If you would open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 20. 20th Psalm. Much thanks to Wayne
and Eric who got our water flowing again. Wayne said they're not
sure if they figured out what happened, but as long as it don't
happen again, we'll be happy. So I appreciate them taking care
of that. Psalm 20. The Lord hear thee in the day
of trouble. name of the God of Jacob defend
thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee
out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings and
accept thy burnt sacrifice. Grant thee according to thine
own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy
salvation and in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now I know that the Lord saveth
his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name
of the Lord, our God. They are brought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save Lord, let the King hear
us when we call. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would turn to song
number 463, All That Thrills My Soul. Who can cheer the heart like
Jesus? by His presence all divine. True and tender, pure and precious,
O how blessed to call Him mine! All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me, And the fairest of ten thousand In
my blessed Lord I see. Love of Christ so freely given,
Grace of God beyond degree, Mercy higher than the heaven, deeper
than the deepest sea. All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me. and the fairest of ten thousand
in my blessed Lord I see. What a wonderful redemption never
can a mortal know. How my sin, though red like crimson,
Can be whiter than the snow. All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see, Every need His hands supplying,
Every good in Him I see. On His strength divine relying,
He is all in all to me. All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me And the fairest of ten thousand In
my blessed Lord I see By the crystal flowing river With the
ransomed I will sing And forever and forever Praise and glorify
the King All that thrills my soul is Jesus He is more than
life to me and the fairest of ten thousand
in my blessed Lord I see. Okay, if you would now turn to
song number 275, I Belong to the King. I belong to the king. I'm a child of his love. I shall dwell in his palace,
so fair. For he tells of its bliss in
yon heaven above, And his children its splendor shall share. I belong to the King, I'm a child
of his love, And he never forsake of his own. He will call me someday
to His palace above. I shall dwell by His glorified
throne. I belong to the King, and He
loves me, I know, for His mercy and kindness so free. are unceasingly mine, wheresoever
I go, and my refuge unfailing is He. I belong to the King,
I'm a child of His love, and He never forsaketh His own. He will call me someday to His
palace above. I shall dwell by His glorified
throne. I belong to the King, and His
promise is sure, that we all shall be gathered at last in
His kingdom above. My life's water's so pure, when
this life with its trials is past. I belong to the King, I'm
a child of His love, and He never forsaketh His own. ? He will call me someday to
his palace above ? ? I shall dwell by his glorified throne
? If you wouldn't open your Bibles
to Genesis chapter five. Genesis the fifth chapter. This is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day that God created man,
in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created
he them and blessed them and called their name Adam in the
day when they were created. And Adam lived 130 years and
begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his
name Seth. In the days of Adam after he
had begotten Seth were 800 years and he begat sons and daughters
And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. And Seth lived 105 years and
begat Enos. And Seth lived after he begat
Enos 807 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days
of Seth were 912 years, and he died. And Enos lived 90 years
and begat Canaan. And Enos lived after he begat
Canaan 815 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Venus were
nine hundred and five years, and he died. And Canaan lived
seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel. And Canaan lived, after he begat
Mahalaleel, eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and
daughters. And all the days of Canaan were
nine hundred and ten years, and he died. And Mahalaleel lived
sixty and five years, and begat Jared. And Mahalaleel lived,
after he begat Jared, eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons
and daughters. And all the days of Mahalaleel
were 890 and 5 years, and he died. And Jared lived in 160
and 2 years, and he begat Enoch. And Jared lived after he begat
Enoch 800 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days
of Jared were 960 and 2 years, and he died. And Enoch lived
60 and 5 years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after
he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters.
