Well, I said a couple of weeks
ago that we'd been reading minor prophets in our morning readings
together, and last week I brought a message from the book of Hosea.
I could have brought an entire series from the book of Hosea,
but this week there's a text in Amos that I want you to look
at. Amos chapter 3 and verse 3, which
says, Can two walk together except they be agreed? And I've entitled
this message, Living in Agreement with God. Living in Agreement
with God. All of these prophecies, they
all are doom and gloom of condemnation towards those that profess to
be the people of God, but lived like they weren't. They were
basically idolaters, they were spiritual adulterers, they were
unfaithful to God. And like the whole of this creation,
the whole of this world since the fall, there is infidelity
to God. It is under the curse, the curse
of the broken law, the curse of sin. That is the situation. And yet the message throughout
is that all of that will be condemned, justly, under the just judgment
of God and His kingdom. will triumph over it all. In
that last day, his kingdom will triumph. There will be a multitude
that no man can number, who will hear the words from Christ the
Judge himself. Come, ye blessed of my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. You almost must keep that in
mind as you read the scriptures. The purpose of it is to teach
us salvation. The text, on the surface, states
an obvious truth. Can two walk together? Can two
get on in life, except they be agreed? You know, it applies
to everything. Human relationships, doesn't
it? Family members, husband and wife, different family members,
can two walk together, live together, in agreement, get on with one
another, be happy together, except they be agreed. If there's disagreement,
there's strife and there's anguish. Whether it be work colleagues,
with physical neighbours, the people that live next door and
down the street, the nations across the border, further away. Businesses, one business against
another. You know, there's rivalries,
but can they work together except they be agreed? But, as I say,
the primary purpose of Scripture is not to teach us how to get
on with each other. It's a spin-off from a right
view of Scripture, is people getting on with one another.
Read the article I put in the bulletin by Henry Mahan about
the grace which makes believers brethren in the Lord. It's good
to get on with one another, but the primary purpose of Scripture
is not to teach us how to get on with one another. Rather,
it's to teach us how to get on with God, if I can put it that
way. How to be reconciled with God. How to be in agreement with
God. And being in agreement with God,
walk together with God. Walk through this life, live
this life in agreement with the living God. You see, as I keep
saying, And you might say, why do you keep saying these things?
Why do you keep saying it over and over again? Like the woman
that said to Spurgeon, she said, Pastor, you keep saying you must
be born again, you must be born again. She said, why do you keep
saying you must be born again? And he said, because, madam,
you must be born again. it's essential you know it's
essential and I keep thinking if I say it often enough you
know Van Gogh painted lots of pictures of water lilies I have
got the right one it was him wasn't it that painted the the
water lilies yeah well anyway he it's as if he painted loads
of them because he never felt he got it right and he had to
have another go and try again and you know in a way A preacher,
you always feel, if you're trying always to present the truth of
God, you feel there's nothing else to say. I've got to have
another go to say it, so that you all understand it as clearly
as you can. As clearly as you can. Because
the objective of redemption What is the objective of redemption?
It is eternal, intimate communion with God, between God and His
people. That's the objective. A paradise
restored, the paradise that was between God and Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. A paradise, but without
the probation that Adam and Eve were under. You know, they were
under a probation that they were not to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. And
at the behest of Satan, that's what they did. They ate of it.
How few seem to get close to walking with God. Would you say
that you have a knowledge of God and that your daily life
is a walk with God? How few seem to get close to
what the Scripture means by walking with God. Walking with God. You
know, you say, oh well, it's very religious people. No, it's
not monks, it's not priests, it's not the majority that call
themselves preachers, in fact, that walk with God. But Scripture
records several who did so walk with God. You know, you remember
them, they stand out. Enoch, Enoch in Genesis chapter
5 and verse 24, Enoch walked with God. For 300 years Enoch
walked with God and he didn't die like the others died. Enoch
didn't, he was translated, he was taken straight into heaven
to show that those that walk with God are taken straight to
heaven. There was no body of Enoch for
his for his friends and acquaintances to bury. There was no funeral
for Enoch. God took him directly into eternal
glory to show that that is the destiny of those who walk with
God. In Genesis 6 and 8 and 9 we read
of Noah who walked with God, but we read that he found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God revealed to him the way of
salvation, and he and the seven that were with him in the ark,
plus the animals, were kept alive in the judgment of God that fell
down on this sinful world and destroyed every living thing
in which was the breath of life. Abraham was the friend of God,
God who is holy, who is pure. who cannot look upon sin, who
dwells in unapproachable light. And yet Abraham is called the
friend of God. As Jesus said to his followers,
I call you no longer my servants, I call you my friends, for I've
revealed to you everything that my Father has shown to me. Abraham
was the friend of God. Moses, 400 years later, Moses,
walked with God, spoke with God, face to face it says, as a man
speaks with his friend. You read that in Exodus 33 verse
11. He walked with God, he spoke
with God, face to face as a man speaks with his friend. It is
possible For fallen human beings. Moses was a sinner. Moses was
a murderer, in fact. He murdered that Egyptian. And
yet, he walked with God. Levi. Levi walked with God. In peace and equity, we read
in Malachi, chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. Is it these only? Are they the only ones and that's
it? Are lines drawn under it? It doesn't happen anymore? It
doesn't happen in our day? Do we not seek communion and
fellowship with God? Surely you say yes, of course.
