the wicked, but He does accompany the upright of heart. So every
child of God will and must truly be holy. We're holy, we're set
apart, we're sanctified, but we live certain things we don't do. Certain
people we don't see, certain we don't do it because it would
be a reproach to this place, it would be a reproach to the
gospel that we profess and to our Lord. You know, Joseph, how
can I do this thing when Potiphar's, how can I do this thing and sin
against God? That's why David was so smitten.
And we see that in his repentance in Psalm 51. So to walk with
God, Enoch's life and ours will be a holy life. Secondly, it
must surely be a happy life, a happy, joyful life. Who could
be unhappy knowing our glorious Father is over all things and
these things are all for us? And who can lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? None, no, not one. Why? Because Romans 8, 20, everything
is working together for good. To them who love God and are
the called, What a joyful, what a happy life. Why? Because our
friend and brother and kinsman, good pleasure it is to give grace
us with the kingdom of heaven. Luke chapter 12, he says that.
Sixthly, to walk with God must be an honorable one. It must
be a holy walk, it must be a happy walk, it must be an honorable.
To commune, to fellowship, to converse with God Almighty, the
Lord Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit, how ennobling, how
honoring, how humbling to walk alone with the High Exalted King,
the true friend of sinners. And how content. We're not seeking
a bunch of things. We're not seeking a bunch of
things. Wherever, whatever He places
us, is fine with us. It's fine with his people for
we know he does all things well. Mark chapter 7. We know that. And we struggle. We struggle. We see somebody with this. We
see somebody with that. We look at our own situation
and woe is us, woe is me. No. No. It's an honorable walk. Enoch
walked with God. It's an honorable walk. And lastly,
the third point. What's our happy end? What's
our end? What's our joyful end? Look at
our text in Genesis chapter 5. Enoch walked with God, and he
was not, for God took him. May we not be taken like Enoch,
but God's with us, and God owns us, God the Son purchased us,
God the Holy Spirit illuminates us, enables us. God is for us
and not against us. He will take us to glory, heaven,
eternal rest. No more sin. No more of this
corruption. No more of this world and its
foolishness and lusts and distractions. And He did it all for us, His
dear saints. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3. I've
never seen this like this. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We have a privilege, nay, we
have a right. I can say it that way. We have
a right to every portion that's in heaven. We are citizens of
Emmanuel's land. Now look at this. This is absolutely
amazing. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the
last part of verse 21, 22, and 23. For all things are yours. And I kind of thought, okay,
all things here. No. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world or life or death or things present or things to
come. Things we don't even know about
yet. Heaven, glory. All are yours. Things to come. We dwell on these things. We dwell on our needs now. And
there's nothing wrong with that. But let's get our eyes up a little
higher and see things to come. I don't even know. I can't. I'm just going to read
it because I can't fill that in. You fill that in. and you
are Christ's and Christ is God's. Let that sink in and give Him
all the glory. Do His name. Can two walk together? Can you walk with God? Do you
understand? Can you agree with God what He
says in this book about His Son, Himself, yourself? Why He had to come? Why the Holy
Spirit has to take the things of Christ and reveal them to
us? Do we understand that in the heart? If you do, it will
be honorable to walk like Enoch did, to walk with God and then
I don't know when, but He's going to take us. He's going to come.
He's going to come and take us, or we're going to go to Him.
What a joyful proposition. What a joyful progression. Grace
has wrought in sinners like us. Nathan, would you close?