WALKING WITH JESUS

Sermon of the week #200910-March 22, 2009

First John 2:6, “He that saith he knoweth Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.” Walking with Jesus can be a very interesting and profitable experience. In Genesis we read of a man named Enoch who walked with God and was not for God took him. In Hebrews is a fuller explanation when we are told, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death for God took him.”

Walk with God like Enoch and you will be able to sing, “I walk with the King Hallelujah! I walk with the King praise His name; no longer I roam, my soul faces home. I walk and I talk with the King.”

Then again we read in Genesis, “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” That was a very profitable walk, because God rewarded Noah by giving him and his family an all-expense-paid cruise on a world-wide ocean voyage, while those who would not accept the invitation for that voyage stayed home and drowned.

Perhaps one of the most thrilling examples of the victorious walk with God is in the case of Shaddrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the third chapter of Daniel. These three worthies refused to bow down and worship the god Nebuchadnezzar had made of gold—ninety  feet high, and nine feet wide. They were bound hand and foot and cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace that had been heated seven times hotter than ever before. The king looked into the furnace and said, “Lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like unto the Son of God.”

Those who walk with Jesus today like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will also be delivered from the fire. And from observing world conditions today, it appears that the fire may still be heated seven times hotter than ever before. But those who walk with Jesus are like those three worthies of old; they wouldn’t bow, they wouldn’t bend they wouldn’t burn.

It is also appropriate to notice that Peter one time received an invitation from Jesus to take a walk with Him on the water. Jesus was doing it, and Peter said, “Lord, bid me also to come to Thee on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” Peter went down from the boat and walked a few steps, and then got scared and started to sink.

Jesus also invites us to come and walk with Him. We may not walk on the water as Peter did, but if we try it, we may have enough traction to walk on the land without falling in a sinkhole. Paul warns us in Ephesians to walk circumspectly as we walk. In other words, watch your step as you walk with Jesus.

I truly believe I would be remiss, if I did not mention the warning about walking in Revelation 16:15, “Blessed is he that keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” Keeping your garments’means keep everything covered up that you ought not be showing. It appears that many are so proud of the various parts of their anatomy that they want the whole world to see what ought to be covered up. Remember Jesus warns, “Behold I come as a thief.”

Then there is the sad account about walking with Jesus in John six, “Many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Jesus asked the twelve if they were leaving, too. It was Simon Peter who spoke for them all when he said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and know that Thou art the Holy One of God.” Jesus said unto them, “Did I not choose you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” This He spake of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray Him being one of the twelve.”\

We need to be aware that there are some people who do not want to walk with the Lord. It makes them feel uncomfortable. Adam and Eve heard the voice of God as He walked in the Garden of Eden, and they hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden. Adam found out like all will find out sooner or later on the Day of Judgment. John tells us in Revelation, “I saw a Great White Throne and Him who sat upon it from whose face the heavens and the earth fled away and there was found no room for them.” There will be no hiding place down here. And now let us consider some various places where we may walk with Jesus today.

WALK ON RESURRECTION GROUND

To walk with Jesus is to walk with Him on Resurrection Ground. Luke tells of two disciples on the Resurrection Day walking about seven miles to the village of Emmaus. As they walked they communed and questioned about the things that had come to pass. They were throwing their comments back and forth to each other. Perhaps one said, “What does it mean when they saw the linen clothes lying there all rolled up?” The other responded, “And what did Mary mean by that statement about seeing angels?” The other threw another at him, “What did she mean when she said, ‘The Lord said, touch me not?’ What was that all about?” The other, “I thought He was to be the Messiah, and now this.” They had no answers, just one question after the other back and forth, back and forth. About that time they were surprised to see someone else with them. They did not recognize Him as the Lord, because their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. As they walked Jesus began to tell them about the fulfillment of all the prophecies in the Scriptures about the resurrection. It was as they broke the bread in the inn that their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. They said, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He opened unto us the Scriptures, as He spoke to us in the way?” They came to the conclusion that Jesus was alive before they recognized Him. Their conclusion about the resurrection was not based on what they saw, but upon what the Scriptures said. It was the testimony of the Word of God that convinced them that Jesus was alive. This knowledge was too good to keep to themselves; they rose up and retraced their walk over the seven miles to tell the others, “Jesus is alive.” Ladies and Gentlemen, we have never seen the risen Lord either, but we have the same testimony of the two on the road to Emmaus. Our proof that Jesus arose from the dead is the Word of God. Jesus told Thomas in John 20:29, “Because thou hast seen Me thou hast believed. Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.” The gospel song says it well,

“We saw Thee not when Thou didst come into this world of sin and death

Nor yet beheld that cottage home in that despised Nazareth.