Why else are you here? Those of us here in this room,
those of you out there on the internet watching, those listening
to the sermon at some later date online, Why are we gathering
to worship if it is not that we aspire to have communion and
fellowship with the Living God, our Creator, the One who upholds
all things, the One to whom we must give account, the One who
will bring this world to an end, the One whose kingdom will be
triumphant, and oh, we long to be members of His kingdom. Why
seek the truth of God's Word if it won't lead us to know peace
with God, walking with God, agreement with God, acceptance with God,
peace, well, the blessedness of peace with God. So we come
to this text, Not just to find a lesson of, you know, it's a
good idea for all of you human beings, as far as possible, all
you nations, as far as possible, to go and get on with one another,
agreeing and therefore walking together in harmony. No, we come
to this text expecting to find the truth of Christ. Why? Why would we do that? Why would
we do that? Because Jesus himself said, these Old Testament scriptures
These are they that speak of me. You search the Scriptures,
for in them you think that you have eternal life. That's absolutely
right. It's there and nowhere else to
be found. But these Scriptures are they that speak of me, is
what Christ said. And we read in Acts chapter 10
and verse 43, what Peter was saying to Cornelius' household.
He said to him, to Christ, give all the prophets witness. What's
Amos doing? He's giving witness to Christ.
What's Habakkuk? What's Malachi? What's Zechariah? What are they doing? They're
giving witness to Christ, that through His name, Whosoever believeth
in him shall receive the remission of sins. Is that not what we
need? The remission of sins. The putting away of sins. The
clearing of the account of responsibility for sins. Is that not what we
need? We need the remission of sins, and that it's through his
name, the name of Christ, that whoever we heard last week, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever
believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. Who witnessed
to this? All of the prophets, all of the
prophets in the Old Testament, all of them witnessed to it,
that's what it's for. And thereby, knowing this, we
walk with God as Enoch walked with God. We must find agreement
with God if we're to walk together with Him in this life and on
into eternity. We must find agreement with Him. So firstly, why are we not in
agreement with God? Secondly, how were we brought
into agreement with God? And thirdly, and probably briefly,
what blessings flow from that restored agreement. You say,
you keep preaching this, I've heard it before. That's what
I said before. We've got to keep trying to make it as clear as
possible. Why are we not in agreement with
God? And if I was to say, hands up,
I'm sure everybody would put their hand up. The basic reason
is sin. Of course it is. It is sin that
separates. God is infinitely pure. God is the very standard of moral
purity against which sin is shown and seen, for it's His standard
of purity and holiness expressed in His law which shows sin for
what it is. He is the absolute standard. Nothing relative, the absolute
standard which defines what sin is. Sin is the transgression
of the law of God. He is infinitely pure and holy. He is utterly consistent, but
we are naturally sinful. Ever since the fall, The progeny
of Adam, the descendants of Adam have that sinful trait within
them. Disbelieving God. Do you know
that disbelief of God is at the root of all sin? Because disbelief
of God is not just a superior intellectual position where you
say that I in my arrogance have weighed things up and I have
concluded that there is no God and that what God said is not
true. No, no, no, that's not a clever position to be in. It's
calling God who made you, to whom you must give an account,
calling that God a liar. Would you call a judge before
whom you will be called to stand trial, who has the power on behalf
of the state to commit you to jail, would you call that judge
a liar? Would you insult that judge?