And all the days of Enoch were 360 and five years. And Enoch
walked with God and he was not, for God took him. And Methuselah
lived 180 and seven years and begat Lamech. And Methuselah
lived after he begat Lamech 780 and two years and begat sons
and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah
were 960 and nine years, and he died. And Lamech lived in
180 and two years, and begat a son. And he called his name
Noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work
and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord
hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat
Noah 590 and five years, and begat sons and daughters. And
all the days of Lamech were 700, 70, and seven years, and he died. And Noah was 500 years old, and
Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. And Father, we bow before
you humbly, We bow before you with hearts that are humbled
at your mercy and your grace to sinful people such as we are. And Lord, we bow before you with
hearts that are full of thanksgiving and anticipation that you might
bless us from your word tonight, that you might enable us to hear
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and believe on him, feed
on him, rest in him, be strengthened and encouraged by the message
that we hear tonight. And Father, I beg of you that
you would do that. I beg of you that you would, in this hour,
not leave me alone, but enable me to rightly divide the word
of truth, and in the power of thy spirit, preach the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, give us hearing ears,
enable us to hear and believe, and enable us to leave here tonight
rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Father, how we thank you for
your blessings to this congregation over so, so many years. And Father,
we ask if you bless us one more time, one more time with your
presence, one more time with your gospel, one more time with
faith to hear and to believe. And Father, despite all the blessings
that you've so freely bestowed upon us, we freely admit we're
still a poor and a needy people. We need you every hour of every
day. Father, we pray for those that
you've particularly brought into the time of trouble and trial,
that you might heal and touch their bodies. There's so many
who are sick and hurting in deep waters. Father, be with your
people, we pray. Deliver and provide a way out. We call upon thee because you're
our only hope. Father, we pray you bless your
people. And Father, we ask again that you bless us with the spirit
of worship, and show us your glory tonight, we pray. For us
in the precious name of Christ our Savior, we pray and ask these
blessings, amen. All right, I've titled the message
this evening, Walking with God. I am not going to preach verse
by verse through this genealogy. I'm confident that the names
here, I looked them all up, the names here all have meanings
that in some way, reveal Christ our Savior and salvation in Him,
but as I read this chapter and looked over it, that's not really
what I saw. I didn't see Christ in all that,
but four things did stand out to me so clearly from this chapter,
and I want to give them to you tonight. The first thing is this. Salvation is had through union
with Christ. Look again at verse one. This
is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
created man, In the likeness of God made he him. Male and
female created he them and blessed them and called their name Adam
in the day when they were created. Now it says here God created
them, but you go back and read the story of creation, God only
created one man. He created Adam. God made Eve. He made Eve from Adam's rib,
but God only created one man. Now I pointed this out because
it said the same thing in Genesis 1 as we're going through that
chapter. But the way this is said, in
the day God created them, he called their name Adam, shows
us the truth of representation. Now God only created Adam, but
it says here he created them, and I'll tell you why he said
that. Because when God created Adam, he created Eve. He created the whole human race.
He created you and me, he created them, because the whole human
race was all in Adam. And he called Eve and all the
rest of us, he called us by the name Adam. because Adam was our
representative. This representation, us being
in Adam, is so real, God calls us all by one name, by the name
of Adam. We're all in Adam. When God looks
at the human race, he sees those people created in Adam, that's
why he says he created them. Because he created Adam, he created
Eve, he created everybody else too, we're all in Adam. And since
Adam is our representative, you know, that has big ramifications.
That means we all did what Adam did. That's all of us became
sinners. We became guilty because we sinned
in Adam. We sinned in Adam. God didn't
just charge Adam's sin to us, even though we weren't there
and we didn't do it. God's holy. God's just. He wouldn't do something
that's unjust. No, we were there. We were there. We were in Adam. We sinned in
Adam. We did what Adam, our representative
did. And I know the human logic and
human flesh thinks, well, that's not fair. But you know, representation
is a glorious, glorious truth of the gospel that shows God's
wisdom in salvation. God's, all of Adam's race was
made sinners by a representative man, by the actions, disobedience
of a representative man. But here's God's wisdom. Since
all men were made sinners by one representative man, God's
elect can be made righteous. by the obedience, by the actions
of another representative man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And because
of that, because of this truth of representation, God's elect
are righteous. I mean, they are righteous. Not
like, well, they're not really righteous. They're really unrighteous,
but you know, they'll be righteous someday on glory. No, that's
too confusing. That's too confusing. This is
the simplicity of the gospel. God's elect are actually righteous.
