by R.A. Torrey ~


THE SECRET OF ABIDING PEACE, ABOUNDING JOY, AND ABUNDANT VICTORY IN WAR TIMES AND AT ALL TIMES.


"Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Gen. 5:24.

OUR subject this morning is The Secret of Abiding Peace, Abounding Joy, and Abundant Victory in "War Times and at All Times. You will find the text in Gen. 5 : 24, "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." In this description of Enoch's walk we find the secret of abiding peace, abounding joy, and abundant victory in war times and at all times. To my mind the text is one of the most fascinating and thrilling verses in the entire Bible. It sounds more like a song from a heavenly world than a plain statement of historical facts regarding a humble inhabitant of this world of ours, but such it is, and it is possible for each one of us to so live and act that it may be recorded of us, "He walked with God," and later, "and he was not; for God took him." The position of this verse in the Bible is significant and suggestive. There has been, in the verses immediately preceding, a very prosaic, monotonous, and at first sight tedious recital of how one man after another of the olden time lived so many years, begat a son, continued to live so many years and begat sons and daughters and then died. Then suddenly Enoch is introduced and the story begins just as the other stories begin and goes on just as the other stories go on, and seems about to end just as the other stories end, but no, there is this fresh breath from heaven and these melodious tones sound out: "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not ; for God took him." Then the story goes on again in the same old strain. Remember that this account belongs to a far-away time, thousands of years before Christ, and about a thousand years before the flood, and yet what depth of truth and beauty there is in it. Are there not lessons for us to learn from that far, far away olden time? The entire authentic history of Enoch is contained in nine verses in the Bible, six in the Old Testament, three in the new. History outside of the Bible is utterly unacquainted with him, yet he stands out as one of the most remarkable and admirable men of whom history speaks, a man whom God honoured as He has but one other member of the entire race. His greatness was of the kind that pleases God. We are told in the llth chapter of Hebrews and the fifth verse that "he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God." Quite likely his greatness did not win very hearty commendation from his contemporaries. However, that was not of much consequence. His greatness did not consist of military renown, political power, profound scholarship, successful statesmanship, splendid artistic or architectural genius, nor even magnificent philanthropic achievement. It was greatness of a more quiet and less pretentious and visible nature, but of a far more real and lasting nature ; it was greatness of character, "he walked with God," and God so enjoyed his society that he took him to be with Himself permanently.

I wish to make clear to you all to-day three things: first, what it is to walk with God; second, what are some of the results of walking with God; third, how we may get into such a walk ourselves,

I. WHAT IS IT TO WALK WITH GOD?

First of all then what is it to walk with God? I think I may safely say that with some of us here this morning that question needs no answer, God Himself has answered it to us in blessed, unspeakably blessed experience. But with some of us, yes, many of us, it does need an answer. We have read the words of the text before, perhaps we have read them often. Thy have charmed us, soothed us, thrilled us, and yet often the question has arisen in our hearts, just what do they mean. This question admits of a very plain and simple answer: to walk with God means to live one's life in the consciousness of God's presence and in conscious communion with Him, to have the thought constantly before us, God is beside me, and to be every now and then speaking to Him, and still more listening for Him to speak to us. In a word, to walk with God is to live in the real, constant, conscious companionship of God. We read that Enoch walked with God, not on a few rare occasions of spiritual exaltation, such perhaps as most of us have known, but for three hundred consecutive years after the birth of Methuselah (Gen. 6:22). It is possible for us to have this consciousness of the nearness and fellowship of God in our daily life, to talk with Him as we talk to an earthly friend; yes, as we talk to no earthly friend, and to have Him talk to us, and to commune with Him in a silence that is far more meaningful than any words could be. I would gladly linger here in this sweet and holy place, but let us pass on to the results of walking with God.