Would you shake your fist in the face? Some do attempt to,
but you know, just on a human level, in courts of human law,
how foolish is that? But to do so in the court of
divine justice, No, disbelieving God, disobeying God, overturning,
this is a particular sign of the age in which we live, overturning
God's creation edicts. It's all around us, isn't it?
It's all around us. It's the new superior moral superiority. It calls itself diversity and
tolerance, and actually most of what we call tolerance in
this evil society that we live in is actually tolerance of that
which is fundamentally evil. The creation edicts of God are
turned on their head. No, it wasn't always so. In the
beginning, man was created in God's image. We forget that too
easily. Man was created in God's image.
Genesis 1 verse 26, the first chapter of the Bible, God said
this, Moses recorded it. God said, how many gods are there? Oh, there's one God. Absolutely.
That's what Israel, there is one God, only one. How many persons
are there in the Godhead? Three. He is a triunity of persons. And the triune God said, let
us make man in our image after our likeness. God did not say,
let me make man in my image after my likeness. Those who deny this,
consider that He said, let us make man in our image after our
likeness. Think of Adam, then. Think of
Adam, created in that state of perfection. He was created full
grown. He didn't come into this world
as a baby, as a little child. He was created full grown. He
was created with the full powers. Unbelief is saying, oh, don't
be ridiculous, we know it's not how that happened, it came by
evolution and we're descended from ape-like creatures and Neanderthals
and so on and so forth. You're calling God a liar. The
Word of God says that He created Adam a full... human being, a
fully grown, with full powers of physical and mental strength.
Can you imagine that man, there, initially alone, and then with
Eve, his wife, made from him by God? Can you imagine him there,
in that state of perfection? And how he must have wondered,
I've even wondered this, in my fallen state. What am I? What
is this conscious being that's thinking? He's wondering, what
was he? Where did he come from? Why did
he come? And yet, he could find the answer,
because he was communing with God. There was no sin to separate
them. As Isaiah says, your sins have
separated, but then there was no sin. So Adam had perfect communion
with God. And it says God walked with Adam
in the cool of the day, in the Garden of Eden. Poetical language,
I know, but you know, it's that they communed. You know, Moses
was a sinner, and yet he communed with God face to face. Adam must
have been in intimate communion with God, and was given understanding
from God. And he was given a rejoicing
in his heart for all that God was, and all that God had made
him to be. And they walked together in perfect
harmony. Can you imagine that situation?
We've no idea how long it went on. You know, the elements of
time were established then, the orbits of the planets was established
then, the movement of the celestial bodies was established then.
But they walked together in perfect harmony. but there was Satan. Satan was fallen from heaven. You know, I forget, what does
it say? Jesus said, I saw, oh, it's quoted in Isaiah, and Jesus
said in one of the gospels, he said, I saw Satan fall, Lucifer,
the son of the morning, fall from heaven, Isaiah 14, I think
it is. He is fallen from heaven, and that one, that one who was,
you know, the peak of the creation of God, rebelled against God,
and desired the position of God. And he sees Adam and Eve walking
in perfect communion with God and envies man's position. And
in the permissive will of God, for God allowed it, God could
have stopped it, but this is the permissive will of God that
His grace might be displayed. Satan devised how to put into
effect a breach of man's fellowship with God. He envied how Adam
talked and walked with God, and they communed in agreement together.
He envied it, and so therefore, he devised how a permanent breach,
an essential breach, of that fellowship would be made. In Romans 5 and verse 12 we read
this, because it goes on to this very day, Romans 5 and verse
12, Wherefore, as by one man, Adam, sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, You say, oh well,
that's not fair that it should pass upon me. It's only not fair
if you haven't sinned. But look what Paul says, for
that all have sinned. Can you deny that you have sinned?
No, you can't. All have sinned. We're all guilty. We're all, as he says to the
Ephesians, by nature, as we're born in the flesh, children of
wrath, even as others, as everyone else. In other words, enemies
of God. sinners before God, enemies of
God by nature, and good and evil cannot be in agreement. Can two
walk together? Except they be in agreement.
