Some Thoughts on Walking with God - Tim Conway

Would you please open in God's Word

to 1 John 1:1.

1 John 1:1.

"That which was from the beginning,

which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes,

which we looked upon

and have touched with our hands,

concerning the word of life -

the life was made manifest,

and we have seen it,

and testify to it

and proclaimed to you

the eternal life,

which was with the Father

and was made manifest to us-

that which we have seen and heard

we proclaim also to you,

so that you too may
have fellowship with us;

and indeed our fellowship

is with the Father and with His Son,

Jesus Christ

We are writing these
things so that our joy

may be complete."

Brothers and sisters,

when we read John's Gospel -

not this first epistle, but his Gospel -

John is pretty plain to tell us

who he's addressing.

Let me just quote John.

John 20:30.

You don't need to
turn there but listen.

This comes from John's Gospel.

It gives us John's own reason

for writing the Gospel.

"Now Jesus," he says,

"did many other signs

in the presence of His disciples

which are not written in this book."

The book is the Gospel of John.

"But these are written,"

here he is going to tell
us the reason why,

"so that you may believe

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that by believing you may have life

in His name."

John writes his Gospel to the lost,

so that they might believe.

But when we come to John's first epistle,

John is not seeking to convince the lost

in hopes that they will believe.

John distinctly writes this letter

to those who are already Christian

and I want to show you this.

Let your eyes go down to 1 John 2:1.

"My little children,"

he's writing to Christians,

"I'm writing these things--"

what "these things"?

All of chapter one.

"To you so that,"

well all of chapter one
and all of the epistle.

"But I'm writing these things to you..."

to who? To "little children."

1 John 2:7:

"Beloved."

You use beloved because
they're beloved of God.

"I'm writing you,"

that's who he is writing too.

1 John 2:12:

"I'm writing to you little children..."

who are these little children?

Well, they're the ones
whose sins are forgiven

for His namesake.

He says in verse 13,

"I'm writing to you fathers
because you know Him."

These are people that know God.

If you go to 1 John 2:18:

"Children."

1 John 2:21:

"I write to you," who?

"Not because you do not know the
truth but because you know it."

These are people that know the truth.

1 John 3:1: "See what kind of love

the Father has given to us."

John's including himself
with his audience.

That what?

"We should be called
the children of God."

That's who this is to and for.

And so we are.

We're the children of God.

If you go to 1 John 3:2,

"Beloved, we are God's children..."

That's who this is written to.

1 John 3:7,

"Little children;"

1 John 3:13,

"Do not be surprised, brothers..."

1 John 3:18,

"Little children."

1 John 3:21,

"Beloved;"

1 John 4:1,

"Beloved."

I mean what you see is:

"Little children,"

"beloved,"

"God's children."

You see this kind of terminology

literally every few verses.

1 John 4:11,

"Beloved."

1 John 5:13,

"I write these things to you who believe."

That's who he's writing to.

1 John 5:21, the book ends:

"Little children, keep
yourselves from idols."

I think you get the idea.

1 John is not written for
the same purpose

as John's Gospel.

It's not written to unbelievers

that they might believe.

This epistle is specifically targeting

God's children.

It's not like James

You remember when David
went through James?

I mean when I read James

I try to follow,

"Ok, is he talking to a believer here?"

"Is he talking to an unbeliever?"

When you were going
through it, I always thought,

"How's David going to handle this?"

Because with James,

you're just not certain
a lot of the times.

But there is no doubt
with John in this epistle

who he's writing to.

There's no doubt whatsoever.

Now that doesn't mean
the lost can't read it

and even, you know, perhaps get saved

through exposure to its truths.

But the principle audience

John has in mind are Christians.

Now there is a reason
I am emphasizing this.

I emphasize this

because it helps us recognize

what's going on back up in 1 John 1:3.

When you hear this,

"So that you too--"

he's saying we "proclaim this truth

about this Christ whom we felt,

and heard, and saw.

We proclaimed this to you

so that you too may
have fellowship with us

and indeed our fellowship
is with the Father

and with His Son Jesus Christ."

We don't want to imagine

that these words are aimed

primarily at unbelievers.

Listen.

1 John 2:13

"I am writing to you, fathers." Why?

"Because you know Him."

These are people that do know Him.

They do have some intimacy with Him.

Again in verse 13.

of chapter 2.

"I write to you children

because you know the Father."

There's some level of intimacy there.

Verse 14,

"I write to you fathers
because you know Him

who is from the beginning."

Look, John speaks about fellowship

to these people much the same way

and in much the same manner

as he speaks to them
about abiding in Christ.

You go to 1 John 2:28,

What does it say?

"Little children, abide in Him."

Now let's think about that truth,

"abiding in Christ".

Do you know that John tells us

in John 15

that if you don't abide in Christ

what happens to you?