End of story. They're actually righteous. The
same way you and I are actually sinners because of what Adam
did, God's elect are actually righteous because of what Christ
did. God's elect are actually righteous because we did everything
Christ our representative did. The Lord Jesus Christ obeyed
the law perfectly, didn't he? Does anybody doubt that? He obeyed
the law perfectly, didn't he? Then so did every one of his
people. We did it in him. God's elect are made righteous
And just as surely as all the descendants of Adam were made
guilty in Adam, all of Christ's people, all of God's elect, are
made innocent. They're made righteous in Christ. And just like God
called them Adam, God calls all of his people by one name. This
is the name wherewith she shall be called, Jehovah Sidkenu, the
Lord, our righteousness. That's how real the believer's
union is with Christ. If you're in Christ, The Father
calls you by His name, because that's who He sees when He sees
you. He sees His Son. Now, righteousness, salvation,
comes through union with Christ. And here tonight, we're going
to get over to Enoch a little bit, talk about walking with
God. But you know the only way that you and I can walk with
God? Same way Enoch walked with God. By union. By union with Christ. See, the
only way we can walk with God is if we are what God will accept.
Well, the only way we can walk with God is by being in Christ.
He'll accept us only in the beloved. And we walk with God through
union with Christ, by being in Christ. All right, here's the
second thing that stood out to me in this chapter. Sinful men
can only produce more sinful men. Verse three, and Adam lived
130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image
and called his name Seth. Now, after the fall, when God
had kicked Adam out of the garden, Adam and Eve started producing
children. God told them to plenish the earth, you know, and they
started producing children. And Adam begat sons and daughters.
It doesn't tell us how many. He just begat sons and daughters.
I'd say many sons and daughters in 900 years. And you know what? He craved them all, just like
Seth, in his own likeness, in his own image. All those children
Adam produced. came out just like Adam. I wonder,
did they hope, you know, when the first one came out, maybe
he won't be like me, and found out he was. I wonder how many
children it was before they finally knew, well, this next one coming,
he's gonna be just like me too. That's all Adam could produce,
is more people dead in sin just like Adam, because that's the
only nature he had to pass on to them. Now, earlier it says
that God created Adam in his likeness, in the likeness of
God. That didn't mean that Adam was
created with a righteous nature, a nature that couldn't sin, because
obviously he did sin. He could sin. Adam was created
innocent. Innocent. He wasn't created righteous.
He was created innocent. And when Adam sinned, he lost
his innocence. He became guilty. He sinned against
God. Adam was created upright in the
image of God. And the best way I think to To
describe that, it's not like the animals. The animals aren't
created in the image of God. They don't have a soul. This
is the biggest thing. They don't have a sense of morality,
right or wrong. Adam was created in the image
of God. He's a spiritual being. He had a body. He had a physical
body, just like you and I do. But we are a soul. We are a spiritual
being. So in that way, Adam was created
upright in the image of God. Adam still had a soul, but that
soul became dead, became dead in sin. When Adam fell, He fell
into sin and to death. And all of Adam's sons came out
just like him, because it's the only nature that Adam had to
pass on to him. That's all he could produce,
is more sinners. And each one of these men produced a son,
and he died, and the next son, and he died. You know why they
all died? Because they're all sinners. They all got that nature
from Adam. Now that's why from our first
point I said that salvation can only come through union with
Christ. If we're gonna be saved, if we're gonna be made righteous,
we need a different representative. We need somebody to give us a
different nature that comes from different seed that comes from
a different father. Adam's seed's a lost cause. And
that's what God does for his people in the new birth. When
the Holy Spirit moves in power, he gives life to God's elect.
It's new life. He doesn't take the flesh and
fix it up. The flesh is dead. That's all it can ever be is
dead flesh. He causes a new nature. A new man to be born. And this
man is not born from the same seed we were born the first time.