No, good and evil cannot be in agreement. You know that's true
even between people in this life. Even between people. Those who
aspire, I know all are sinners, but there are those who aspire
to live decently and honestly. They aspire to live morally good
lives. They're repulsed. They're offended
by the brute evil of their less restrained neighbours. We read
about it in the papers, we see it in the news, we see it in
the streets around us. Just at the end of our road,
this quiet, lovely area with complete peace and harmony all
around, so it would seem, yesterday morning, Christine, driving out
down the lane, there's a van where thieves have broken into
the van. They smashed the windows on the back of the workman's
van and stolen the tools out of it. It's all around us. We're
disgusted with it. If you seek to live an honest
life, you look at that and you cannot be agreed with it. You
cannot be agreed with the people that thought that that was a
good idea to do, a way to get some money. How much more God
and sinners than people in general? How much more God cannot be in
agreement with people in this world, sinners in general? God
cannot tolerate, if God is to remain God, God cannot tolerate
the slightest departure from perfect agreement with Him. He
cannot tolerate unbelief, that He who is truth He who cannot
lie should be called a liar by his creatures. That his perfect
standard of righteousness should be disobeyed with such blatant
disregard. The moral corruption all around,
God cannot be in agreement with it. All of it expresses contempt
for God and fellow man around us, and God cannot be in agreement
with it. In what did Jesus say that God's
righteousness, His law, is fulfilled? If that's the way to be right
with God, what did Jesus say? He said this, in Matthew 22,
And verse 36, somebody asked him, Master, which is the great
commandment in the law? And Jesus said unto him, thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment,
and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. I wonder if the thieves that
broke the windows on that van and stole the tools, if it was
their van with their tools in it, would they have done that
to themselves? Of course they wouldn't. And Jesus says, thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. There's a summary of the righteousness
of God in those commandments. Sin is falling short. It's a term that comes from archery.
When the arrow is fired at the target, and if it falls short,
the arrow is said to sin. It falls short. And Habakkuk
tells us, how God reacts to that sin. Verse 13 of chapter 1, thou
art of purer eyes than to behold evil. This is God, is of purer
eyes than to behold, of course he sees it, but he doesn't look
upon it with lack of concern. Thou canst not look on iniquity,
wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and
holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more
righteous than he. God cannot look upon iniquity. A penalty must be paid for there
to be satisfaction. God, it says in Exodus 34 verse
7, God will by no means clear the guilty. Those who are guilty
of sin, and that is all of us, God will by no means clear the
guilty. God is angry with the wicked,
with unbelievers, with those who fly in the face of his standards
every day. And that's you and me and all
of us. created in God's image, accountable
to perfectly obey His holy requirements, yet constantly falling short,
and accumulating an unpayable debt. Do you know that your sin
debt, you have no means ever to pay that debt, and that debt
is held up against the day of judgment. It's written in the
books, and we read last week in Revelation 20. The books were
opened and everyone was judged. The dead were judged according
to the works that were written in the books. My friend, that
is what is happening. It is appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment. My words may not make you feel
that. You've heard this from me plenty
of times. My words may not make you feel
the peril of the condition in which you are, any more than
they make me feel it. But God's Spirit can make you,
and may make you, feel what you are as a sinner before God. The
hymn I often quote, a sinner is a sacred thing. Why? Because
the Holy Ghost has made him so. How? Because the Holy Ghost points
out to those whom Christ has redeemed what they are under
the curse of the law and the redemption from which Christ
has redeemed them. You know when, in Pilgrim's Progress,
when Christian, you know, he's wandering around and he's fleeing
the vanity fair, and he's got this huge burden on his back,
and it's his sins which he knows will drag him down to hell. That's
what I'm talking about. The Holy Spirit makes a sinner
feel something of the weight of that fact, that my sin deserves
God's judgment. If God condemns me to hell for
my sin, God is perfectly just. You see, sin and disbelief is
at the root of the disagreement that is there naturally between
us and God. You can start to agree with God
if you agree with this summary of our disagreement. Did you
get that? I'll say it again. You can start to agree with God
if you agree with his summary of our disagreement, that it's
because of our sin that we're separated from him. So how are
we brought into agreement? What can be said to the condemned
murderer under the sentence of death? I know in this country
we don't have a death penalty anymore, but in my lifetime there
was, and there were people that were hanged justly for murder.
What can be said to the condemned murderer under sentence of death? The law and justice can't be
satisfied until payment is made for that crime of murder, unlike
in today's pathetic justice system. But God constantly holds out
a message of hope to people like us who are under the just condemnation
of God. He holds out a message of mercy
and grace and compassion and pardon. We read it again and
again throughout the book of God, in these scriptures that
speak of Christ. I'll just give you one, 2 Samuel
chapter 14 and verse 14. This is just a purely human interaction
recorded in scripture, but that's not its purpose. Its purpose
is to speak of Jesus Christ and the salvation he has accomplished.