II. THE RESULTS OF WALKING WITH GOD.

1. The first result of walking with God is great joy, abounding joy. "In thy presence," sings the Psalmist, "is fullness of joy" (Ps. 16: 11). There is no greater joy than that which comes from right companionship. Who would not rather live in a hut with congenial companions than in a palace with disagreeable associates. Who would not rather live on a bleak and barren isle among real Christians than in the fairest land the sun ever shone upon among infidels, blasphemers, drunkards, ruffians and libertines. The most attractive feature of heaven is its society, especially the society of God and the Lord Jesus. Well might Samuel Rutherford say: "I would rather be in hell with Thee than in heaven without Thee: for if I were in hell with Thee that would be heaven to me, and if I were in heaven without Thee that would be hell to me." But when we have the conscious presence and companionship of God on earth, "we have two heavens, the heaven to which we are going and a heaven to go to heaven in." In one of the loneliest hours of His lonely life Jesus looked up with radiant joy and said, "Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (John 6:32).

Can you not remember some ecstatic hour of your life when you walked, and sometimes talked and sometimes were silent, with an earthly companion whom you loved as you loved no other? Oh, happy hour! but only faintly suggestive of the rapture that comes from walking with God, for He is an infinitely dearer and better and more glorious companion than any earthly one could be. How the homely details of everyday life are transfigured if we have the constant fellowship of God in them. There lived in the Middle Ages a lad named Nicholas Hermann. He was a raw, awkward youth, breaking all things that he touched, but one day the thought was brought to his mind with great force that God was everywhere and that he might have the constant thought of His presence with him and do all things to His glory. This thought transformed his life. He soon went to a monastery. His duty there was of the most menial character, in the kitchen, washing pots and kettles, but to use his own way of putting it, he "practised the presence of God" in the midst of his humble toil. That kitchen became so holy a place that men took long journeys to meet Nicholas Hermann and to converse with him. Some of his conversations and letters have been published under the title "The Practise of the Presence of God."

2. The second result of walking with God is a great sense of security, abiding peace. In the Psalm already quoted the Psalmist sings again : "I have set
the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" (Ps. 16:7). Certainly not. How can we be moved if God is with us, what harm can befall us? How often God says to His servants as they begin to tremble before approaching danger: "Fear not, I am with thee" (Isa. 41:10). How safe the trusting child feels with father or mother by its side. A little girl was once playing in a room below while her mother was above, busy about household duties. Every little while the child would come to the foot of the stairs and call up : "Mamma, are you there?" "Yes, darling, what is it?" "Nothing, I only wanted to know if you were there." Then again a little while: "Mamma, are you there?" "Yes, darling, what is it?" "Nothing, I only wanted to know you were there." Ah ! is not that all we want to know, that God is here, right here by our side? There may be pestilence, there may be war, there may be famine, there may be thugs upon the street, there may be burglars in the house, there may be haunts of sin, and unprincipled men and women on every hand ; yes our wrestling may not be with flesh and blood but "against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wicked ness in the heavenlies, but what does it matter? God is with us. Oh, if we only bore in mind at every moment the thought of His presence with us, if we could only hear Him saying, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteous ness," there would never be one single tremor of fear in our hearts under any circumstances. No matter how the war increases, no matter how near it may come to our own doors, there would be unruffled calm, abounding peace, we could constantly say under all circumstances, "The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." No wonder the Psalmist wrote in this connection, "One tiling have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." The conscious companionship of God is the great secret of abiding peace.

3. The third result of walking with God is spiritual enlightenment. Communion with God rather than scholarship opens to us the mind and thought of God. There is no hint that Enoch was a man of science or letters. I am very sure he was not a higher critic, and yet this plain man by walking with God and talking with God got such an insight into the purposes of God as no other man of his time had. In the epistle of Jude, the 14th and 15th verses, we learn that even in that far-away day, a thousand years before the flood, Enoch got hold of the great truth of the second coming of Christ. So to-day some old washerwoman, some humble cobbler, who walks with God may know more of the mind of God than many an eminent college professor, or even professor in a theological seminary. The important question concerning points in dispute in religion and spiritual life is not what do the scholars say, but what do the men and women who walk with God say. If one is considering going to some one for spiritual instruction, the first question is not how much of a scholar is he, not how much does he know of Latin and Hebrew and Greek and Syriac and philosophy and psychology, but does he walk with God. This is the great condition of spiritual insight, wisdom and understanding.