But we believe Thy footsteps trod its streets and plains Thou Son of God.

We saw Thee not when lifted high amidst that wild and savage crew

Nor heard we that imploring cry, forgive, they know not what they do.

But we believe the act was done, that shook the earth and hid the sun.

We gazed not in the open tomb, where once Thy mangled body lay.

Nor saw Thee in the upper room, Nor met Thee in the open way;

But we believe the angels said-Why seek the living with the dead?

We walked not with the chosen few, who saw Thee from the earth ascend.

Who raised to heaven their wondering view, and then to earth all prostrate bend.

But we believe that human eyes, Beheld that journey to the skies.”

Cleopas and his companion walked with Jesus that day on the road to Emmaus on Resurrection Ground in the 1st century, and we can walk on the same Resurrection Ground today as Cleopas, and his companion in the 21st century. If we say that we abide in Him we ought also to walk even as He walked.

WALK WITH JESUS ON HOLY GROUND

Then again to walk with Jesus is to walk with Him on Holy Ground. Paul the Apostle said in Romans six, “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.” To walk with Him in newness of life is important when we consider what the Lord said to the Church at Sardis in Revelation three, “A few names in Sardis have not defiled their garments, they shall walk with Me in white for they are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life.”

Jesus said if they repent their names will not be blotted out of the book of life. How could He blot their names out of the book of life, if their names were not in the book of life in the first place? Only those who continue to walk in the newness of life will have the promise to walk with Jesus in white in the life to come.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this world’s dark light

Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, and all thy days be bright.

I looked to Jesus, and I found in Him my star my sun,

And in that light of life I’ll walk till traveling days are done.”

To walk with Jesus is to walk on Resurrection Ground, and to walk with Him on Holy Ground. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.

WALK WITH JESUS ON SACRIFICIAL GROUND

A third time we are made aware that walking with Jesus includes walking with Him on Sacrificial Ground. Consider the import of the first chapter of the gospel according to John, Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

John and Andrew followed Jesus even though He had also been pointed out to them the previous day as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world---A lamb to be sacrificed. To follow Jesus both then and now is to live a life of sacrifice. Walk with Jesus, and you are walking on Sacrificial Ground.

I hear several times a week of many who are walking on Sacrificial Ground in far away places where churches are closed, Bibles confiscated, and Christians imprisoned, and yet hear little or nothing about giving up the fight. What a strange contrast with some who are ready to quit at the slightest criticism.

How many of us would want to trade places with Stephen who was stoned? Would you rather be stoned or endure criticism? How about exchanging a couple of Paul’s turns when he says, “Five times I received forty stripes of the Jews save one”? Suppose Paul had said, “I would rather be horsewhipped than to endure criticism”?

Remember Jesus said, “The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”

If they called Jesus, “The Lord of the flies”, no doubt that would include maggots. If that was an expression of their disdain for Him, then we have nothing to get excited about. Make no mistake about it, to walk with Jesus is to walk on Sacrificial Ground. He that saith he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.

To walk with Jesus is to walk on Resurrection Ground, Holy Ground, Sacrificial Ground, and also on Evangelistic Ground.

WALK WITH JESUS ON EVANGELISTIC GROUND

We see Jesus walking on Evangelistic Ground in Matthew four, “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they straightway left their nets and followed Him. And going on from thence He saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. And they straightway left the boat and their father and followed Him.”

To walk with Jesus meant that they were to walk on Evangelistic Ground. Peter and Andrew did not know it at that time, but walking with Jesus would take them from the shore of the Sea of Galilee to a mountain in Galilee where Jesus would give them the Great Commission to be fishers of men, and promise to be with them, and then the preaching of their word even unto the end of the world.

Walking with Jesus would take them to the Day of Pentecost where Peter would be the spokesman for the first Gospel sermon. To walk with Jesus on Evangelistic Ground is very difficult.

The admonition of Amos is very appropriate, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” How can a person walk with Jesus evangelistically, if he does not agree with Jesus and His Word? Peter spoke as the Holy Spirit gave him utterance when he said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

For a person to walk through life without walking with the Lord is the most dangerous choice that can be made. In the book of Job we read of a conversation of God with the Devil. God asked him where he had been. The Devil said, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Then in First Peter five, the Apostle explains the Devil’s activity further when he says, “Be sober, be vigilant: your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” A person, who walks through life without the Lord, is fair-game for the mugger of your soul.