Now listen to these words, 2 Samuel 14 verse 14, for we must needs
die. and are as water spilt on the
ground. If I get a bucket of water and
take it outside and spill it on the ground, can I gather it
up and put it back into that bucket so the bucket of water
is there? Of course I can't. It's done. It's empty. It's finished. It cannot be gathered
up again. Neither does God respect any
person, yet doth he devise means that he's banished, be not expelled
from him. Wow, you hear that? Yet doth
he devise means. We're sinners, and sinners must
be condemned, and the price must be paid to the offended justice
of God. Yet does God devise means that
his banished be not expelled from him. How is this possible?
How is it possible? It's reconciliation of the irreconcilable. Sin and God's holiness cannot
be reconciled, but here he has devised means whereby sinners
can be reconciled to God. You've heard this gospel many,
many times. It's the message of the Bible
from cover to cover, how the kingdom of God will be populated
with recovered sinners, sinners plucked as brands from the burning
of the judgment of God. without any violation of divine
nature or justice. There are situations where we
see more and more of it in our society. There are great debts
incurred, and yet our pathetic justice system just lets a whole
swathe of people off without any consequences whatsoever.
But not so in the Kingdom of God. That can't be done. And
yet, The Gospel is the means by which God will populate His
Kingdom with sinners recovered from the curse of the law by
the Gospel of His grace. No wonder the Scripture says
time and time again, it is marvellous in our eyes. It is marvellous. How such a scheme, how such a
plan. Read the article in the bulletin.
It's a piece from J.C. Philpott, who puts it so well,
as I said earlier. I make no apology for repeating
it now. How did it happen? the Son of
God. You don't let us make man in
our own image. The second person of that triunity
of God, that one God who is in three persons, the second person,
the Son of God, who is any less than God? No. He's co-equal with
God. Restore unto me, said Christ,
justly The glory that I had with you from before the beginning
of time. He is co-equal with God. He is co-eternal with God. There was never a time when God
the Father existed that God the Son didn't exist, and God the
Holy Spirit didn't exist. But yet, in the covenant of grace. This one Son of God, Second Person
of the Trinity undertook to take into union
with His Divine Person a pure, sinless, spotless humanity. We have to look where we've looked
many times before, but it won't hurt repeating. As I say, let's
try and paint this picture a little bit more clearly this time than
we've done before. Hebrews 2 and verse 14, the epistle
to the Hebrews, chapter 2 and verse 14, for as much then as
the children, behold I and the children whom God has given me,
it says in Isaiah, Chapter 8, verse 18. Behold, I and the children
whom God has given me. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory with His children. He shall come in,
but how are they going to get in there? As much then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, He, God, the Son,
the eternal Son of God, co-equal, co-eternal with God. He, himself,
likewise, took part of the same what? Flesh. Flesh. A human being. Why? So that he could die a human
death. God took on him, in union with
his holy, divine person, humanity for the purpose of dying. He
took that into himself, that he might destroy him that had
the power of death. It's what Stephen read to us
in Psalm 40 and verse 7 and 8. You see, all of the religious
outworkings, which were just pictures and blueprints of the
salvation God was to accomplish, When it was filled with hypocrisy,
God said, I didn't desire that. And then in verse 7, then said
I, this is Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the Son
of God speaking. Then said I, lo, I come, I come. You know, what's all this sacrifice
about? It's to make peace between God
and man in redemption. But that's not required. Animals
and the like will never cut it. Then said I, Christ, lo, I come
in the volume of the book, what book? The book of God's eternal
decrees, that seven-sealed book in Revelation, chapter 5. In
the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do
thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. There,
in that, we then look at Hebrews chapter 10 to see how this is
applied in New Testament language. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, which is what we've just read in Psalm
40, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, you didn't want
them, but a body hast thou prepared for me. In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin thou had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I
come, in the volume of the book it is written of thee, to do
thy will, O God. A body thou hast, if you read
the margin, if you've got a marginal reference, in the volume of,
but a body thou hast fitted for me. God fitted for his son a
body, perfectly, that in that he might accomplish that which
will bring about agreement between God and His people, that which
will bring about salvation for His people, that pure co-equal
divinity of Christ, was joined with humanity from a virgin womb. That's why it's so important.