If that was the case, we'd just be dead again. This man is born
from different seed. From the pure, perfect, sinless
seed of the word of God. And that sinless seed can only
produce people just like it. Sinless and righteous. That's
why that new man born of God is sinless. He's righteous. The seed of the Word of God,
the Holy Spirit, can only produce more people just like that seed.
Righteous people. Now, walking with God means there's
got to be agreement. There's got to be fellowship.
Amos 3, verse 3 says, can two walk together except they be
agreed? Of course they can. You're going
to walk together. You're going to have fellowship together. You're going
to be together a long time. You've got to be agreed. Well,
God can't agree with our sinful nature. And our sinful nature
can't agree with the holy God. They can't have fellowship. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. There can't be any fellowship
there. Our sinful nature can't have fellowship with a holy,
righteous God. See what God does? So we can
walk with God. He causes a new nature that's
born in us that does agree with God. So we can have fellowship
with him and walk with him. And that's the only way that
we can walk with God, is by being born again with a new nature
that agrees with God. Everything God says about us,
that we're dead in sin, that we're lost, that we're hopeless,
that we're helpless, that we're defiled, that new man says, I
agree. I agree. Everything that God
says about himself, the new nature says, I agree. God says, I'm
holy. I'm sovereign. I have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. I'll choose whom I will. I'll
pass by whom I will. Whatever I do is right. That
new man says, I agree. You're right. God talks about
redemption and the new man agrees with him. God says redemption
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only in his obedience as
your representative. It's only in his sacrifice as
your substitute. The he bore your sin and put
your sin away. That's the only way I can have
mercy on you is if somebody else puts your sin away. And that
new man says, I agree. That's how they have fellowship
and can walk together. God's got to give us a new nature
so we can walk with Him. Alright, here's the third thing
I saw. So evident in this chapter. I didn't count out how many times.
How many times are we reading this? He lived 800 years. He
lived 900 years. He lived 700 years. He lived
all these years. Long time. Long time. How did
it end? He died. He died. Verse one of this chapter tells
us about this whole situation. This is the book of the generations
of Adam. Now, except for Enoch, all these
men died. They died because of sin. They
died because they were made sinners in Adam. Death, that's all Adam
can produce. Oh, he can produce a flower that
lives for a little while, that blooms for a little while, but
it's gonna die. It's gonna die because sin's
already in it. All died because of sin. I think I have something here
that might be helpful. You know, we talk about all these
men, they're just names on paper to us. Just remember, all this
applies to you and me too. These men all died because of
sin. But you know what? Every last
one of them lived the exact number of years that were appointed
to them by God. Every one of them did. Every one of those
years is exact. None of it says, well, he lived
about 900 years. No, he lived 890 and five years. I mean, it's all very exact,
isn't it? They all lived the exact number of years that were
appointed to them by God. None of them died accidentally.
They died exactly at the time appointed to them by God. And the same thing is true about
you and me. Every one of us is gonna live
the exact number of days and years The Father appointed to
us from before he created anything. We're not going to live one second
longer or one second shorter than that. Every last one of
us. Now, don't let that make you a fatalist. You know, if
people take that and say, oh, well, you know, whatever's going
to happen is now don't they're looking at it all wrong. They
don't have a grasp of this thing. The Lord has given you a set
time in this earth, a set time. Redeem the time that God's given
you. And what I mean by that is God's
given you a set amount of time. Now, use it wisely. Use it wisely. Don't use it selfishly. Use it
wisely. I don't know how many years that
the Lord is going to give me. But I do know this, by God's
grace, this is a true statement. I want to live the years that
the Lord has given me seeking the Lord, following after the
Lord, serving the Lord, walking with the Lord. And that's what
all of us should do. The Lord's given us a set number
of years. Let's spend that time walking
with the Lord. You know, God's given us a certain
number of years. You know, there's a certain number
of years that we'll live. Maybe all those years won't be
productive, but there's a certain number of years that we're going
to have that are productive. For everybody here, you've got
productive time right now. Spend that productive time serving
the Lord. You know, while you're at work,
while you're taking care of your families, while you're taking
care of all your other earthly responsibilities, do it serving
the Lord, serving Him, looking for Him, following Him. Know
that we're just gonna live the exact number of years that the
Lord has given us to live. And that time, however long,
however short it is, that time will be just right. It'll be
just exactly right. So live that time serving the
Lord. And this thing about the time for you, the time for me,
it's gonna be exactly right. There's an example of that in
this chapter, in this genealogy. I know it's true of every name
that's mentioned here, and I can't give you an example of it from
each of these different names, but for two of them, I can. Two
of these men, I can tell you this example. They lived the
exact right amount of time. set for them by God. It's Lamech and Methuselah. Lamech
and Methuselah. Noah's father and grandfather. Now Noah, you know the story
of Noah. We'll get to that in the coming
weeks. He built an ark and there came a flood from God. God's
wrath coming on the sin of man and the earth. But you know what?