"If anyone does not abide in Christ

he is thrown away like
a branch and withers,

and the branches are gathered,
thrown into the fire and burned."

Here's the truth:

does every Christian abide in Christ?

Yeah!

Well if they do,

I mean if that's part of the essence

of what it is to be a Christian,

why do you tell the little children

to abide in Him?

Brethren, that's just
consistent with the way

Scripture operates.

Scripture all over the place,

gives us these indicatives, these truths.

This is the way it is.

And then it comes right around

and gives us the imperatives.

And it commands us to do the very things

that over here it tells us

will always be true of the Christian.

Over here it tells us to do those things

that are always true of the Christian.

That's the way it is.

"Little children, abide in Him."

And it's the same with fellowship.

John presses us into the inner circle

of this fellowship with the
Father and with the Son.

Why?

Not because he thinks
we are on the outside

of those windows
out there looking in,

wishing, well, you know

we could have a part
with the people of God.

That's not it. But
because we, as Christians,

need to be pressed.

We need to be pressed to continue

more and more in this fellowship

and to dive further and further in!

In fact I want you to notice

what John says in 1 John 2:1.

Now we looked at it

but I want you to look at it more closely.

"My little children,

I'm writing these things to you

so that you may not sin."

Now notice three things about this verse.

First, again, who's John
specifically writing to?

Believers!

"My little children."

Second.

What's his purpose for writing to them?

That they may not sin.

But third,

what are "these things?"

that he writes to them
that they may not sin.

I mean if someone just got done writing

to you, and they just wrote

a couple paragraphs

and you're reading through the letter

from them to you

and you've read a couple paragraphs

and then you come to where it says,

"I'm writing these things
so that you may not sin;"

it's pretty normal and naturally intuitive

to think that "these things"

are the things he just
got done writing to you.

Now that doesn't mean that there's
not application to the whole letter.

But certainly he's
talking about chapter 1!

Chapter one is in view here.

And chapter one is about fellowship.

Listen, fellowship gets mentioned

four times in chapter one.

Fellowship with God is
certainly a major incentive

to not sin, is it not?

Isn't fellowship with God

an incentive not to sin?

Maybe you're not making the connection.

Why is fellowship with God
an incentive not to sin?

Well, obviously because sin is the major

disturber of fellowship with God.

But again, my point that I'm making to you

is that I want you to see that John

is addressing Christians in chapter 1.

He tells us that

by the very thing that
he says in 1 John 2:1.

You know what John's doing?

He's coming alongside us believers,

in 1 John 2:1,

and he's encouraging purity.

I mean he's saying,
"I'm writing these things..."

the encouragement to purity

is in the things that
he's writing. But he says,

"I write these things to you
that you might not sin."

Now yes, there may be failure,

and if so we have an advocate,

Jesus Christ the Righteous.

But we're to be pressing towards

more and more purity.

I'll tell you this,

fellowship with God

and purity go hand and in hand.

There's a real connection there.

Now, if we fail, there's blood.

If we fail, we can confess.

But they go hand in hand,

and he's encouraging purity and progress.

He's pressing us onward and inward

fighting to maintain fellowship,

striving to abide in Christ.

And so, I come to the
question of the hour.

How is your fellowship with God?

That's the question that
I want us to think about.

Every Christian ought to be able to say -

doesn't John say it so boldly?

He says, "Our fellowship
is with the Father

and with His Son Jesus Christ."

I mean are we all able to say that?

Can we say that boldly?

Can you come in here today and say that,

"Yes! I know it!"

"That is my life!"

"My life is one of fellowship

with the Father and with His Son.

I know it!"

"Since I've been saved, that is true!"

That is normative of my life.

That is descriptive of my life.

That is true!

I see it!

Oh it's not where I want it to be!

Some days, I can't find Him
the way that I want to find Him.

But as a rule,

I have walked with the Lord,

and I know what that is.

And it's heaven on earth.

It's as best as it gets here.

And the little bit that I've tasted

I would not turn back from the world."

Can you say that?

Can you say that dogmatically

like he says it?

Or are you seized by hesitation?

Does conscience hold back?

And look you know what
I'm talking about here.

John hit on it.

We're not talking doctrine here.

We're not talking just the knowledge,

a head knowledge.

I'm not talking about whether you
made it to church on Sunday.

I'm talking about this, can you say

"I walk with the Lord"?

Can you say that?

Are you walking with Him?

Jesus Christ died to purchase us

the privilege to walk with God.

That's what He died for.

That's what this is all about.

So let's think about this
relationship with God.

Let's put our minds there.

Let's think about how we nurture this.

And I want to give you
some thoughts this morning.

Maybe that's what we'll call it,

"Some Thoughts on Walking with God."

That's the title.

Here's the first point
that I want to make.

