♪ Obed, accepted am I ♪ ♪ Risen,
ascended, and seated on high ♪ ♪ Saved from all sin through
His infinite grace ♪ ♪ With the redeemed ones accorded a place
♪ God sees my savior In the Beloved, how safe my retreat! In the Beloved, accounted complete! Who can condemn me? In Him I am free. Savior and Keeper, forever is
He. In the Beloved, God's marvelous
grace Calls me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my Savior And then he
sees me In the Beloved Accepted and free In the Beloved I went
to the tree There in his person By faith I may see breath rolling over his head. Infinite grace, for he died in
my stead. In the beloved, God's marvelous
grace, ♪ Calls me to dwell in this wonderful place ♪ ♪ God
sees my Savior and that he sees me ♪ ♪ In the beloved, accepted
and free ♪ In the beloved, accepted and
free. While I was listening to that
song, the third verse, I was looking forward to when that
part came in the beloved, I went to the tree and something that
I was thinking about that was just overwhelming. I was there
at the cross. I was there. I was there in two
senses. I was there nailing him to the
tree. I'm guilty of that. But I was in him as he was suffering. I was there. That's an overwhelming thought,
isn't it? I was there. I'm going to preach this evening
on this subject, walking worthy of the Lord. Now, when we think of something
like that, I know what everybody thinks. I asked Lynn, I said,
Lynn, how do you feel when you hear of scriptures like Enoch
walked with God or Noah walked with God or where God said to
Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect. I said, what do
you think of that? And she says, I don't know anything about it.
Well, yes, she does. Yes, she does. I have no question
that every believer knows something about it. But we do feel that
our sin mars our walk with God, our unbelief. And we think, could
I think that I actually walk with the living God? I can see
Abraham walking with God. I can see Noah walking with God,
but do I know anything about walking with the living God? What does it mean to walk with
God? In Colossians chapter one, verse
nine, Paul says, and he's speaking to some people that he'd never
met in the flesh, but he'd heard of their faith in Christ and
their love to Christ. He knew of the hope laid up for
them in heaven. And he said, for this cause, we also, since
the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you. You know the
best thing you can do for somebody is to pray for them. You know, the Lord's the only
one who can do anything for them anyway. You can't do anything. The absolute
best thing that you can do or I can do for anybody is to pray
for them. And I couldn't help but think
of that passage of scripture in Job chapter 42 verse 10. You see, in praying for others,
not only is the Lord the only one that can do anything for
them, how blessed we are in praying for them. Job 42 verse 10, and
the Lord turned again the captivity of Job when he prayed for his
friends. Now we've been going through
Job in Bible study and his friends mistreated, judged, and criticized
him in a most cruel fashion. And he prayed for them. And the Lord turned the captivity
of Job when he prayed for his friends. So he says to the Colossians,
For this cause also, we since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you and to desire or ask, and here's what he prayed
for them, that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now, if Paul prayed for them to be
filled, well, you can pray for me to be filled. And I can pray
for you to be filled, and the only way we'll be filled is if
the Lord fills us. This is something He must do.
So I'm asking Him to do this for me. Lord, fill me. Lord, fill these people I'm preaching
to, that I love, with the knowledge of Your will. You know, there
is such a thing as the will of God, and we have some understanding
of His will, don't we? I know it's God's will for Him
to glorify Himself. I know it's God's will for him
to exalt his son and to give him all the glory. I know it's
God's will for all of the elect to be saved. I know it's God's
will for whosoever calls on the name of the Lord should be saved.
I want to be filled with the knowledge of his will. What a blessed thing it is to
have some understanding of the knowledge of his will. But notice
he said, in all wisdom, Your knowledge without wisdom is useless
and pointless, isn't it? I want knowledge with wisdom
and with spiritual understanding. That's the work of God the Holy
Spirit. This is a wisdom that is unknown
to the natural man. Only God the Holy Spirit can
give me this knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding. I want that, don't you? He prayed
this for the Colossians. Well, I'm praying for myself.
I'm praying for you. I hope you're praying for me,
that we might be filled, filled by God Himself with the knowledge
of His will in all spiritual understanding and discernment,
something the natural man does not possess. And here's why he
wanted them to be filled with the knowledge of his will and
all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Verse 10, that you might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, pleasing him in all things. Now our walk, is our life. You know that, and I know that.