No believer died in that flood. The flood that God sent is a
picture of his wrath against sin. Believers are all saved
from God's wrath against our sin. Because Christ bore it for
us. Christ took that for us. Noah
and his family were saved from God's wrath against their sin.
God's wrath still fell on their sin just like it did on everybody
else's. The difference with Noah and his family was God's wrath
against their sin fell on the ark. They were saved. God's got
to punish your sin. He's got to punish my sin. His
wrath is going to fall on our sin. either on us in eternity
in hell on Christ our Savior, Calvary, one or the other. And
if we're in Christ, we're saved from God's wrath. And the Lord
made sure that Methuselah and Lamech died before the flood. Lamech, Noah's father, died five
years before the flood came. Methuselah died the year the
flood came. He died earlier in that year,
later in that year, the flood came. Noah's father and grandfather
saw him building the ark. Noah told them what he was doing.
They saw this, they knew what was going on. They knew what
was coming. I know, the rest of the world
didn't. These two men, they believed
what Noah was saying. God's coming. God's coming in
wrath. Get in the ark. They knew what was coming. But
the Lord took them home before the flood ever came to spare
them from that flood. See that? All of that happened. by the will and purpose of God. Your time and my time are exactly
the same. It'll all begin and end and everything
that happens to it in between by the will and purpose of God. Now here we're talking about
walking with God. How can I walk with God? By the purpose of God. By God's purpose. God has to
will us to walk with Him. Because our dead flesh never
will do it. You know, what does Christ call His people? Calls
them sheep that were wandering. They weren't looking to walk
with the shepherd. They were looking to find the shepherd.
They were wandering lost and happy to do it. The shepherd
had to go to them, go get them. By his will, by his power, by
his determination. Our dead flesh cannot will or
purpose to walk with God. But if God wills it, brother,
we'll walk with him. That's how we walk with him.
It's by his will, by his purpose, by his design. Just like everything
else in our lives. All right, here's the fourth
thing. How do I walk with God? Verse
21. And Enoch lived 60 and five years
and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after
he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters.
And all the days of Enoch were 360 and five years. And Enoch
walked with God and he was not, for God took him. Now Enoch is
the only one in this chapter who didn't die. And in the whole
Bible, the Bible only records two men who did not die, Enoch
and Elijah. Enoch was taken, Elijah was translated,
or whatever happened in that chariot. Even Christ died before
he was sent back to the Father, didn't he? Enoch and Elijah,
they're the only two that did not die. Now there's got to be
something important for us to learn from Enoch. This thing
of walking with God. In this chapter, all these men
died, except for Enoch. And it points out specifically
about Enoch that Enoch walked with God. That tells me there's
something to learn here. Maybe you and I can learn something
about how to walk with God. Unless Christ returns first,
all of us are gonna die. God's not gonna take any of us
like he did Enoch. But you know, we can still walk
with God. Now, walking with God. That sounds very mysterious.