Fellowship with God takes effort.

Look if I were to ask you this,

"Does God want your love?"

I mean you can think about the
chiefest of all commandments.

Are we to love the Father?

Are we to love the Son?

Well, any of you that are married

for any amount of time,

you're past your honeymoon,

is love always easy?

I mean, fellowship with the Father

and with the Son is not automatic.

And it is not effortless.

Any relationship in this world

that has any sort of real depth or value

takes time.

And it takes effort.

I mean you answer this,

do good marriages happen spontaneously?

I hear "no's."

I mean does anybody raise their hand

and says, "yes mine
happens spontaneously."

Della.

She's laughing, so I take that as a no.

There's effort there. Effort!

Look, you know what you know.

if you look over and you
see a good marriage -

I mean it's good.

You can see, they are happily married.

You can be certain about this.

You can be certain that somewhere

in that good marriage,

you're going to find somebody

who's doing something to keep

that marriage close, warm, healthy.

Are you not?

I mean somebody in there

is working to communicate.

Somebody is working to keep

the kind of words and actions that tend

to cause distance.

They're working at that.

They're working to keep
those things out of there.

They're going after them.

Somebody is committed to
battling through hard situations

and hurt feelings and suspicion

and anger that crops up

and distrust and hostility and grudges

and resentment and offenses.

I mean somebody there

is making an effort.

And look, the thing is God regards Himself

as our Husband.

This is a relationship that we're in.

The Lord is our Husband.

Is this any different? Yes.

In some ways it is different.

He is invisible to my naked eye.

He is high and He is holy.

And He is lifted up.

And that is true.

But you remember this,

we have a personal God.

Scripture tells us He feels.

Scripture tell us He is sensitive.

That's what it tells us.

And I recognize that this is different
about the relationship too,

one of us -

one of us is perfect.

And it's not me.

That's different.

And you know what that means.

It means that whenever
my relationship with Him

becomes strained or there's distance,

it's never His fault.

It's mine.

That I know.

It's always my fault.

But it is a relationship.

And it's one that we have to
work at and make time for.

Listen, any relationship in
your life that's healthy,

you need to work at it.

And we need to work.

There's priorities.

This walk with the Lord
needs to be a priority.

It needs to be something that
we are giving thought to,

that we are giving our mind, our heart to.

There has to be a prioritization.

We must make choices

that nurture this relationship.

We must turn away from the things

that create distance between us and God.

Priority! Priority!

This takes effort!

This takes time!

There's going to be an exertion.

It doesn't happen for free.

Oh yeah you get into it for free.

But there's effort.

That's the thing we need to recognize.

There is effort.

Did James not say, "draw near to God."

God says that to us,

"draw near to Me

and I will draw near to you."

When you think about fighting
the good fight of faith,

fighting the good fight of faith,

I mean one of the points of that fight

is just staying where we trust God.

That's what faith is all about.

We're fighting to trust Him.

We're fighting to keep our hope in Him.

We're fighting for that.

There's a battle in this.

You have all manner of enemies

that are moving at you

to distract you away.

And to take your time away.

And to take your eyes off.

To move you away from this relationship.

You've got to fight for this relationship.

A man will fight for his marriage.

We got to fight for this.

This is the chiefest of all relationships.

We've got to fight for it!

That means priorities in your life!

Is it a priority in your life?

You know, if you hesitated,

your conscience wouldn't let you say,

"Yes, I can boldly say

my fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son!"

One of the reasons you may have hesitated

is because you don't
have your priorities right.

And your conscience knows it.

Your walk with God is not
what it ought to be

because your priorities are
not what they ought to be.

Effort brethren!

Effort!

The second thing.

Worship and honor are essential

to this relationship.

Now John was telling us in
the Sunday school about missions.

And he's calling us, you
know, to give ourselves

to one another in love

and help encourage one another

so that we might see this church grow

and people being able
to be launched forth.

But you just remember this,

missions is never the end.

Missions is not the goal.

What does God want most?

He wants our heart.

He wants our love.

He wants our worship.

This thing is about worship, by and large.

That's the chief thing.

Piper said it in his book on missions.

You know the reason we launch

off to those foreign coasts

is because there isn't worship there.

That's what we're after.

That's what we're longing for.

Now look, I want you to
all turn to over to Malachi 1.

Some of you, you're familiar with this.

But I want you to see this,

I want you to feel this.

We're talking about

some thoughts on walking with God

and we're going to let the Lord Himself

speak to us about some things that,

to Him, are of chief importance

in this walk that we have with Him.

If you go to Malachi 1:6.

Watch this. Last book
in the Old Testament,

if you're looking for it.

Right before Matthew.

"A son honors his Father

and a servant his master.

If then, I am a Father,
where is My honor?"

God wants honor.

God deserves honor.

