I invite your attention to the
last book in the Holy Scriptures. The name of the book is the Revelation
of Jesus Christ. And locate the third chapter,
Revelation chapter 3. My message will be found in verse
number 4. and my message is titled, Worthy
to Walk with Jesus in Guyana. Revelation chapter 3, verse 4. I'm going to read the entire
passage to this church. Now bear in mind, there are seven
churches in Asia Minor, what today we would call Turkey, the
country of Turkey. In the ancient Roman times that
was Asia Minor. There were seven churches of
Christ in Asia Minor and John has been directed by Jesus Christ
to write a letter to each of them. These letters that John
wrote to the churches were the very words of Jesus Christ They
were applicable not only to the seven churches to whom they were
written, but also to Christians in every age. These seven churches
represent the Lord's churches in every age. So, the second and the third
chapters deal with these epistles, or these letters to their churches,
and here in chapter 3, Verse 1, we find these words, and unto
the angel of the church in Sardis. Now the angel of the church is
the pastor of the church. The angel is a messenger. That's the simplest meaning of
the word, a messenger. Therefore, the angel of the church
here in Great Falls, that would be me. We're not told who the
angel of the church in Sardis was, but whoever he was, he was
the pastor, and he was here, given the letter, and he was
to read it to his church. And unto the angel of the church
in Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the seven
spirits of God, and the seven stars, The seven spirits of God would
be the Holy Spirit and the seven stars have to do with the churches
and their pastors. You can read about them in the
first chapter of the book. I know thy works that thou hast
a name that thou livest and art dead. Oh, that's not good. Be watchful. and strengthened
of the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have
not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou
hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore
thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief And thou
shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Here's my text. 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. He that overcometh,
the same shall be clothed in white raiment, And I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess
his name before my Father and before his angels. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now look at my text, verse 4. The title of the message is, to walk with Jesus in white. Now as I said a moment ago, this
epistle was directed specifically to the church that was in Sardis. But what is written to this church
applies to saints in every place, in every age. Because consider
the last lines of the epistle they read, He that hath an ear,
let him hear. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Meaning this, these or that exhortation is
found at the end of all seven epistles indicating to us that
everything that was written to those seven churches applies
to you and to me if we have an ear. If you have an ear, listen
and consider what the Spirit has said to the church in that
place and apply it to your own life as well. He that hath an
ear. Therefore, we who are here in
Great Falls, Montana this morning should read these words And consider
that the exhortation here given applies to us as well. They shall walk with me in white,
for they are worthy. That's my text. They shall walk
with me in white, for they are worthy. We're going to answer
five questions this morning. What is it to walk with Jesus? Second, what is the white in
which some will walk with Jesus? Third, who are the they who will
walk with Jesus in white? Fourth, why are the walkers with
Jesus in white worthy to do so? And fifth, when will these worthy
ones walk with Jesus in white? So let's go to that first question.
What is it to walk with Jesus? You know what walking is. It
is usually done at a leisurely place, at pace, not in a hurry. To walk means you are not jogging,
you are not running, perhaps you're strolling. But here this
word means more than that. to walk with someone means to
be in the closest and most intimate relationship with that person. How can two walk together except
they be agreed, the prophet said. If Jesus here is speaking of
some who will walk with him, bear this in mind. They will
be in the closest and most intimate relationship that is possible. Now, that is not possible for
you and me here on this earth at this present time. Jesus said,
they shall walk with me, but it does not say they are walking
with me. They shall walk with him in what? Why can we not walk with Him
in white now? We are in white, but we do not
walk with Him personally, in the most intimate and closest
relationship. And the reason for that is given
unto us when we read that in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 6 and
7, that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord. He's not here, folks. I mean
personally, personally. We read, we walk by faith in
Him, not by the sight of Him. As long as we are in this tabernacle
here on earth, we are absent from Him. We therefore do not
walk with Him personally in this sense in this present time. Some will, he says, they shall
walk with me, but we cannot do it now in this present time here
on earth. We walk in Christ Jesus the Lord,
figuratively, but we do not walk with him personally in the closest
and most intimate of relationships. Now, in this New Testament age,
we walk in Christ Jesus the Lord figuratively, but if you look
in the Old Testament, you will find that the preposition that
is used is they walked before the Lord. We walk in Christ Jesus
the Lord now. Old Testament saints walked before
him. There's coming a time when we
will walk with him, but what was it to walk before him? This
is explained unto us, and I believe the first time this term is used,
when the Lord said to Abram in Genesis 17, verse 1, Jehovah
appeared to Abram and said, I am Almighty God, walk before me
and be blameless. Now, what was it to walk before
Jehovah? It meant that wherever you went,
He was right behind you. Why was He right behind you?