It's what we put into practice. That's our walk. It's the whole
round of activities of our life. They can look bad. Remember what
Paul said to the Corinthians? He said, are you not carnal and
walk as men? He says to the Corinthian believers,
you're acting like unbelievers. He said to the Ephesians, walk
not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds. That
kind of walk is not worthy of the Lord. It's dishonoring. It's
disrespectful to him. And we want our walk to be worthy
of the Lord and to all pleasing. Now listen real carefully. One
of the privileges of being a believer, and this is for every believer,
this is for every one of us. It's walking with the living
God. That's an incredible thing to
think about, isn't it? Because I know that we think, well, I
can see Abraham walking with God, but I can't see me. It seems
something beyond my attainment. Scripture says Enoch walked with
God. And let me tell you something about Enoch. He was just as sinful
as me and you. And Noah was just as sinful as me and you, and
he walked with God. God said to Abraham, walk before me. And he says that to you, too.
And he says that to me, too. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now, walking with God is an intimate
relationship with the living God. It's communion with Him. It is an awareness of His presence. It's a desire to be pleasing
to Him. Now, if you love somebody, you
know what you want them to be? You want them to be pleased with
you, don't you? If you love them, you want them to be pleased with
you and you dread the thought of their displeasure if you love
somebody. Now, Paul said that you might
walk with God to all pleasing. I think of what the Lord said
of David, the thing David did displeased the Lord. I want to pleasing, don't you?
And I know I've done a lot of things that displeased him in
the past and in the near right now. And I want to know something
about what does it mean to please the Lord? What is this worthy
walk of the Lord and to all pleasing. Now I want to begin with a passage from Ephesians
chapter two, if you'll turn with me there. Because I dare say
that every believer does not feel happy with his walk with
the Lord. You feel like sin mars it. You
feel like unbelief mars it. You feel like coldness mars it.
You feel like the world, your being in the world mars it. And
you wonder, do I know anything about walking with the Lord?
So let's remember this first about a walk with the Lord. Look
in verse eight of Ephesians chapter two. For by grace, are you saved? You know what that means? It means your salvation. You
know, when I say this, do I really believe it? Your salvation has
absolutely nothing to do with anything you do. It's by grace. I love that. Do I really believe
it? I hope I do. I hope I do. It's the only hope
I got. I know that. By grace, you are saved. Through faith. And that, that faith, it's not
of yourselves. Don't you know you can't even
muster up faith unless he gives it to you? You know that in your
own experience, don't you? The only way you can believe is if
he enables you to believe. You know that you can't come
up with a drop of faith. Faith, that's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, not of anything you do.
Lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. Salvation is by grace and God
has already ordained your walk. And so whatever walk you have,
it's been ordained and it's going to be. It's caused by the grace
of God. Now, this walk we're talking
about, is a walk by grace, ordained by God before time began, therefore
sure to come to pass. Right off the bat, that takes
all the pressure off, doesn't it? I mean, this is a walk of
grace, ordained by God before time began. We're His workmanship. Now turn to Romans 8. Romans 8. Verse 1, there is therefore, I love this
little word now. It means right now, present tense. There is therefore now no condemnation. How many times does your conscience
condemn you? Right regularly, I suppose. Right
regularly. But look what the Apostle says.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. I love the simple illustrations
the Bible gives of being in Christ. That's talking about being united
to Christ, being in Christ. In the Beloved I went to the
tree. I love to think of the Passover. If you were in the
house with the blood over the door, there's one thing God was
looking for. What was it? Was it your faith? Your faithfulness? He said, when I see the blood, that's
all he was looking for. I wish I could say this the way
it ought to be said, but all that matters All that's relevant
in my relationship with God is me being in Christ. Christ dying for me and God being
pleased with and accepting what he did. Just being in the house
with the blood over the door. That's what it means to be in
Christ. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh. but after
the spirit. Now, this identifies those who
are in Christ Jesus. They walk not after the flesh.
Now, if I'm a believer, I mean, I've got flesh. I know that.
You've got flesh. We have an old nature, but we
walk not after the flesh. We walk not after the wisdom
of the flesh. We walk not after the manner of the flesh, the
works of the flesh. We walk after the spirit. Now, To walk after
the Spirit and to believe the gospel is the precise same thing. Walking in the Spirit is not
where you've reached some kind of level where you've left the
flesh and now you're up on this ethereal plane and you're not
as quite as sinful and you're becoming more and more... That's
not... That is walking in the flesh.
Right there. That's walking in the flesh.