It sounds so spiritual, like it's on such a higher spiritual
plane, you know, I can never attain to. And I read this chapter,
I don't know Enoch, I don't know anything about Enoch, but I just
read about Enoch and I say, yeah, I can see how Enoch could walk
with God, because he's so much better than me. How can I walk
with God? How can you walk with God? It
sounds very mysterious and it sounds so spiritual, it seems
like something that, you know, the normal person just can't
do. But we can, we can. We can walk with God the same
way Enoch did. I'm gonna give you six ways,
I promise to be very simple and very brief. Number one, look
at Hebrews chapter 11. How can we walk with God? Well,
the first way is we walk with God by faith, just like Enoch
did. Look here at Hebrews 11, verse
five. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death, and was not found, because God
had translated him. For before his translation, he
had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith, it's
impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Now, Enoch didn't please God. The writer says, by faith, By
faith Enoch pleased God. Enoch only pleased God by faith
in Christ that God had to give him. He pleased God with what
God gave him, faith in Christ. There's no other way to please
God other than by faith in Christ. And here's how I know that I'm
walking, that I'm conducting myself. As I walk through this
life, as I go through this life by faith in Christ, I've quit
my works of the law. I quit trying to do works of
the law to make God happy with me. You know why I quit them?
Because I trust Christ. I trust him. There's no need
for me to do anything to add to it. I trust Christ. That's
walking by faith. If we would walk with God, we've
got to live by faith. Now that doesn't mean that you
live by faith and all you think about, you know, is spiritual
things and you got your head up in the clouds and you ignore
your earthly responsibilities. That's contrary to scripture.
What I mean by walking by faith is this. Live your daily life. Take care of the responsibilities
that you have to do in your daily life and do it looking to and
depending on Christ. We live by faith, by working,
by doing the things that we're supposed to do, by being kind,
by being generous, by all these things, you know, but not trusting
in those things to save us. Live an honest, holy life. Absolutely
do that. but don't ever depend on that
to save you. Don't ever depend on that to think that you're
gonna somehow be a better Christian in heaven, have a better place
in heaven. We live by faith, doing everything we're supposed
to do in this life, doing everything God's given us to do in this
life, all the while trusting Christ to be everything that
we need. No matter where we're at, no
matter what we're doing, no matter where we're going, trusting Christ
to be everything we need. That's walking by faith, and
that's walking with God. All right, number two, look at
Jude, the book of Jude. Here's the second thing. We walk
with God by looking for Christ's return. That is exactly what
Enoch did. Jude, verse 14. And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these, saying, behold, the Lord cometh with
10,000 of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, to convince
all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which
they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches,
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Sounds like old
Enoch's talking about 2022, doesn't it? He's talking about his day,
seventh from Adam. Man hasn't changed a bit, has
he? Enoch walked through his life looking for the second coming
of Christ before Christ ever came the first time. He was looking
for Christ to return and to take him home. And somebody that knows
that, that tells me this about Enoch. Enoch is looking for Christ's
second coming before he even came the first time. That he
had to know this. This world is not all that there
is. I'm looking for someplace better.
I'm expecting to go someplace better. Now while he was here,
Enoch took care of his responsibilities. He begat sons and daughters.
I'm just confident of this. He took care of his family. He
took care. He loved them. He took care of
them. He was a family man. He was a man out in the community,
working and whatever relationships he had with people in the community.
People knew Enoch. You know how I know that? When
the Lord took him, people went looking for him. They missed
him. He's part of my life. This is
my husband. This is my father. This is my
friend. This is my co-worker. This is my neighbor. Where is
he? I'm going to go look. They missed him. They went looking
for him. See, Enoch lived, taking care
of all his responsibilities, all with one eye on Christ returning. All just that's living by faith. Knowing that this life is not,
oh there is, I'm looking, I'm expecting this, it's coming.
The best example I can think of is this. Y'all know Janice's
mother lives about six and a half, seven hours away. And she goes
to see her a couple times a year and oftentimes I'll stay home,
I work and so forth. And she'll be gone four or five
days. Now you can imagine. after four
or five days, the state of that house, what the kitchen looks
like, what the living room looks like, what, you know, stuff looks.