4. The fourth result of walking with God is purity of heart and life. Nothing else is so cleansing as the consciousness of God's presence. Things that we have long tolerated become intolerable when we bring them into the white light of the presence of the Holy One. How many things we do in the darkness of the night, yea, even in the broad light of day, that we could not for a moment think of doing if we realized God was right there by our side looking. Many deeds we now do would be left undone if we realized this. Many words we now speak would be left unspoken, many thoughts and fancies we now cherish would be speedily banished. There are certain things that we do in the absence of certain holy friends that we would not for a moment do in their presence, but God is always present whether we know it or not, and if we walk in the consciousness of His presence, if we walk with God, our lives and hearts will speedily whiten. I have a friend who in his early life, though he professed to be a Christian, was very profane. He tried hard to overcome his profanity, but failed. He felt he must give up his attempt to be a Christian, but one day a wise Christian to whom he appealed for help, said to him, "Would you swear if your father were present?" "No." "Well, when you go to your work to-morrow remember that God is with you every moment. Keep the thought of God's presence with you." At the end of the day to his amazement he had not sworn once. He had had the thought of God with him through the day and he could not be profane in that presence. The consciousness of the presence of God will keep us from doing all the things that we would not dream of doing in His presence. Herein lies the secret of a holy life.

5. The next result of walking with God is closely akin to this, beauty of character. We become like those with whom we habitually associate. How like their parents children become. How many mothers and fathers have been startled by seeing their own im perfections and follies mirrored in their children. Husband and wife grow strangely like one another, thus also the one who associates with God becomes like God. John Welch, a spiritual hero of the 16th century (1590 A.D.), son-in-law of John Knox, is said to have "reckoned that day ill spent if he stayed not seven or eight hours in prayer" One who well remembered his ministry said of him: "He was a type of Christ." Association with God made him like God. If we walk with God, more and more will his beauty illumine and reflect itself in our lives. Moses very face shone as he came down from the forty days and forty nights of converse with God. So will our whole life soon shine with a heavenly glow and glory if we habitually walk with God. "With unveiled faces reflecting as a mirror the glory of God" we shall be "transformed into the same image from glory unto glory" (2 Cor. 3:18).

6. The next result of walking with God will be eminent usefulness. Our lives may be quiet and even obscure, it may be impossible to point to what men call great achievement, but the highest usefulness lies not in. such things but in the silent, almost unnoticed but potent and pervasive influence of a holy life, whose light illumines, whose beauty cheers, and whose nobility elevates all who come in contact with it. Enoch has wrought out immeasurably more good for man than Nebuchadnezzer, who built the marvellous structures of Babylon, than Augustus who found Rome brick and left it marble," than the Egyptian monarchs who built the pyramids to amaze and mystify the world for thousands of years to come; and to-day the man or woman, no matter how humble or obscure, who walks with God is accomplishing more for God and man than Morse with his telegraph, Fulton with his steamboat, Stevenson with his locomotive, Cyrus Field with his Atlantic cable, Roebling with his marvellous bridges, Marconi with his wireless telegraphy and telephony, Edison and Tesla with their electric and electrifying discoveries, or any of the renowned political reformers of the day, with all their futile schemes for turning this world into a terrestrial paradise. Friends, if you wish to be really, permanently, eternally useful, walk with God.