Look in Romans chapter 6. Let me give you some scriptures. Verse four, therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life. Well, what's newness
of life? Well, look in chapter seven,
verse six. But now we're delivered from the law that being dead
wherein we're held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and
not in the oldness of the letter. Now that's what newness of life
is. It's not the oldness of the letter, not law, but grace. Look in second Corinthians chapter
five, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature, a new creation. He is something that he was not
before, and it's a creative act of God. How much do you have
to do with God's act of creation? You know you have nothing to
do with that, do you? That's his work only. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. An old position before the law
is gone. Now I have a new position, not
guilty. It's grace. That's what it is
to walk after the Spirit. It's to believe the gospel. It's
to rely on the Lord Jesus Christ as all I need to make me accepted
before God. Look in Galatians chapter 6, verse 16, or verse 15. For in Christ Jesus, there's
that term again, in Christ, that's where I want to be, in the beloved.
For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision. It's not what you do, it's what
you don't do. It's none of that but a new creation and as many
as walk according to this rule, a new creation. Peace be on them
and mercy upon the Israel of God. Christ said, behold, I make
all things new. Paul said, if any man have not
the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. He said, we have the
mind of Christ that to walk in the spirit is to walk by faith
and not by sight. And this is very simple. I believe I'm justified before
God. I can't see it by looking at
myself, but I believe. That's what it is to walk in
the spirit. It's to believe the gospel. Look in Colossians chapter two. To walk with God, first of all,
is to walk in the spirit. And not in the flesh, not in
the wisdom of the flesh, not in the works of the flesh, but
in the new creation, that new creation that's in Christ Jesus
walks with God. Look in verse six of Colossians
chapter two. As you therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him. Now, there was a time when I
did receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the act of reception is
not salvation. If you don't receive him, he
never gave him to you. But if he gives him to you, you will
receive. And there was a time in my experience when I received
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know how I received him?
I know exactly how I received him, as an empty-handed sinner. Needing His mercy, singing from
the depths of my heart, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus
the Nazarene and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned,
unclaimed. You received Him amazed. He was amazing grace. You couldn't
get how He could save somebody like me. You received him as
an empty handed sinner and you did so joyfully. Weren't you
glad that salvation was in Christ? When you received him, weren't
you glad that all God requires of you, he looks to his son for?
You received him joyfully and you received him with deep humility. Now, as you received him, so
walk in him. You know when the Lord warned
the Ephesians of losing their first love? If you lose your
first love, here's where it's going to be. Right here. We leave
this way of when we first received him. If we grow lukewarm, this is
what This is where we left. As you receive Christ Jesus,
the Lord, so walk ye in him. You, you walk in him as you received
him. You're going to, you're going to walk with him. Turn
with me to first John chapter one, verse five. This then, is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. Now what a transcendent way to
speak of the Lord. He's light. He's altogether light. The darkness of sin is not found
in his person. He's altogether light. Now verse
six, if we say that we have fellowship with him, I pray, I walk with
God, I read his word, I speak to him, he speaks to me. We have
fellowship. I have fellowship with God. That's
a pretty big claim. A lot of people make that claim,
don't they? I have fellowship with God. I never will forget
one time I heard somebody come up to somebody and say, how's
your walk with God doing? And I thought, gosh, why would
you say something like that? The only reason you'd say something
like that is because you're a Pharisee, no other reason. If we say we
have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, We lie and
do not the truth. Now that fella who said, how's
your walk with God? He'd say, are you walking in
darkness? Is there secret sin in your life, sin nobody else
knows about? And if you do that, you can talk
about fellowship with God all you want, but you're not walking
with the living God. Now I'm not advocating walking
in darkness at all. Doesn't anybody think I am? But
that doesn't have anything to do with what John's saying. If we say we have fellowship
with him, if we say we have communion with him and walk in the darkness
of salvation by works, the darkness of human religion, the darkness
of do, when have you done enough? We're lying. All our speech of
fellowship and communion with God, it's all pretense. It's all a lie. We lie and do
not the truth. But, verse seven, if we walk
in the light. Now, in John chapter eight, verse
12, the Lord said, I'm the light of the world. Remember that?
I'm the light of the world." And the context in which he said
that was after that woman who was taken in adultery in the
very act. He said, woman, where are those
thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. And the only reason the Lord won't condemn somebody is
because there's nothing to condemn them for. He's not going to just
sweep sin under the cover. There's got to be nothing to
condemn them for. They've got to be just before Him. He is the light as
to how He can say to that woman, I don't condemn you. Because
her adultery He was made to bear and He was killed for it. That's why he died on the cross,
for sin. And his righteousness is given to her, and there's
nothing to condemn her for. Now it says, if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. You have fellowship with anybody
who believes that Christ is the light. who believes that salvation
is altogether utterly in him. You have fellowship with that
person. When I'm preaching the gospel,
we have fellowship together. This is the gospel I believe.