You can just imagine. Let your mind run. You're probably
accurate. Well, the day Jan's supposed
to come home, you know what I'm doing? I'm washing the dishes, and I'm
loading the dishwasher, and I'm cleaning stuff. I'm doing all
the stuff I should have been doing all along. I'm doing what
I'm supposed to be doing with one eye on that driveway when
she's coming home. See that? Take care of your responsibilities
with one eye. He's coming back for me. And
I can't wait till He gets here. I just can't wait. That's what
Enoch did. And that's the way we walk with God. What is it
that the Lord's put to your hand to do today? When you wake up
tomorrow, you think of this. What is it that the Lord's put
to my hand to do today? You have some responsibility
to take care of tomorrow. Do it with all you've got. With one eye looking for Him. He's coming. He's coming. Take
care of the things that God's giving you in this life. Participate,
you know, in this life, but don't get so caught up trying to get
things of this life. Be ready to let them go and go
be with Him when He comes to get you. That's walking by faith,
depending on God for everything we need. And that's how we walk
with God. All right. Thirdly, look at Romans
chapter eight. We walk with God by walking after
the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Now what is it to walk after
the flesh? Well, it's to mind. the things of the flesh. It's
to seek salvation by the will of the flesh, the arm of the
flesh, the strength of the flesh, the logic, the wisdom of the
flesh. What is it to walk after the spirit? Again, just like
walking with God, walking with the Holy Spirit, that seems too
holy, too righteous, too spiritual for somebody like me. What is
it to walk after the spirit? Well, it's to live following
the spirit, following the Holy Spirit. Now, if we walk following
the Holy Spirit, where are we going to go? If you're following
the Spirit, where are you going to go? You're going to go to
Christ, aren't you? Because the Spirit always leads
to Christ. He always points to Christ. He
never points to Himself. He always points to Christ. So
someone who walks after the Spirit, they're going to Christ. They're
not seeking to establish their own righteousness by their own
deeds of the law. They're seeking Christ as their
righteousness. They're like the Apostle Paul,
I don't want anything to do with my righteousness, which is of
the law. I want to be found in Christ. That's what I'm seeking,
to be found in Christ. When God sees me, all I want
Him to see is Christ. That's walking with the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit always leads us to Christ, to trust
in Him, to be found in Him. We walk with God simply by doing
this, seeking Christ. seeking Him, seeking to know
Him, seeking to be found in Him, seeking to learn more of Him,
and walk always depending on Christ to do all the saving for
us without me contributing anything to it. All right, fourthly, look
at Ephesians chapter two. We walk with God by seeking ways
to serve God's people. Ephesians two, verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Now, I've told you this many,
many times, that this is a good work. A good work is something
that you do purely to help the body of Christ, to help the people
of Christ. You're not doing it for any recognition,
any glory, any credit. It's just a work that's done
by faith, just trying to help somebody, trying to serve the
people of God. and serving God's people out
of love. When you see an opportunity to
help, help. When you see a need that needs
to be filled, fill it. When you see, do it. I mean, it could
be a simple way. It's just getting the water running
in this place again. I mean, it seems like no big
deal. Would you like to wash your hands? I mean, it seems
like no big deal. It's been a big help. That's
a good word. It's just seeking to do what
you can do to help God's people. Do you know that's walking with
God? That's walking with God. All right, fifthly, look at Colossians
chapter two. We walk with God by continuing
to depend on Christ for everything, continuing. Colossians two, verse
six. As we have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. So what Paul is saying
here, how is it that you first came to Christ? Walk in Him the
same way. Continue walking in Him the same
way. I want you to think of yourself.