God is worthy of honor!

"If I am a master, where is my fear?"

Now you see, intimacy - yes.

But you need to remember this,

the one that we are
in relationship with here

is God Almighty.

And there needs to be a fear on our part

and there needs to be an honor.

We are not equals.

"'Where is My fear?'

says the Lord of Hosts,

'To you, O priests who despise My name.'

But you say,

'How have we despised your name?'"

And you know what that
happens to many of us.

If God could speak to you right now -

well, He can.

But if He did speak to you audibly

or in written word through a prophet

just like this,

He may say the same things about you.

"You despise Me."

And for many of you who do despise Him,

you would say, "Where do I despise Him?"

"Well, by offering polluted
food upon My altar."

Now look, we offer sacrifices

as New Testament believers.

Our sacrifices are good works.

Our sacrifices are sharing what we have.

Our sacrifices are the praise of our lips.

You get many texts in the New Testament

that talk about the
sacrifices that we offer.

But you say,

"How have we polluted you?"

"By saying that the Lord's
table may be despised."

Now watch this,

"When you offer blind animals in sacrfice

is that not evil?"

Now here's the thing.

Here's a thing that I want you to see.

These priests were making the offering.

You say, you know, I do this.

I do that. I'm at church! Right?

I mean I'm there.

God looks at the quality

because the quality has a lot to do with

where your heart is.

He says, when you're offering

substandard sacrifices

God says, "Is that not evil?"

And He's looking for

an answer that you all know.

Yes, it is evil when you offer

substandard sacrifices to God.

"When you offer those that are lame

or sick is that not evil?"

Present that to your governor.

You know when I think about worship,

I think, oh, I want to be in my seat

when God's word begins to be preached.

I want to be in my seat

when they begin to sing His--

I want to hear from Him.

I want to be ready.

You know,

the problem with this whole setup here is

everybody that walks in late

you all see it.

And you know, the thing is

would you guys walk into work like that?

Offer it to your governor!

Offer it to your boss!

Will he accept it?

And I'm not saying

that whether you make it on time

is the pinnacle of all this.

But I can tell you this,

when somebody's
walking with the Lord

and their heart - their heart is hungry,

Oh, I want to be there when
the Word's opened up.

I don't want to miss any of it.

I want to be there when they sing.
I don't want to miss any of it.

Where are your priorities?

You see this has to do
with walking with God,

not just appeasing
those who are watching.

But as what are you offering to Him?

What are you offering?

Are you giving?

And I know some are.

There's sacrifice.

But when you walk with the Lord,

He watches to see the qualtity.

Why? Because the quality matters.

Men, you come to this woman

and you say, "will you marry me?"

And then she finds out you got
the ring from a pawn shop,

Is she going to be affected by that?

Well, some might not be.

But some might just be prudent,

"Well I'm glad he did that."

He saved a bunch of money,

now we can get into a house sooner.

Ask her first if that's ok.

But look, the reality is,

I mean he might as well say

not just your governor,

would your wife accept that?

I mean the truth is,

that we become negligent

with the way that we serve God.

We give Him the leftovers.

You wake up in the morning

and boy, the best part of your day,

and what do you do with it?

Well you wake up fifteen minutes
before you got to be at work,

and so the best part of your day,

those first hours

you give to your employer.

Or you hit the weights.

Or you turn on the news.

Not all of you do that.

But are you giving God the best?

I mean when you walk with Him,

He's mindful of that.

You can see it right
here in the Scriptures.

I mean He says,

"Present that to your governor,

will he accept you or show you favor?"

says the Lord of Hosts.

I mean, come on!

Don't give to God

what you wouldn't give to your parents!

Don't give to God what you
wouldn't give to your spouse.

Don't give to God what you
wouldn't give to your boss.

Or to your governor.

Don't do that!

God is worthy of your best.

Walk with Him this way.

He's says,

"For from the rising of
the sun to its setting

My name will be great among the nations."

Do you all remember when David -

remember David did a foolish thing,

and he went and he numbered the people.

And you remember the prophet
came to him and said,

"Well God sent me with a message.

David, you got to pick
one of three bad things.

I mean you're either going to get

three days, three months, or three years

of some really horrible stuff."

And David said,

"I don't want God to turn me
over into the hands of men;

let God do it."

And He brought three days of pestilence.

And you may remember what happened there.

In the end of that whole scenario,

he was to go to this man Araunah.

To his threshing floor.

Araunah saw him coming and said,

"I am coming and I have to build

an altar and make a sacrifice here."

And Araunah said, "David, it's all yours."

Do you remember what David said?

He said, "I will not give to the Lord

that which cost me nothing."

Are you giving to the Lord
that which costs you nothing.

The lame thing,

You see when they brought the blind thing,

what did that say?

Well, it was the lamb they didn't want!