I rejoice in this. I believe this. That's what fellowship
is, is fellowship in the gospel. Believing the same gospel. What a sweet thing that is. Now
look what he says. If we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us, continually cleanses. We always need cleanse, don't
we? You know, I was thinking about the walk. We're talking
about walking. Well, what the Lord, when he washed the disciples'
feet, you know, we walk through this world and our feet get dirty,
don't they? You can't walk in this world without your feet
becoming dirty and besmeared and befouled by where you're
at. And he washes our feet daily
in hearing the gospel. He washes our feet daily in this
walk that we have. Ephesians chapter five. Now, these are. Chapter divisions
were man-made. They weren't in the original.
You know that. And probably more often than not, they're most
unfortunate. Now, I'm thankful for chapter divisions, because
if we didn't have chapter divisions, it'd take us forever to find
things. So that's good. But the place they put them makes
no sense. Because look at verse 1 of chapter 5. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children. Let's read verse 32 of chapter
4 first. Be ye kind. one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. That puts a lot more in that
verse, doesn't it? Be ye followers. God is dear children. And then
he says in verse two, and walk in love. Now this is walking
with God. Walk in love as Christ also loved
us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. Walk in love as Christ also loved
us. How did he love us? Well, he
said, As the father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. That's what the Lord said. As
the father hath loved me. How did the father love him?
Well, he loved him eternally. There was never a beginning to
his love. There'll never be an end. You know that. He's gone.
But it's the love of complacency. He looked at his son and there's
nothing there but to love. I mean, Do you reckon it's hard
for the father to love the son? Well, you know it's not. Now,
with us, we get around each other. Sometimes we're hard to love.
Sometimes we're hard to love. I mean, we can act in such a
way as, boy, you know, you're making it hard. But is the son
ever hard to love? No. He's altogether lovely to
the father. The Father looks at him and he's
pleased. This is the son of my love. He always does those things that
please me. It's the love of complacency.
And Christ says the way the Father loves me, that's how I love you.
That's how I see you. That's how I love you. That's
how you really are. And you love each other the same
way Christ loves you. Isn't that beautiful? Galatians 5, verse 16. This I say then, walk in the
spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now let's
look in the context of what he's saying. Verse 14, for all the
law is fulfilled in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself, but if you bite and devour one another.
And that's what the Galatians were doing. And anytime people
go to the law, that's what ends up happening. Remember when Paul
said to him, I marvel that you're so soon removed from the grace
of Christ to another gospel. And whenever that comes, you're
going to have people biting and devouring. one another but if
you bite and devour one another take heed that you be not consumed
one another this i say then walk in the spirit and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh look down in verse 25 if we live
in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit let us not be desirous
of vain glory provoking one another envying one another That's what
the flesh does. If we live in the spirit, let
us walk in the spirit. And if we walk in the spirit,
that's just nothing more nor less than the result of the fruit
of God, the Holy spirit, the fruit of the spirit is love. Got a couple more Ephesians chapter
five, verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly. Now that word means accurately,
which comes from carefulness. You're very careful. See that
you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming
the time for the days are evil. Now, We're careful about our
walk. Romans 13. This is what this careful, this
is an example of this careful, this carefulness. Verse 13, Romans 13, 13, let us walk. honestly, decently, as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, partying, not in chambering and
wantonness, and as reference to sexual sin, not in strife
and envying, ambition and arguing and debating, but put ye on the
Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the lust of the
flesh to fulfill it in the lust thereof. And there's one other
I'd like to look at. I'm not going to spend any time
on Colossians 4 or 5. It says, walk in wisdom toward
them that are without. What's that mean? When you're
around unbelievers, walk in wisdom. Would to God that when we go
to work, when we treat the way we treat people in a restaurant,
they'd see something about us that would say, what makes you
that way? Give me a reason for the hope
that's in you that makes you that way, where you treat people
in such a gracious manner. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without. But here's the last one I want
to look at. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. I, therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord. I love the way Paul is writing from a prison cell,
and he says, I'm the Lord's prisoner. Lord put me here. You know, wherever
you are at, the Lord's put you there. That's a blessed thing,
isn't it? He said, I, therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation,
the calling, wherewith you are called. And he gives us what
this worthy walk is. with all lowliness." Now that's
the word humility. Humility. I love what Calvin
said when somebody said, what are the three greatest Christian
graces? He said, well, first, humility.