Well, He's keeping an eye out in case there's any danger going
to come up from behind you. It won't happen. He can also
see in front of you. But it also has something else.
Something else is meant when he says, walk before me. What
he's saying is this. I'm watching you. I'm watching
you. Notice, walk before me and be
blameless. I'm going to watch what you do.
I'm going to observe your conduct. Walk before me and be blameless. Old Testament saints sang in
the Psalm 116 verse 9. I will walk before Jehovah in
the land of the living. I will never walk cognizant of
the fact that He's watching me as I walk. Not only is He aware of any danger that may try to
overtake me, he knows what I'm doing. He hears the words I say. I walk before him. Now, of only
two men that I have found, if you find
another one, let me know. I looked I find only two men
in the entire Scriptures of whom it is said they walked with God. Now, Jesus is God, so they walked
with Jesus. Only two men, and both of them
lived before the deluge. We read in Genesis 5, 22 and
24 that Enoch walked with God 300 years. Why? He pleased God. Hebrews 11 verse 5. Enoch walked
with God. Now consider this. The scripture
does not say God walked with Enoch. The scripture says Enoch
walked with God. Why? He pleased God. God looked upon the conduct and
the behavior of Enoch and said, I'm going to let that man walk
with me. He pleases me so much, I'm going to let him walk with
me. Did it for 300 years. It is as though God would come
down to Enoch's house. Enoch, you please me, let's go
for a walk. okay so they went for a walk
every day 300 years let's go for a walk now the scripture
also says that Enoch walked with God for 300 years and was not
because God took him I'm not really sure what all that means but it appears
that God would come down and have Enoch walk with Him. Maybe every day they would go
for a walk and they would commune and then they would turn around
and walk back to Enoch's house and then God would go to His
own. They did every day. It might
appear that one day that they went for their walk and perhaps
the fellowship was so sweet they walked further than they had
before and then the Lord says to Enoch, Enoch look we have
walked longer and further than we had before and we are now
closer to my house than we are to yours so you just come on
go home with me. Enoch walked with God and was
not because God took him. Enoch did not go home that day.
Oh, he went to God's house. He went to God's house. But notice,
Enoch walked with God. The scripture does not say God
walked with Enoch. Enoch walked with God. He was worthy to walk with God
even on this earth. And the other man was Noah. We
read of him in Genesis 6 verse 9. Noah walked with God. The epistle of the Hebrews says
he was a just man and perfect in his generations. And this
was evidently after the time that Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Probably during the hundred years
or so in which he was preparing the ark. Now you can imagine
preparing the ark, a huge ship. that was to withstand the worst
storm of that day. It had never rained before. There
had never been a flood. There had never been a deluge. Yeah, I would say Noah's going
to need a whole lot of counsel. He had no Stanley. He had no
Black and Decker. He's got whatever he can find
to cut boards and put them together and had to go look for some tar
cover the holes. Yeah, I suppose it was good that God would come down and,
here Noah, you come walk with me, I'll show you how to get
this done. By the way, he's also a preacher of righteousness,
the scripture says. A preacher of righteousness.