Don't do that to God?
David wouldn't do it.

He was a man after God's own heart.

Imitate David in this.

You remember what was
said in the days of Eli?

That God honors those who honor Him.

Just that's the second thing.

Worship and honor are essential
to this relationship.

The third thing I would say.

Sin wrecks intimacy.

And here we might go back to 1 John 2:1

where it says, "My little children

I am writing these things to you

so that you may not sin."

Remember one of the things
he's written to them

or he's mentioned four times

in that first chapter

which is clearly an emphasis to him

is he's talking to Christians

about fellowship with God.

It's the perfect thing to
talk to God's children about,

who you want to encourage not to sin.

And why?

Is the danger that they're
going to go to hell?

Perish forever?

Well, not for God's true children

who are trusting in Christ alone.

Who are clinging to His cross work

as their only hope.

For the true Christian,

sin - there's no condemnation.

And we have an Advocate.

That's what he's assuring us of.

But it ruins close
fellowship and intimacy.

Brethren!

Throughout history, the men and the women

who have, among God's children,

who have had the privileges

to ascend that hill of the Lord

into the secret places

of God's most glorious manifest presence.

Brethren, throughout the age of man,

there have been those
that had been invited

most closely into manifestations of God.

And I'll guarantee you this,

you're hard pressed to find

that it's ever been
the spiritually sloppy.

We have too many professing Christians

who sin cheap!

You just sell it for a song!

Walking with Him.

Some of you need to stop and think

before you do and say
the things you do and say!

You need to count the cost

of the intimacy with God

that's going to be lost

for doing those very things

that some of you do

and some of you say.

Brethren, we have to walk

recognizing God is sensitive.

Our sin hurts closeness.

And I know, the Lord is gracious.

And I know that there are times

that when we do stupid and foolish things,

and we are expecting Him

to turn His back on us

or to take the rod to us,

and He just lavishes us
with hugs and kisses.

I know that, but listen,

the innermost regions
of fellowship with God

goes beyond anything in this world.

It's glorious without description.

Those that have tasted of it

can barely put words together

to describe to other people.

But it's a very sensitive place to walk.

Very delicate.

Martin Lloyd-Jones,

I came across this,

I don't even know where I got this from,

but he said,

"The air here in this region--"

these innermost regions,

he said, "it's very pure and very rarified

and slight changes are immediately felt."

You know we can grieve God.

Ephesians chapter four warns us

against grieving the Holy Spirit.

Brethren you think
about grieving the Spirit

We don't have a God who is

cold and indifferent

and distant and disinterested.

Brethren, grief.

You think about grief.

Who has the greatest
ability to cause you grief?

I mean, you think about it.

If John happens to be walking over

somewhere in Mozambique or in Nepal,

and somebody, you know,

somebody just said,

"I hate you Christians!"

Well, John just shakes that off.

If his wife said that to him...

Who has the greatest
ability to cause you grief?

And here we have God,

He's bidding us not to grieve Him.

The more one person loves another

the more the person doing
the loving is affected by

any coldness or any distance

or any failure

on the part of the one who they're

extending their love to.

Brother. Sister.

Would you suppose that your sins

don't grieve God?

I mean do read that text and say,

"Well, that's for somebody else

it's certainly not for me when I sin."

Brethren, that's given to common

brothers and sisters at Ephesus.

People just like you and just like me.

I mean did Jesus not say -

speaking of His manifest presence -

He said this,

"I will love him and
manifest Myself to him."

Who is that?

Well, "whoever has My commandments."

You see this is a person
that's walking in truth.

This a person walking in righteousness.

They are walking in obedience.

"Whoever has My commandments
and keeps them,

he it is who loves Me,

and he who loves Me
will be loved by My Father

and I will love him and
manifest Myself to him."

Look, are you going to forsake

a closer walk with Him

for some cheap sin?

Is Jesus not making it clear

that our fellowship with God

is clearly impacted by our obedience?

I mean look, the doctrine of justification

is a wonderful doctrine.

But the reason some of you walk around

with a cloud hanging over
your head all the time

is because you sin way too easily.

Yeah, the doctrine of
justification is wonderful,

but if you're living an impure life -

you're regularly giving God

the off-scouring, the leftovers;

if you're walking like that,

brethren, it's not surprising

that you're not enjoying

the manifestations of God

the way others are.

I mean the more we humbly obey Him,

empowered by His Spirit,

helped by His grace,

the more intimate is our fellowship

with the Father and the Son.

I mean ask yourself this,

(incomplete thought)

Choices.

Sin.

Intimacy.

Do I want this empty, fleeting pleasure

of this sin, or do I want

the unsearchable riches

of what this fellowship

with the Father and with His Son

is going to be.

John tells in chapter 1

how this deeper walk with God

can become a reality.

