It's so good to see you. Tonight,
I thank the Lord for the blessed privilege. I wonder how many
times I've said that since we've been meeting together. We thank
the Lord for this blessed time that we have. One day, we're gonna know really
how blessed it was to be able to be together, hear the gospel,
one of these days. I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 John. 1 John chapter
2. 1 John chapter 2. And I'd like to look, 1 John 2 verse 6. The scripture reveals this, he
that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even
as he walked. He that saith he abides in the
Lord He that saith, I know, I know God. I know the Lord. I've trusted Christ. Man, woman
that says that ought, the scripture says, ought himself also to walk
even as he walked. I read that verse of scripture
And I thought to myself, that's a high order, that's a tall order, that's a heavy, heavy word of
truth. He that saith, I know him, I
abide in him, I abide in Christ, or to walk as he walked. Faith that doesn't manifest itself. I got this statement from Mr. Spurgeon. He said, faith that
does not manifest itself by a newness of walk. A walk, a manner of life, that
is consistent to the honor, the glory, and praise of Christ is
not faith from above. That's what he said. A walk that
doesn't exhibit a change, a change. I know, I
know that Anybody can put on a show. The Pharisees were, according
to the word of the Lord, the Pharisees were masters at walking,
giving an exhibit of life, spiritual life. But the Lord often told
them, He said, You worship me with your mouth, but your heart,
your heart far from me. A man, a woman that says he abides,
that is continually sojourns and is present in him, agreeing agreeing with the Lord concerning
electing grace. He was chosen in Christ. A man
or woman that says that I was crucified, that's what Paul the
Apostle said. I was crucified with Christ. Buried with Him. Oneness. You think about being
crucified with Christ. Buried with Him. Being raised
with Him. That oneness with the Lord. is a mysterious, wonderfully
mysterious truth. And there's not a believer that
doesn't agree with it. When the scripture says, I was
crucified, what Paul said, I was crucified with Christ. Somebody
said, well, I know this, I wasn't physically there. But I'll tell
you what, being one with Him. Now, this is something that we
just believe by faith, and we know it, and we trust God. God Almighty has made us one.
All God's people are one with Him. Died with Him, rose with
Him, ascended with Him. Coming back, He's coming back
to receive us unto Himself. These are mysterious truths,
but they're truths that we believe in. Thank God for it. The man
that says, I was crucified with him, ascended with him, glorified
with him. In other words, if a man or woman
says, I believe that God Almighty has looked upon me as being in
His Son. I believe that God has eternally
put me in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He pleased
God, He called me by grace, revealed Himself to me, taught me the
gospel by His Holy Spirit, coming back to get me. That man, that
woman ought They ought. That is, as a debt that is due,
or a debt that is owed to another. Man or woman that finds themselves
trusting the Lord, God save them. They ought to. They owe a debt
of gratitude. I think about that song, we say,
thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for
giving to me thy great salvation, so rich and free. That man, that
woman ought to. That man, that woman. Here's
what scripture says. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself. Salvation's personal. This is
personal. I believe that when he came,
into this world, I believe he sought me out. It was like that
man that we looked at the other day, over in John, that was waiting
for the stirring of the water. Scripture says that the Lord
came and he saw him. He saw that man, saw that man
sitting there. Would you be made whole? That
man, that woman ought to. That man, that woman ought to
also according to their profession, so to walk in this manner. He should make the scripture
sets forth every opportunity, take every opportunity he can
to live and to regulate and to conduct himself according to
the degree and proportion of his ability. Here's what God
said. himself also to walk, even as
he, as the Lord walked. Now that first thing I know,
and this is the first thing a believer's gonna admit, I know what you're
thinking. I know what you, I mean, you're
thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Every believer's gonna think
this and think it with consistency. He's gonna say this, I know this. I don't have, I
don't have the ability to walk as he walked. I would desire
to. I would long to. I'd love to. By the grace of God, one day,
I will. But for right now, I'm walking
in a body of flesh, and I'm suffering, and I'm struggling. I'm struggling.
