WALK WITH ME

 

Brother Bennie has often sung for us on Wednesday night.  One of his favorite songs is,

 

"I want Jesus to walk with me.

You walk with my brother, walk with me. You walk with my sister, walk with me. All along this tedious journey, I want Jesus to walk with me."

 

In other words,

 

"I want to know that you're at my side, Lord."

"I want to be aware of your presence with me, not with my imagination but with absolute certainty."

 

We've had our seasons of vision. We've had experiences with the risen Christ. There have been moments when we heard his voice, and it was that voice which awakened us from the dead.

But what most of us are looking for now is a steady, consistent, everyday certainty that the Lamb of God is walking at our side, even as he walks by the side of every disciple all over the earth.

 

"Walk with me Lord. You walk with my brother, walk with me. You walk with my sister, walk with me."

"I need to know that you're really here with me on Monday morning. I need to hear your voice on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday."

 

"You promised that if I came to you, you would give me rest.

 

You promised that if I got under the yoke with you, you would teach me.

 

You promised to be with us to the end of the age ... not as an idea ... but as a living, burning, life-giving Spirit."

 

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; con­cerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

 

I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

John 16:7-14

 

...."I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." In other words, "When the Holy Spirit has come to you, I will tell you, through him, all the things you aren't ready for yet. He will cause you to know that I am with you. He will help you to understand what I am saying to you."

And it happened as Jesus promised. The Spirit came and they became wonderfully conscious that Jesus was teaching them and guiding them. And it was not imagination, it was certainty. This guidance got them to the right place at the right time and gave them the power they needed.

 

In the epistles of Paul, every one of them starts out with a word of great confidence that Jesus had called him, empowered him, and was walking with him. The fundamental reality for Paul was that Jesus was walking with him and directing his life.

 

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and desig­nated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations, including your­selves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:1-7

 

These are the words of a man who has a living relation­ship going ... not religious platitudes ... but a walk with Jesus that is his life. This man gets up in the morning with Jesus, goes through the day with Jesus. Every­thing he touches is touched in the name of Jesus. He's obsessed with Jesus. And the result is not insanity, delusion, sickness. This obsession with Jesus in Paul causes this man to leave behind him a trail of healing, resurrection power, changed lives, ....the Kingdom of God.

 

Nobody can accomplish what Paul or others like him accomplished without this burning consciousness that never leaves them. They know that Jesus is walking with them.

 

"Well Lord, that's what we want. You walked with our brother Paul, walk with us. You walked with our sister Mary, walk with us."

 

"I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but what­ever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

 

In this passage Jesus is speaking also to us.

 

"When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth,"

 

meaning, "when the Holy Spirit comes to you, I will be walking at your side."

 

"...for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak,"

 

meaning, "when the Holy Spirit comes I will be speak­ing to your heart and mind.   The Spirit will take my word and make it live in you."

 

And the Spirit does come ... he has come and he will come. He is moving in our lives, he is stirring in our assemblies. And the first thing he says to us;

 

"I have come to walk with you. But I can only walk with you if you are willing to walk with me.

 

I can only walk with you if you allow me to lead the way.

 

I cannot walk with you as your mascot or as your lackey. I can only walk with you as your Shepherd and Lord."

 

The problem with many of us is that we still want Jesus to be our mascot ... to be like the genie of Aladdin’s lamp. You rub the lamp, the genie appears and now he'll run any little supernatural errand you'd like him to perform.

 

Any Jesus who is at our disposal is never the real Jesus ... he is an idol ... a front for the anti-Christ.

 

The real Jesus,

 

- is our Lord ... we're at his disposal,

 

- is our Shepherd ... we're under his authority.

 

He calls the shots, he leads the way, because he alone knows the way. So he says, through the Spirit,

 

"Yes, I will walk with you if you let me lead the way."

 

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

 

And so, Jesus' answer to our prayers, "Lord, walk with me," is;

 

"I will walk with you if you will draw near and walk with me."

 

1. "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest," means the Holy Spirit can only guide us if we draw near to the vision of Jesus we now have. You have seen light,

            

             -     come to it,    

 "Come to me ... come to me.   I will walk with you, but you have to come to me."

 

2. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me," means

 

the Holy Spirit can only guide us if we submit to the teaching Jesus has given us.

 

- Get under the yoke.

 

- Get under the word he has spoken and live it by his side.

 

Take Matthew 5, 6 and 7 ... read it, soak it up, understand what it means ... and then get under it.

 

The Sermon on the Mount is not something you admire like a poem or a piece of music or a work or art. The Sermon on the Mount is something you do … get under it and do it … and the Holy Spirit will guide you. Jesus will be walking at your side.

 

3. "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light," means

 

the Holy Spirit can only guide us when we follow with free hearts.

 

- Jesus' words are not legalism.

 

- Jesus' words are grace.

 

The Sermon on the Mount is not an unbearable burden,

 

- get right with the people you've angered,

 

- live with a single eye,

 

- walk by faith,

 

- love your enemies,

 

....it's light as a feather, easy to carry, ....perfect rest as we walk by Jesus' side.

 

Today as we come to the Lord's table to eat our Lord's flesh and drink his blood, let's turn Bennie's song, "Walk With Me," into a prayer.

 

"Lord, walk with me. Visit me afresh in the power of the Holy Spirit."

 

And even as we feast at his table we will get an answer. The Holy Spirit will come to us and he will speak and we will hear him say to us,

 

"Yes, I will walk with you if you will walk with me ... get under my yoke,

 

...walk by my side,

 

...learn from me.

 

I will turn every day of your life into a foretaste of the coming glory and you will manifest my kingdom. You will do my will. You will glorify my name. You will feed my sheep .... and I will be walking at your side."

 

 

 

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