7. But there is a still better result than this from walking with God, we please God. Before his translation Enoch had this testimony borne to him that he "was well pleasing to God" (Heb. 11:5, R.V.), This is more than to be useful. God wants our company, God wants us to walk with Him, and He is well pleased when we do. God is more concerned that we walk with Him than that we work for Him. Martha was taken up with her service for her Lord, but Mary was taken up with her Lord Himself and He testified that Mary had chosen the better part. It is quite possible to-day to be so occupied with our work for God that we forget Him for whom we work. If we would please Him we should first see to it that we walk with him.

8. There is one result of walking with God still left to be mentioned, that is, God's eternal companionship. "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." The man who walks on earth with God, God will sooner or later take to be with Himself for ever. "If any man serve me," says Christ, "let him follow me; and where I am there shall also my servant be." If we do not walk with God on earth we are not likely to live with God in Heaven. If we do not care to cultivate His society now, we may be sure that He will not take us to be in His society for ever.

III. HOW TO ENTER INTO A WALK WITH GOD.

These eight immeasurably precious results come from walking with God: abounding joy, abiding peace, spiritual enlightenment, purity of heart and life, beauty of character, eminent usefulness, pleasing God, God's eternal companionship. Do we not all then long to walk with Him? To come then face to face with the great practical question, what must we do that we ourselves may enter into this joyous, blessed walk with Him. The question can be plainly and simply answered.

1. First of all we must trust in the atoning blood of Christ. "By faith," the record reads, "Enoch was translated" (Heb. 11:5; cf. v. 4). Comparing this with what is said immediately before about Abel, we see that the faith by which he pleased God and was translated was faith in what God said about the blood. God is holy and we are sinners. Sin separates, as a deep and impassable chasm between us and Him. There can be no walk with Him until sin is put away and the chasm thus bridged, and it is the blood, and the blood alone, that puts away sin (Heb. 9:22). It is vain for us to attempt to cultivate the presence of God until we have accepted the provision that God Himself has made for putting away sin from between us and Himself. Indeed, if we have any real thought of God's holiness and our sinfulness there could be no joy, but only agony, in fellowship with Him, unless our sin was covered up, washed away, blotted out by the blood. There are many to-day who are spurning the blood and still attempting to walk with God. Vain attempt! It is utterly impossible.

2. If we would walk with God we must obey God. Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my word : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23, R.V.). Obedience to God, absolute surrender to His will, is necessary if we are to walk with Him. We cannot walk with God unless we go His way. Two cannot walk together unless they be agreed (Amos. 3:3). There are many who once knew the presence of God every day and every hour. They know it no longer. The old and heavenly joy has faded from their lives. They wonder why it is. Ah ! there is no mystery disobedience. Come back, get right with God, surrender anew absolutely to His will.

3. There is but one thing more to say. If we would walk with God we must cultivate the thought of His presence. As Nicholas Hermann, or Brother Lawrence, put it, we must "practise the presence of God" constantly. Call to mind the fact that God is with you when you are about your work. Often say to yourself, "God is with me." When you lie down at night say, "God is with me." If you wake at night remember God is here with me. " So in all the relations and experiences of life. There are four great aids to this: First, the study of God's Word. When we open this book we realize, or ought to realize, that God Himself is speaking to us. Second, prayer. In prayer we come face to face with God. Third, thanksgiving. In intelligent and specific thanksgiving to God He is more real to us than even in petition. Fourth, worship. In worship we bow before God and contemplate Himself. Oh, how near He gets at such a time. It is the Holy Spirit who will make our walk with God true and real. It is in connection with the coming of the Spirit that Christ speaks of His own manifestation of Himself to us and of the coming of the Father and of Himself to be with us (John 14: 16, 17, 18, 21, 23). Look then to God Himself by His Spirit to make His presence known and felt.

Brethren, shall we walk with God? God is saying to each of us to-day, "Come, take a walk with me." If we accept the wondrous invitation He will lead us on as long as we will let Him, and some day it will be true of us, as some one has quaintly said of Enoch, we will walk so far with God we will not come back, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.





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