Of those two men, I can find no others. Enoch and Noah walked
with God. God considered them worthy to
walk with Him on this earth, but of none others do we read.
Well, now, yes, you may say, Jesus' apostles walked with Him
for three years here on this earth. Yeah, but was that fellowship
closest and most intimate? I mean, Jesus repeatedly had
to rebuke these men for their inconsistencies. And then one
of them, within only three years, remember Enoch walked with God
300 years. These 12 were with Jesus for
only three years. And then one of them betrayed
Him. And then when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, the others
fled. That fellowship, they walked
on the same road with Jesus, but that fellowship, I believe,
is a little bit strained. But there's coming a time when
they're going to walk with Him, and He will not turn around to
them and rebuke them again. Their fellowship will be sweet.
None of them will betray Him. None of them will flee from Him.
and He will not depart from them. Therefore, bear in mind this,
of only two men in all of God's Word do we read, they walked
with God. It cannot be done here on this
earth. We are absent from the Lord.
But how sweet is this promise, they shall walk with me in wine. Having said all that, let me just throw something by
you here. And doing it in what we considered
a couple of weeks ago when Paul said, I was gentle with you. I want you to consider a certain
song. It is played at funerals. It's in our hymnal. And I want
you to consider these words. In the chorus after each verse
it reads, and he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he
tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry
there none other has ever known. Now think about that. Imagine
if Enoch and Noah were present where the hymn was sung. Noah
might say, Brother Enoch, did you hear what they just sang?
Yeah, I heard that. He walks with me, they say. The
Lord walks with me. Well, we walked with Him. That's what
the Scripture says. And the joy we share none other
has ever known. Brother Noah, I must tell you,
I don't think anybody ever had the joy that you and I shared
when we walked with him. And then they said, I'd stay
in the garden with him, but he said, no, you must go. Oh, he
never said that to us. Yeah, Enoch, he told you, come. He took you to his home. I'm not so sure that is such
a good song to be sung. But I will tell you this, in
heaven's glory, in heaven's glory, although we have not walked with
Jesus personally here on this earth, he says, they shall walk
with me in white. Undoubtedly, let there be no
question about it. Second question. What is the
white in which some will walk with Jesus? It is the white garments
in which they shall be clothed. Now look in verse number four.
They have not defiled their garments. And in verse number five, in
the first expression, they shall be clothed in white raiment.
The word garments and the raiment, it's the same Greek word. It
probably would have been better to have kept the translation
garments. These white garments, they should
be clothed in them. Now consider three things about
those white garments. They are garments, means of various
sorts. Second, denotes purity, holiness,
and righteousness. And the phrase, now consider
this, they shall be clothed. The verb is in the passive, meaning
that They were not clothed themselves. I will clothe them. I will give
to them their garments. I will be the one who supplied
the garments. I will be the one who put the
garments on them. They shall be clothed in white. These white garments, what are
they? They are the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness,
mentioned in Isaiah 61, verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in
Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for, listen, He has
clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe
of righteousness. We have not clothed ourselves,
we have not purchased the garments, we have not made the garments. He made them. There He is, and
He puts them on us. All these garments are Christ
Himself. What are they? The garments of
salvation, the robe of righteousness. Is He not our salvation? The
Lord is my light and my salvation. Is he not our righteousness?
We are clothed in him. Paul the Apostle makes reference
to this when he says in Philippians 3 verse 9 that I desire to be
found in Christ. I want to be found in Christ. not having my own righteousness
which is from the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. Now, that's
my prayer. I want to be found in Christ.