If you only knew right now, if you could read my mind right
now, you'd see the struggles that I'm having right now, trying
to take these words right here and set them forth in consistency. But the Apostle John is making
a statement that we know according to these scriptures is so. A man that says he's in Christ,
He ought to walk with some degree of resemblance. There ought to
be something that resembles the walk of the Lord Jesus Christ,
a resemblance to it. I'm gonna deal with it. I'm gonna
tell you again, I'm gonna make sure you understand where I'm
coming from. There's only been one man that's ever walked perfectly
before God. One man. The Lord Jesus Christ. There's only been one man that's
ever obeyed God. There's one man that's ever done
the will of God, Christ Jesus the Lord. But these scriptures
sets forth, those that be in Christ, say they abide in him, ought himself also to walk, even
as he walked. Whenever you find a scripture
like that, that just appears to be so far beyond our understanding,
I can tell you this. Ask the Lord to give you some
wisdom. If any man lacks wisdom, what
does he do? Ask of the Lord. It gives liberally. And upbraideth not. It won't
ride you. Ask the Lord. Lord, would you
speak to my heart? I thought on this scripture for
a while and I've written these things down. A man or woman that
says that they're in Christ, they ought to walk with a spirit
of forgiveness toward others. I said we should walk with a
resemblance. We ought to walk as he walked.
It ought to be a resemblance, it ought to be something about
our walk, our attitude. As the Lord walked. To walk with
forgiveness. Let me ask you that believe.
Has the Lord forgiven you? Is that not a miracle of God's
grace? That God would forgive us. For Christ's sake, God has forgiven
us, put away our guilt. shed His blood, given us a new
heart, taught us the gospel, kept us by grace. There ought
to be a semblance of forgiveness one to another. We ought to walk
with a desire for God's will to be done. It's what Scripture
says, John 4, 34, my meat, the Lord said, is to do the will
of him that sent me and finish his work. That was the food,
the sustenance of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my meat. That's what I feast upon. That's
what the Lord said. Let me ask you that believe.
Is there not a desire? I know you see your frailty. I know that. My question is this. Is there a desire? Do you desire
to do? I want, I want, I want to obey
God. I do, I do. Aren't you the, aren't
you the most disappointing thing to yourself when you see yourself
not, not doing that? It just, oh, I think to myself,
if I could just dig a hole and get in it, Lord, I'm so sorry. Please, please forgive me. Please
forgive me. Help me. My meat is to do the
will of him that sent me. We ought to walk here in a spirit
of humility, humble spirit, bound to be in subjection, obedience
to his providential dealings. Can I just get real humble? right here, and I don't mean
that in a proud way. I'm gonna just tell you, I'm
in a spirit of humility. Pray that God help me to say
this correctly. To be thankful and realize that
the Lord has been pleased to bring me, you, all of us down
in ourselves. in our thoughts to ourselves,
about ourselves. I need to be brought down. I need that. I need for God to
bring me down. You know why? Because I'm the
most arrogant, proud, silly, foolish subject. I need this. I want this. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
It sounds real easy. I want the Lord to bring me down,
humble me. It may be more painful than you
think. It may be a little bit more than you realize. But I'm
going to tell you something right now. Scripture says in Philippians
2, 8, and being found in fashion as a man, he, the Lord Jesus
Christ, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. When we were yet without strength,
Christ died for us. We read that. for all the sufferings
that our Lord endured for our sake, for his father's glory,
for his glory, for our good. The scripture says, he that abideth
in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. That's a tall order. By nature, We long after all
the pleasant things, all those times that we find ourselves
being able to praise the Lord when it's sun shining outside. But you know, when it's rough,
when it's times of trial and trouble, we ought to walk as
he walked. He's going to conform us to his
image, to honor himself. for our good. If I could sum
up everything I'm saying concerning our walk, as he walked, this
would be it. Ephesians 5, 2, walk in love,
as Christ also loved us and has given himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saver. We know in this life we're going
to suffer persecution. We know that. All that will live
godly in Christ Jesus, they're going to suffer. They're going
to suffer. God is going to wean us from this world. We're starting to get a little