And second, humility. And third, humility. What is
humility? It's a just estimate of yourself.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, I am what I am by the grace
of God. Now there's humility. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I'm not what I was. There was a time when I had no
love for Christ. I do now. And that's by the grace of God.
I'm not what I would be and could be. I would be right now, there's
no sin that I would not commit and bring shame upon the gospel
apart from the grace of God. And the only reason I have it
is because of the grace of God. But what I am, I am what I am
by the grace of God. I'm elect, that's my grace. I'm
justified, that's my grace. I'm preserved, that's my grace.
I'm redeemed, that's my grace. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Here is humility. Paul said in
2 Corinthians 12, verse 11, I'm not a wit behind the very chiefest
apostles. Now, that's quite a claim, isn't
it? That doesn't sound humble. That's what he said. I'm not
a wit behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. That's what Paul said about himself.
Now that's humility. It's not that he discredited
what the Lord, I'm not behind the chief of apostles. That knowing
that I know this, I am nothing. I'm nothing. It's only when you're
nothing that Christ is all. Walk in humility. And the next
thing he says, and with in verse two with meekness, that's how
you respond to God's providence. The best example of meekness.
Meekness knows that the Lord sent whatever you're going through
in Providence. The Lord sent it your way. David
is down. David is at the bottom. Shemai
is cursing him. You're a bloody man, David. The
reason you're getting driven out of town is because you're
a bloody man. You're a wicked man. You've done all these things.
Abshah says to David, I'm going to go take his head off. David
said, no, the Lord told him, curse David. The Lord told him
to do it. That's meekness. Whatever happens
is of the Lord. He's in control. That's the worthy
walk, meekness. And next he says long suffering
or patience, patience. Now, the only thing I know about
patience, And this is spiritual patience.
You're patient only when you already know the outcome. You
already know the outcome. You're patient. And I've used
this example before, but if I'm watching a rerun of a game where
I already know who won, things might look bad. But I'm patient.
I'm not concerned at all. And when it looks like they're
going to lose, something bad's happening, I'm patient. I know who's going to win. Well,
I know the end of the story. Christ won, and I won in Him. And God's working everything
together for my good and His glory. And we are patient. Patient. We're patient when we
believe, aren't we? It seems like that doesn't happen
very often. I wish I could put it in a bottle and be that way
all the time, but that's the way it ought to be. Patient.
And then he says in verse Two, forbearing one another in love. Now this is the worthy walk,
forbearing one another in love. Turn a few pages over to Colossians
chapter three. Here's what this means. Put on, verse 12, put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another. Now, if you forbear somebody,
that means you're forgiving them. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. That's walking
worthy of Christ. He said in verse three of Ephesians
chapter four, endeavoring, endeavoring, giving every effort, denying
yourself, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace. Now humility, meekness, patience,
and forbearing one another in love will keep the unity of the
spirit. in the bond of peace, but pride,
aggressiveness, impatience, and failure to forbear and forgive
will destroy the unity of the spirit. And the unity of the
spirit is something we're to endeavor, to endeavor, to give
every effort to keep. Now, here's a worthy walk, worthy
of the Lord. Lowliness, meekness, patience,
forbearance, walking in the spirit, walking as we receive Christ,
walking in the light, walking in love, walking circumspectly,
walking in wisdom, walking as he walked in humility, meekness,
and patience, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace. Now, Paul prayed that they would
be filled with the knowledge of his will. in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding for this purpose, that they might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. I want to walk worthy of the
Lord. And even when I say that, I think, well, how can you, I'll
have a million things. It makes me think you're just
talking. I realized that, but I do want to walk worthy of the
Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be
filled by you with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding, that we might walk worthy of thee
unto all pleasing. Lord, give us such a love to
thee that we want to please you in all things. and dread the
thought of thy displeasure. Oh Lord, do that for us and in
us. Lord, enable us to walk in humility
and in meekness and in patience, believing you're in control for
bearing one another in love. Lord, cause us to be quick to
forgive as you have forgiven us. Lord, to walk worthy of thee
can only be done by thy grace, and we ask that you would give
us grace to walk worthy of thee. In Christ's blessed name, we
pray. Amen. Paul, are you going to close
again? 452, we'll stand in silence. Thanks.