I would hope that when God looks upon me, he sees not me, but
Christ on me. He is my garment of salvation. He is my robe of righteousness. We read of these in Revelation
7 verses 9 through 17 in these words. John says, After these
things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one
could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb. And he says
they are clothed with white robes. multitude. Everyone of them has
got on a white robe, a sparkling white robe. These are the ones
who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Everyone in heaven is going
to be clothed in these white garments. Every one of them. Question three. who are the day
who will walk with Jesus in white. They are a few names who have
not defiled their garments. Now notice, a few names who have
not defiled their garments. Consider first that they are
names, not persons. The text does not say there are
a few persons. The text says there are a few
names. This indicates that Jesus knows
who they are. It may be that you and I could
be having a conversation and I look across the way and I might
say, I see two people over there that would indicate I do not
know whom they are. But if I say to you, I see Conrad
and Kathy over there, then you know I know who I see. Jesus says you have a few names. Not just a few people, a few
names. He knows who they are. Even in
Sardis. He can call them by names. And
notice that they are but few, not many. You have a few names. even in Sardis who have not defiled
their garments. Most professing Christians wear
defiled garments. They would admit if they were
honest that we are all like an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses
are like filthy rags. If they were honest, they would
admit it. But here are a few. who will walk with Jesus in white,
but any who wear these defiled garments will not do so." Now,
how do you defile your garments? Well, hopefully you never will.
Jesus says these have not defiled their garments. How are garments
defiled? Two ways. First, worldly living. James 1.27 says, Pure and undefiled
religion before God and the Father includes to keep one unspotted
from the world. Keep one unspotted from the world. We live in the world. Our Lord
did not tell us to go build communes and get away from the world so
that we would not be defiled. No, He says, you're in it. You're
in it. Live in the world. But we are
not of the world. And the world knows that. We're
in the world, but not of the world, and we do not permit ourselves
to be defiled by the things of the world. They're like a certain
plant described by the Christian writer J.R. Miller back in the
1800s. He spoke of a white plant that
grew at a coal mine, near the opening of the coal
mine. Coal dust swirled around it all the time. And yet he says,
the plant stayed white. He brought it to the attention
of someone. Look at this. All this coal dust
swirling all around this white plant and it still stays white
and the coal miner took a hand of coal dust and threw it on
the plant and it all rolled off. And they found that the plant
was covered with some kind of an enamel substance that repelled
dirt and dust and the coal dust fell onto the white plant. It
just rolls right off. The lotus plant has the way of
repelling dirt. It can stay in a muddy habitat
and yet not be soiled with its surroundings. We're to be like
that. We are to repel those things
that are unseemly, that would defile our garments. When it
comes to the way we should live, We are denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, repelling them. They're going to fall on you.
They're going to swirl all around you. But we're told to deny ungodliness
and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I tell you, that
if you live soberly, righteously, and godly, defilement will not
stick to you. It will not. It cannot. We are
to live our lives denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. And when He
returns, we shall walk with Him in white. All right. Do not defile
your garments with worldly living. Do not defile your garments with
spiritual fornication. Revelation 14, verse 4. These
are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. This is interesting. It is written
to both men and women. They have not defiled themselves
with women. They are virgins. Well, they
at one time were not virgins, but they are now. But they are
now. And they include both men and
women. These are the ones who follow
the Lamb wherever He goes. Now, who are these women with
whom they have not defiled themselves? You may say, well, it would be
women of ill repute. I'll grant you that. I'll grant
you that. But it goes further than that. These are the daughters of false
religion. These are the daughters of Babylon,
the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the
earth. They have an alluring religion. And the daughters of Babylon
are across the earth enticing men to follow them, men and women
to follow them. to lose their virginity to these
false religions. What are in these false religions?
These have defiled themselves with free willism, work salvation,
right self-righteousness, legalism, and everything else that is contrary
to God's free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. When you see
someone boasting of being saved by what he's done, I got baptized,
I did this, I did the other. His garments are defiled with
spiritual fornication. When you see one who boasts of
his legalism, I keep God's law. God accepts my righteousness.