bit more age on us, you know. You find yourself starting to
think about going home, don't you? Truly, and if you've ever
watched a loved one die, you know a little bit more about
dying grace, walking and trusting in the Lord. If we would walk
as he walked, first of all, let us live daily
in love to God our Father. If we would walk as he walked,
and ask him, and I'm telling you, we're frail, we're frail
and we will fail on all these points. I've got just a few little
points, I'm gonna name them. But I'm telling you, our desire
is to live in love to the Father. The Father, who has given us
all things in Christ, has given us all that we have, all that
we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, and chose us, chose us in Christ, shown us mercy, compassion, chose us that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. Those that would walk
before Him, those that would live in Him, abide in Him, ought
to walk as He walked. They ought to love, we ought
to love the Lord Jesus Christ because of His love for us. Herein
is love, not that we loved him. Now here's love. Look at yourself. Look at me. Look at yourself. You know something
about yourself. You know something about our
thoughts. You know how we are. We just, our inconsistencies. We want to put on a good show.
I mean, we really do. But here's love. Not that we
loved him. Now here's love, that he loved
us and gave himself for us. That he came into this world for people. That his father chose
and gave to him, gave to him to have the responsibility to
bring these chosen ones to his father. Bring them before Him. Here's another thought. We ought
to live in obedience before Him who has lived before God's law,
earning the righteousness that we must have, and imputing that
righteousness unto us who didn't deserve it. He who bore our sins. I don't
even know what I've done. I, I, I, that without a doubt, I
could not bear if, if, if, if I could, if the Lord could, no,
he can, but if he would, Show me, because of the evil thoughts
that I've had, Mitch, since I've been sitting here, the thoughts
of my inconsistencies, the thoughts of me waywardly thinking around,
here's the gospel being preached, and where was I 15 seconds ago,
when just something flashed through my mind, and I wasn't thinking
on him. If he would bring before me and
let me behold what he has borne, in his own body at Calvary, putting
away all the sins of his people, shedding his own blood, shedding
that blood that was shed because of the broken law. We ought to walk as he walked. He who was delivered for our
offenses, raised again for our justification. who is now ascended
on the right hand of the majesty on high. And right now ever liveth
to make intercession for us. One who's coming back to get
us. That's for real. I want you to just think on that
just for a second. He's really coming back. He's
really coming back. He's really here right now. I
believe that. But he's coming back that we might be where He
is, where He is that we might be also. We ought to live daily
in love to the Father, to the Son, and live daily in love to
the Holy Spirit, who draws us, who has drawn us, who has imparted
life to us, who teaches us, who gives us understanding in the
things of God, you realize the Lord said, without me, you can
do nothing. And we're, we're listening to what's being said
right here. And I've gone over these notes again. And I, I there,
I know, according to scriptures, I know these notes are consistent.
I I've looked at them and I know that, but to understand them
and to love them and thank God for That takes the Lord to do
that. By His Spirit to give us understanding
and bring back to my memory the things that He's taught us. Bring
them back to my memory. We're so prone to forget. A little word of testimony here.
Glenda was telling me, I talked to a couple of others here that
told me the same thing. And when I went through that
little episode with the stroke and how I was told that right
after that, there was things that some of you would ask me
or say to me, and I couldn't remember. I couldn't, I couldn't
remember. I remember Glenda told me it was
Romans 828, one of my favorite passages of scripture. And we
know, we know that all things, how many times have you heard
me say this, if this happens to fall under the category of
all things, work together. She asked me, She told me later,
I couldn't even remember her asking me. She told me later,
she said, I ask you to remember this passage of scripture, and
we know that all things, all things, and I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember. To think that the spirit of God
would bring back to our memory these things that God's taught
us, to be able to rehearse from the heart the things that the
Lord has taught us and brought back to our memory. Give us a
heart for it. Oh, we ought to walk as He walked.