You cannot take or leave these things. Christ was born of a
virgin. He was conceived of the Holy
Ghost, not of another man. Joseph was not his father. biologically. He was conceived of the Holy
Ghost, because only that pure humanity, combined with eternal
Godhead, could be offered as a bleeding sacrifice on the cross,
which would make payment to God, as God as God in the Godhood
of the Messiah, of the Christ, God could not suffer, or die,
or endure divine wrath for sin, to pay its penalty, to make satisfaction
in the place of sinful man. Deity, Godhood, can no more obey
What's he obeying? The decrees of Godhood. It's
kind of tautological, I know that's probably not the right
word, but deity can no more obey than deity can suffer, or bleed,
or die. But for salvation, for sinners
to be saved, for sinners who deserve the wrath of God to be
populating that kingdom of God in eternity, obedience to God's
law is essential. Suffering and the shedding of
blood is essential, or there is no acceptable sacrifice. There
must be death. There must be death. It's the
death of Christ that accomplishes the salvation of His people.
He's a substitute in the place of the debtor, bearing the debt,
paying its penalty in the place of the criminal. The substitute
in that place must suffer the punishment of the crime of sin. How perfectly. How perfectly
this divine plan accomplishes God's eternal objectives, doesn't
it? The breach, the gap, the separation
of the fall is closed up for that hell-deserving multitude
which Christ loved from before the beginning of time. For them,
that breach is closed up. They're united with God in Christ
by grace, by what Christ has done. For He made Him, Christ,
who knew no sin, He was sinless, perfect, to be made sin, the
sin of His people, that His people, why? Might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. My question is this, the question
you should be asking is this, am I among them? Are you among
them? If you truly believe and trust
In Christ, the Gospel of His grace, you are among them. It's by belief, sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, was the evidence to Paul
that the Thessalonians were among that elect of God, loved of God
from before the beginning of time. If you look by faith only
to Christ, to nothing that you have done, nothing in my hands
I bring, simply to thy cross, not as an object of idolatry,
but to what Christ did there and accomplished there. Nothing
of self, nothing of works. Right then, last couple of minutes.
What blessings flow from this restored agreement, which enables
us to walk together with God? Answer, blessings of fellowship
and communion with God. Despite sin which so often mars
the view and mars the relationship, nevertheless, even now in this
life, blessings of fellowship and communion with God. 1 Corinthians
1 verse 9, God is faithful, by whom you were called, by God,
into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. When you're
a Christian, when you believe the gospel, you're called by
God into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ. He walks with
me. That chorus, it was a simple
chorus. It was sung in all sorts of Arminian circles, but never
mind. Sometimes there are things that are true. He walks with
me and he talks with me. He lives, he lives. Christ Jesus
lives today. You ask me how I know he lives.
He lives within my heart. He walks with me. He talks with
me. A long life's narrow way. We have the mind of Christ, said
Paul. We have communion with God. We
walk with him. We agree with him. How do we
get that agreement? We read his word. We pray to
him that he will enlighten our minds. We look at everything
in this life through the lens of God's truth. And he gives
faith. He gives faith, it's God's gift
to his people, not of works, lest any man should boast. By
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. It's the channel, faith is the channel of that
communion with God. How did Enoch walk with God?
Hebrews 11 tells us, he walked with God by faith. And by walking
with God by faith, he pleased God. Because it says in Hebrews
11 verse six, without faith, Do what you want. Without faith,
it is impossible to please God. Because of what faith, the sight
of the soul, looked at. What it looked to is what pleased
God. What does faith look to? If you
have the faith of God's elect, what is your faith looking to?
It's looking to the redemption that Christ accomplished at the
cross. And God is pleased with that, because it's the only way
of reconciliation. As with Abraham, he believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Not his believing,
but what he believed in, what his faith looked to, as all in
the faith gallery of Hebrews 11. Like Abel, like Abel, he
looked to the blood of the Lamb, which was a mere picture of the
Lamb of God dying for his sins, and that blood spoke better things,
again tells Hebrews, that blood spoke better things than his
own blood, the blood of Abel. What did the blood of Abel cry
out for? Vengeance. He cried out for vengeance. What
did the blood of Christ cry out for? Forgiveness. Forgiveness
for the debt is paid. This is the full assurance of
faith, the assurance of peace with God and of the kingdom possessed,
an inheritance incorruptible waiting for us. That's it. Can
two be agreed? Can two walk together except
they be agreed? If you're in agreement with God
on the terms of salvation, then yes, you can walk with Him. And
you know that you're walking to an inheritance incorruptible.
May God give each of us the faith to see and to enter into agreement
with God in Christ, and so walk together in Him to eternal glory.