What did he say?

He said, "Walk in God's light."

Bring all your words,

bring all your actions into the light.

Bring your sin into the light.

Be honest about your sins.

Confess them to God for
forgiveness and cleansing.

But press on brethren.

Walking in the light.

Walk in the light.

That's where your fellowship with God is.

It's in the light.

And he says, "I write these
things to you that you sin not.

Well, that's the third thing.

Sin wrecks intimacy.

Let's move on even into the realm

where we're not talking
specifically about sin.

I would say fourthly,

beware of distractions.

Of course sin always hinders fellowship.

But so often our problem is not with sin.

It's with the things that are permissible.

And you remember how Paul said it.

He said, "All things
are lawful," but what?

He said it various ways.

But what?

Not all things are profitable.

Not all things edify.

Not all things build up.

Beware!

Beware of the things that pull you

away from the Lord!

I'll tell you this, the devil

will happily have you doing lawful things

if it keeps you away from

intimacy with God.

Be sure of it.

Be sure!

How many professing Christians

squander precious time?

O brethren!

If we could have all the time

from every one of you that has been

spent foolishly in social media!

And we can just put it together

that precious time like gold

and take it back from Facebook

and whatever other things
they got out there now.

They're just inviting new
ones one after another.

They're just time
absorbers for Christians.

How many professing Christians squander

that precious time spent with the Lord

not just on social media but

laying in bed!

Or, TV.

Or movies, music, and clothes,

and houses and gardens and yards,

and hobbies.

There's all this stuff that just chews up.

If you live a life

where you regularly make choices

allowing other things,

it just becomes a pattern.

You're making these choices.

Constantly making choices that crowd out

time spent with the living God

and in His Word,

and talking with Him,

and in meditation;

You're not going to grow closer.

You're not going to grow more intimate.

Brethren, the place where the glory comes;

the place of transformation,

Paul tells us is when
you behold His glory.

And that doesn't mean,

oh, you wake up in the morning

and five minutes you're there

and then you're out.

That's all you gave God.

The best of your time
you've given to the world.

You've given to other stuff.

You think that is just going to emblazon

the image of Christ on you?

No!

You do not have a quality walk with God,

any less then you can have
a quality walk with a wife

if it's just five minutes.

That doesn't work.

Beware of the distractions.

Beware! Beware! Beware!

Brethren, if you can
put on spiritual glasses

and but see and look with me

at the Song of Solomon.

Go back there.

Right after the Proverbs.

You have this Song of Solomon

after the Psalms

and after the Proverbs.

Like I say if you can put
the spiritual glasses on,

did Christ not tell us

that Scripture is all about Him

and I believe the Song of Solomon

is not just a story about Solomon

and one of his earthly wives.

I believe that this is a picture,

as many of the forefathers

have down through history

believed that this is a picture

of Christ and His Church.

And if you look at the Song of Solomon 5:2

the church is saying this,

"I slept, but my heart was awake."

I mean this is a person
who's thinking on Christ.

"...the sound;

my Beloved is knocking."

Christ has come knocking.

"Open to Me, My sister."

This is Christ calling out to the church.

My sister open.

I want even a greater closeness.

"My love, My dove, My perfect one,

for My head is wet with dew,

My locks with the drops of the night."

How the church responded,

with an excuse.

That's all this is.

"Well, I've put off my garment,

how can I put it on again?"

I've bathed my feet;

I'm going to get them
dirty if I go on the floor.

And do you known what this moment

of hesitation cost her?

My Beloved put His hand to the latch

and my heart was thrilled within me.

I arose to open to my Beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

on the handles of the bolt.

I opened to my Beloved,

but my Beloved had turned and gone.

Brethren, there are times when the Lord

is bidding us to come.

You feel prompted to pray.

You feel prompted to get alone.

And you don't do it.

You know what?

It's not even that she didn't do it.

She did it.

She just took too much time

thinking about it.

Give yourself freely to Christ.

Oh, be ready when He prompts, to go.

To you who are young,

you're full of health and strength.

We need to stop and think.

What are all those
things that you're trading

for time with Christ?

What are they? You tell me!

What real rest have they
brought to your soul?

What real joy have they brought to you?

What quietness in your spirit?

What true satisfaction?

You know it. You know it as well as I do.

Their pleasures are fleeting

and they're quickly hollow.

But Christ is never that way.

He's truly satisfying.

Do those things that you trade,

I mean are they really fit

objects for your highest love?

Think about what you're
giving your life to?

You're walking with God.

Christ bought us the privilege!

Don't squander this in idleness

and foolishness,

wasting your precious time!

I can remember reading -

I think Spurgeon tells this story

about a man who was in his eighties,

and he got converted.

Yeah, I think he got
converted in a meeting,

and in the very same meeting

he just wailed.