We ought to thank God. He who has sealed us to the day
of redemption. Oh, I'm so thankful for that.
Lord, seal me. Seal me. Hedge me in. Hedge me
about. Head me about, head me about
with your power and love and grace and teach me. Then we ought
to live daily in love to each other. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit in each other. If he's taught us of himself,
we ought to love one another. We ought to love those that the
Lord loves. I see them all love each other.
First of all, because God loves them. Because the Lord loves
them. If the Lord has given you a heart
for Him, and given me a heart for Him, we ought to love each
other for His sake, for our good, for His glory. If the Lord loves you, I ought
to love you. ought to be concerned for your
welfare and your being. By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples. That passage of scripture I've
read, that's another one that I just dearly love. John 13,
35. By this, by this shall all men
know that you're my disciples. If you have love one for another,
you care for one another. You look out for one another.
You're concerned for one another. This is the key to walking as
he walked. I love for the father. I love
to the son. I love to the spirit. I love
to each other. We love each other. Love, love,
love, love that won't pass away. Love that endures. Love, not
we, We know that we don't love in the degree of the perfection
as the Lord loves. We know that. We're not disputing
that. But there ought to be a resemblance
to it. There ought to be a striving
after, a heart for it. A man that confesses his safety
is found in Christ. A man, a woman, that claims the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, loves Christ, and loves Christ's
people, and loves Christ's gospel, and agrees with Him. We agree
with Him. The scripture says, can two walk
together except they be agreed? Let me tell you what else. I'm
gonna wrap this up. Let me tell you what. Every believer
in here is in agreement with. We all agree right here. We're
together on this. All of us are born totally depraved. We know that. All of us were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should behold
him without blame before him love. All of us are in agreement
that God Almighty called us in power, grace, irresistibly Made
us willing in the day of his power to come. All kept us. We all are in agreement that
when Christ died at Calvary, he died for the elect. We died
for his people. He died for God's sheep. He died
for the bride. We're in agreement with that.
And I'll tell you another thing we're in agreement. We're in
agreement that we're gonna persevere. He gonna keep us. That's the
reason we're gonna persevere. All of us are in agreement with
that. We ought to walk in agreement. Therefore, we walk according
to the scriptures with a resemblance to his walk. Not imperfection
as you walk. Again, I'm not claiming that.
You know that. But for our sakes, It's safe,
it's safe, it's comforting to walk like that. It's comforting,
but for His sake, for His honor, His glory. Whenever the Lord
asked His apostles, when a lot of the folks there one day was
gonna leave, they heard some things the Lord had said. They
said, it's a hard saying, who can hear it? They walked no more
with Him. Even when you hear that scripture
right there, they walked no more with him. Just the thought of
him not keeping us, and this is the only reason that we're
gonna continue to walk, is if he keeps us, by grace, without
me, again, you can do nothing. But can you imagine if he didn't
keep us and we'd leave? They went out from us. Why? Because they were not us. If they had been of us, they
surely would have remained with us, but they went out from us
that it might be made manifest that they were not of us. Will
you go away also? Peter said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ. So we walk before God, we walk
before men with a heart, a desire to walk with a resemblance unto
the Lord. We walk by faith. Here's one other thing that Mr.
Spurgeon says, and I will stop after this. He said, the wolf,
and just talking about the walk of a believer, in sheep's clothing worries the
flock more than the lion outside. So we ought to walk as he walked
for the sake and honor of the gospel, the gospel of God, the
gospel of our salvation, the gospel of peace. We ought to
walk for his honor, for his sake.
for our comfort. Lord, help me, help me to walk
with a resemblance and a desire for you. For Christ's sake, we
pray these things.