You that trust the Lord. How did you first come to Christ? Now I've talked to so many people
over the years when they first come to Christ. They're so excited. They're so relieved. Now I see,
now I see, I just, oh. They confess Christ in baptism
and say, oh, I wish I'd done this a long time ago. They see,
they're so excited, they're so relieved. All the pressure's
off, just rest in Christ. They're just learning of Him
and hearing of Him. It's so exciting and they just
can't wait for the next service to hear more, to learn more of
Christ. Did you start that way? This is what
Paul's saying. Continue that way. Continue that
exact same way. You first came to Christ just
in such joy. It was such a joy to trust Him
to be everything God required of you. Wasn't it just a thrill?
A joy? It was such a joy to you because
you know you couldn't do anything. But He is everything. That gave
you such sweet rest, didn't it? Such relief? Well, now you've
been coming to service a good while. Now you've learned some
things. By God's grace, you've learned
some things, haven't you? Hope so. Well, don't start thinking
now. I've learned so much, and I've
grown so much, now I can be a little self-sufficient. Now I can do
something to show my salvation. Now I can do something so people
will see Now I can do something to kind of add to this thing,
make myself, you know, one of these giants in the faith, like
O'Eaning, you know. No, no, no, no. Drop that. Continue the way you started,
knowing you're nothing. Christ is everything. And have
that be your joy. Have that be your joy. I'd say
it's pretty good evidence if we start thinking, oh, I've learned
so much. and I've grown so much, now I
can be a little self-sufficient, now I can do this and that. That's
pretty good evidence. We need to get thirsty and come
hear the gospel and learn more Christ, don't you reckon? Continue
the way you started. And then here's the last thing.
Look at 1 John chapter 7. We walk with God by a true sight
of our sin. A true sight of ourselves, a
true sight of who God is. 1 John 1, verse 7. But 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. Now if we walk in the light,
if we walk in this spiritual light, the light of Christ, you
know what that light lets us see? That lets us see ourselves
as we really are. That lets us see our sin as it
really is. That lets us see all those good
things that we do, that we thought, ooh, that makes God happy with
me. That makes me, you know, a better Christian. That makes
me more savable, you know, whatever. Walking in the light lets me
see that's my worst sin. That's my worst sin. And this
light also lets me see my sin, lets me see something else. Lets
me see Christ. It lets me see He's my only hope. Since the light lets me see my
sin, see the perfection of Christ, it's obvious to me, Christ is
my only hope. It lets us see that the blood of Christ's sacrifice
is my only hope. His blood cleanses from all sin. His blood cleanses me from all
sin if he died for me. That's what the light lets me
see. It lets me see it's my only hope. And that's the only way
to have fellowship with God. That's the only way to walk with
Him is being in full agreement with what God says about me and
what God says about Him. And you know how I become in
full agreement with that? When God turns the light on and
I see it. And I walk with God. Now when I started the message,
maybe somebody thought like what I thought when I thought about
O'Ean again, walking with God. That's pretty highfalutin' stuff.
I don't think that's for just a common ordinary person like
me. But after hearing those things, doesn't that make it obvious?
Does that make it, is that helpful that I can see from that? There's
a way in my life God enabled me to walk with God. I sure would
like to, wouldn't you? All right, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, we're so thankful
for your word. We're so thankful for the clear instruction of
your word. And Father, I pray you to apply
your word to our hearts, that you enable us by faith to walk
with thee, to walk, going through our lives, taking care of all
of our responsibilities, always looking to and depending upon
and resting in Christ our Savior. That in everything that we do,
we seek no credit, but know it all goes to him. Father, I pray
you bless your word, bless your people, bless us as we go back
home and back to work tomorrow. Bring us back again Sunday to
hear another word from thee, we pray. It's in the precious
name of Christ our Savior, for his name, his glory, we pray.
Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn to song
number 75 and stand as we sing, Abide With Me. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord, with
me abide, When other helpers fail and comforts flee. abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need thy presence every passing
hour. What but thy grace can foil the
tempter's power? Who, like thyself, my guide and
stick can be? Through cloud and sunshine, O
abide with me. Hold Thou Thy Word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's
vain shadows flee. In life, in death, O Lord, abide
with me.