Seeking to console him,

"You've been saved."

He just wailed because

he had wasted his life.

It was gone.

I mean Isaiah says it,

"Why spend your money for that

which is not bread?"

And I would say fifthly this,

prayer is vital to this fellowship.

Prayer.

Listen to this again in Song of Solomon.

If you're still there look at 2:14.

Song of Solomon 2:14.

This is Christ speaking
to His church again,

"O My dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the crannies of the cliff,

let Me see your face,

let Me hear your voice,

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely."

It's like Christ is saying to His people,

"Don't go hide

in the cracks and crevices.

Come out and speak to Me.

I want to hear your voice."

I mean sometimes we feel like

oh, we can hardly pray.

All it is groans and sighs.

But Jesus is saying,

"Your voice to Me is sweet.

Come out to Me in all your weakness."

I mean, it's like a parent whose child

struggles to get these words out.

The child is not despised by his parents.

Christ is saying,

"Your sighing and groaning is sweet to Me.

I'm not going to mock at it.

I'm not going to mock at your weakness."

Look, you won't enjoy

the deepest of fellowship with God

unless you learn to speak

with your Beloved in prayer and praise.

I mean, brethren, we need

seasons of prayer.

We need seasons where we talk.

I would say sixthly,

God's Word is vital to this fellowship.

I mean you know this text well,

most of you, Isaiah 66:2.

Don't turn there. But God says,

"This is the one to whom I will look..."

who does God look to?

He looks to those who are

humble and contrite in spirit

and tremble at His Word.

Coming to His Word.

Trembling at His Word.

"To them I'll look."

That look of God.

That means He'll look on them with favor.

It means, it's a look
that is very desirable.

It's not only that God needs
to be hearing our voice,

we must hear the voice
of God in our souls.

You're never going to enjoy
fellowship with Him

unless your ear is
trained to hear His voice.

It's in the Word, yes.

It comes from pulpits, yes.

We see that the Psalmist says,

"The heavens declare it."

It's in the creation.

God speaks to us by His Providence.

He speaks to us in creation.

He speaks to us through His preachers.

He speaks to us in His book.

He speaks to us in
promptings of the Holy Spirit.

He speaks to us in conscience.

He's given Himself a voice

through many means.

We need ears,

not just that are trained to hear,

but take time to hear.

O, when you got all the noise coming!

That's one of the things

about all the technology today

it just bombs us with noise!

I would say seventhly, meditation.

Close, sweet communion with God

is kept up by meditation.

You remember there in Genesis 24.

Remember what Isaac was doing?

Here comes his bride-to-be.

And what was he doing?

He was walking in the fields.

Oh, if there is a time
to walk in the fields -

sunrise and sunset.

Especially here in hot Texas.

But there's a time to get out.

I don't know, maybe not
all of you need to walk.

But oh, walking outside is the place

for me to meditate.

I know

you know Charles and
John Wesley's mother,

hers was under an apron.

The place isn't what's most important.

But Isaac was out there meditating.

Meditation is giving real time

to think and chew,

to contemplate God's works,

and His wonders, and His glory,

and His beauty, and what He says

in His word.

And what our needs are, our wants,

it's how He's working.

Meditation just rivets the mind

to biblical truths, and it brings

God and the soul close together.

Those of you that know
something about meditation,

you know that's true.

Meditation tends to open our eyes

to the invisible glory of God.

Brethren, I'll tell you,
there have been times -

Yes, you go in the Word.

Yes, you have some time in prayer.

But you walk and you walk,

and you linger in prayer,

and just communing with God

and meditating.

And you get into that

maybe a half hour, an hour,

an hour and a half

and suddenly God comes!

If you only did that for ten minutes

it wouldn't have happened.

Meditation, brethren.

Oh, Psalm 63:6, we read there today.

"I remember You upon my bed

and meditate on You in
the watches of the night."

And I would end with this last point.

Number 8.

Christian,

Scripture says that you are God's garden.

That is a such a picture for fellowship.

If you're still there in Song of Solomon

I want you to turn to chapter 4.

Scripture describes you as God's garden,

which means it's a place He wants to come

and delight Himself in the beauty.

It's a place God delights to walk.

I mean, what this is

is it's God telling His people,

"I want fellowship with you.

I want to find the sweetness there.

I want to enjoy it.

I want to delight in it."

If you look at the Song of Solomon 4:10.

Look what Christ says.

Christ says this to His church,

"How beautiful is your love

My sister, My bride!

How much better is your love than wine

and the fragrance of your oils

than any spice!

Your lips drip nectar, My bride;

honey and milk are under your tongue;

the fragrance of your garments

is like the fragrance of Lebanon."

He says this in verse 12.

"A garden locked is My sister, My bride."

And then you go to verse 16.

And the church says,

"Awake, O north wind,
and come O south wind!