Oh, that did not come from God's grace. These are they who have
not defiled themselves with women. Number four, why are the walkers
with Jesus in white worthy to do so? I want you to think about
that for just a moment. He says they are worthy. Now, I'm sure that you and I
would speak of our unworthiness. He says, they shall walk with
me in white for they are worthy. Why are they worthy? They did
not defile their garments. Consider what is written by John
the Apostle in Revelation 14, 13. Then I heard a voice from
heaven saying to me, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord
from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors. And now watch this very carefully. Watch this carefully. Their works
follow them. The works they did here on earth
follow them to heaven. Now that's interesting. Our works do not precede us to
heaven as though to prepare a place worthy for us. We don't believe
that. There are some who believe that.
They have defiled their garments for sure, but no, no, no. Our
works do not precede us to heaven as though to prepare a place
worthy for us. Nor do our works accompany us
to heaven as though to be credentials to get us in. Who's there at
the pearly gate? It's me. I'd like to get entrance. Why are you worthy? Let me show
you my works. I got this, I got this, I got
that, and I got the other. Looks pretty good. Come on in.
No, it does not work that way. Our works do not precede us to
heaven as though to prepare a place worthy for us. Our works do not
accompany us to heaven as though to prove our worthiness to enter,
but rather our works follow us to heaven. Our Lord's got this in mind when
he says they are worthy. These have come into heaven's
glory, and their works have followed them. And he says, these are
worthy. They shall walk with me in white,
for they are worthy. Their works have followed them
to testify of their worthiness to be here. And then point number
five, question number five, when will these worthy ones walk with
Jesus in white? Verse five, after they overcome. the world and everything in the
world that would defile them. We read these words, he who overcomes
shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot out his name
from the book of life but I will confess his name before my father
and before his angels. Oh what a day that is going to
be. Consider. Consider. We have some elderly couples
in this church. We have young ones, but I want
to speak just a moment to some of the elderly couples. We have our brother Dennis and
our sister Diane. I believe they're probably the
most senior among us. One of these days, their walk
on earth will be over. They're going to be leaving this
world. I'm not really sure how the circumstance
works, but evidently from what we read here, they appear in
heaven and Jesus presents them to his father. Father, here are two of your children.
Now, many, many, many years ago, I put my garments on them, my garments
of salvation and my robe of righteousness. And they wore these garments
I gave to them all their lives. They never took them off. They
wore them. They have not defiled their garments. And all the time they lived here
upon this, upon that earth, they did not defile their garments.
And now, here they are today. And I confess them to you. Not only do I present them to
you, I confess they're mine. And they're wearing my garments,
and they have not defiled their garments. And they have just
recently come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed
their garments, and look, they're sparkling white through the blood
of the Lamb. And the Father says, But are
there names in your book of life? Yes, Father, right here they
are. do not block their names out of your book they are yours
and they are mine and they have not defiled their garments bring
them in let me ask you something if that could be your experience
in heaven's glory it was a small price to pay to
repel the worldliness and the ungodliness around us. Was it
not a small price to pay? They shall walk with me and wife
when they overcome. And then Jesus, having seen that his old saints
have gained the approbation of his father, says, Come, walk
with me. I've got some things to show
you. The scripture says that in heaven and in the new Jerusalem, he shall shepherd them and lead
them to fountains of living waters. Can you imagine Jesus coming
down as it did to Enoch and said, come, we're going for a walk. You're going to walk with me
today. I've got some things here in heaven to show you and there
forever. Seizing never, we enjoy the closest
and sweetest communion that you can imagine strolling across
heaven's glorious land. I tell you what, I'm going to try to keep my garments
clean. I'm going to try to keep my garments
undefiled. And I hope that our Lord, even
this morning, could say, I have some even in Cascade and Teton
counties who have not defiled their garments. I hope he can
say that of us. I have some even in Great Falls
and Choteau and Belton, wherever else it may be. I've got a few
names. They have not defiled their garments.
I hope He can say that of us. And we're going to walk with
Him in white. How glorious! O God, our Father, be pleased,
we pray, to bless this Word, to the salvation of our souls,
to the edification of your Zion, and to the glory of your Son,
Jesus Christ, with whom we long to walk within white. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.