Blow upon my garden,

let its spices flow.

Let my Beloved come to His garden

and eat its choicest fruits."

And then you go to 5:1

and Christ responds,

"I came to My garden, My sister, My bride

I gathered My myrrh with My spice.

I ate My honeycomb with My honey,

I drank My wine with My milk.

Eat, friends, drink,
and be drunk with love!"

I just ask you this,

I mean this is a picture of Christ

wanting to come and enjoy

the delights of His garden.

We really need to see
the Lord desiring that.

I think sometimes we have this distant,

austere idea.

We don't see God really wanting

this fellowship.

Desiring it.

So I ask you this, how you would you

rate your fellowship with God?

We're going to move
on in 1 John after this.

But as we leave this topic,

at least for now,

how would you rate
your fellowship with God?

Is it distant?

Is it sloppy?

Disrespectful?

Casual?

Is it close?

Is it precious to you?

I mean, can you really say that?

Walking with the Lord is precious.

How would you rate it?

Is it intimate?

Are you the sort of garden

where God comes looking for fruit

and He finds it?

Delights in it?

I mean this, brethren,
this is heaven on earth

for the lover of God.

It really is.

And no matter how long

that you have been a child of God,

you've got to protect this.

You've got to make efforts at this.

This has to be a priority.

We all make choices.

We all have priorities.

We all get up in the morning

with the same number of hours in a day.

Those who walk close with God

have the same number of hours.

How do we spend them?

What are we doing with them?

You need to guard

your relationship with the Father

and with the Son

and with the Holy Spirit.

I mean brethren, ask yourself this.

Ask, "When was the last time

you had a sweet time with the Lord?"

Where your heart jumped because He came!

Oh, maybe it was overwhelming.

Maybe it was just that still, small voice.

He just came.

He thrilled your souls.

You felt your soul melt because His Word

came to you personally.

I mean, you know when that happens,

"He spoke to me!"

I mean you're in the Word and it's for me!

Or you're out in prayer and
He comes and He says,

"I'm going to give you
what you just asked."

And you know it!

Or you're just
mediating on something

and suddenly you are so
blown away by His glory.

And it's because His Spirit has come

and opened your mind

and your understanding

and just swept you away.

Brethren, when has that happened?

Look, I'm not talking about

knowing God in theory.

I'm not talking about

just knowing in theory that He loves you.

Do you personally drink the love

of the Father and the Son?

Manifestly?

I'm not talking about just

diving into the theology book.

Do you know this?

Brethren!

Do you know this?

I mean, we have a Husband.

Didn't He give us that picture in Hosea?

But we're like Gomer.

What a name! Gomer.

But we're like her!

I always think of Gomer Pyle.

It's like a ridiculous name.

But, Gomer.

She's unfaithful.

And Hosea is like Christ.

Brethren, He comes along
to a bunch of prostitutes.

That's what we are.

That's what we were.

You'd say that's what

some of us are now.

That's what many of us were before.

Just prostitutes!

Just these unfaithful -

we were harlots.

We just gave ourselves freely

to our whoredom out there.

And He comes along

and He buys us off the slave block.

Is that not what He did?

He says, "I pay for you with My blood."

And now, I want you for Me.

I don't want you going and giving yourself

to all your other lovers anymore.

I want you for Me.

Brethren, that's a picture of the gospel.

That's what this is all about.

He wants us for Him.

He's bought us with a price.

Calls us to leave our other lovers

and surrender to His love.

To be that garden that He delights in.

If you all you ever
heard is Christianity is

just be saved from your
sin and saved from hell.

Brethren, this goes much deeper.

This thing is beautiful and
precious to the uttermost.

Don't sell it for a song.

Brethren, priorities.

Priorities.

Choices.

May God help us.

Father, we ask for Your grace.

We ask for the power

of the Spirit of God.

Make this a reality.

Oh Lord, we know that you want us

to walk with you in worship, in honor,

in praise, in love.

We know that this is
indeed the chief thing.

Giving our lives to You.

Giving ourselves entirely;

a sacrifice upon the altar of God

to be consumed

by Your fire of love for Your people.

Lord, I pray for the
grace for this church.

That above all things

no matter what you do with us,

Lord, I pray,

pray that you would make this church,

at whatever cost necessary;

whatever you have to bring,

whatever fire to purify,

whatever comforts to help,

whatever is necessary, Lord.

I pray that You would make this church

what You want it to be.

Fruitful, beautiful in your sight.

Lord, spare us nothing

that you've given to your elect people

through the ages.

Spare us nothing

that will propel us forward

into these degrees of glory.

That will propel us forward

into a deeper intimacy

and knowing you with that knowledge,

that oh, that is so sweet and so valuable.

Help us, Lord,

we pray in Christ's name.

Amen.