A Young Person Who Makes a Difference! |
Those Who are Enlightened and Separated |
The second character mentioned by the writer of Hebrews is Enoch: “By faith Enoch was translated so that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation he obtained the testimony that he was well-pleasing to God” (Heb 11:5). Verse 4 says that Abel obtained testimony that he was righteous and verse 5 says that Enoch obtained the testimony that he was well-pleasing to God. What is it to obtain the testimony? It means that others can see something different in you. It not only means that you have something different, but also that other people can see the difference. Sometimes you can have personal fellowship with the Lord, but you never show Him to others.
Both Abel and Enoch obtained a kind of testimony; this means that others could see something in them. It was not something hidden between them and God. Young one, in your school do you have a testimony? Have you ever had a righteous testimony there? The people in your school, do they see something different in you? Can they see that you are well-pleasing to God? This is to have a testimony. This is not only a matter of actions but also of speech. You can give a testimony in two ways: doing and speaking. These two ways works together. Some say, “I’m not going to speak about the Lord to anyone. They will see that I’m for the Lord.” Then they start to walk with a Bible under their arm in a holy way to show others that they are Christians; but they don’t open their month to say one word about the Lord. You need not only to show with your actions but also you have to speak about the Lord. You need to come to your friends and preach the gospel to them.
On the other hand, you cannot speak about the Lord if your testimony is not according to your preaching. You speak for the Lord, but you do not study, you don’t have good marks and your behavior is not good. You need to have a balance, a complete testimony: actions and words. Enoch obtained the testimony that he walked with God and people saw this.
Where did Enoch walk with God? Was it in the heaven? Was it on the clouds? No, he lived on earth, he was doing what everybody was doing, but he walked with God. What does it mean to walk with someone? It means to walk according to this person. Hymn 587 speaks about exactly this. In the second stanza it says, “‘Tis so safe to walk with Jesus.” Let me ask you one question: is it safe to walk with those who are you walking today? Is it safe to walk with your friends? The hymn says, “‘Tis so safe to walk with Jesus, / Leaning hard upon His arm.” Whose arm do you lean upon? Is it your friends’ arms? “Following closely where He leads us, / None can hurt and naught can harm.” As the saying goes, “Tell me who you walk with, and I tell you who you are.” We can also say, “Tell me who you walk with and I tell you where you are going.” Those who walk have a goal. What is the goal of those who you walk with? What is your goal in walking with those friends? It is not only necessary to pay attention to who you are with at school. Sometimes you need to pay attention to the young people that you walk with in the church life; you need to see how they walk and where they are going to see if you really want to follow them.
In the last chapter we spoke about the sons of Eli. They were in the temple with Samuel. Perhaps Samuel had thought that he could walk always with them, because they were the sons of the high priest Eli. If Samuel had walked with them, where would he have been? In the gang of the sons of Eli. The Lord hated them. So we can say, “Tell me who you walk with and then, I will tell you who you are. Tell me who you walk with and I will tell you if the Lord hates you or not.” Do you want the Lord to hate you? Or do you want the Lord to love you? So, you need to be careful about the kind of people you walk with.
Young one, you need to be different in the place that you are. The problem sometimes is that those who want to follow the Lord are not so active. Those who do not love the Lord, who want to follow the trend of this age, who wear fashionable clothes only to show their bodies, who don’t please God, are passive. They walk by themselves and carry many other young people with them. But you, when you love the Lord you are shy and humble, “Oh, I love the Lord, but I love him only inside of me.” You need to be those who make the difference in the place that you are. The other people need to walk with you, not you with them, because you are someone who walks with God. You are like Enoch.
Enoch walked with God. Now I ask you: who are you walking with? Are you walking with God? And those who walk with you, are they walking with God? Do you have influence on them? What kind of influence do you have on them? Or do they influence you? Do you carry them to walk with God or are they carrying you to walk away from God? How have your lives been today? You must be someone who walks with God. This is to live by faith. On one hand, you raise sheep when nobody else does, because you want to be well-pleasing to God. On the other hand, you walk with God when no one pays attention and sees you. Why? Because you want to obtain a good testimony, and you want to influence those who are around you. This is to be a strong and active young person; this is to be someone who walks with God, even if your friends don’t and make fun of you.
The result of Enoch walking with God was that he disappeared because God translated him. God enjoyed Enoch’s presence so much that He said, “Enoch, you walked a long time with Me on earth; come now walk with Me in the heavens.” Isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t this what you want? “‘Tis so sweet to walk with Jesus...walking with Thee all the way.” We need to walk with the Lord daily on the earth, step by step, keeping step with Him. If the Lord walks fast you also must to walk faster. If He walks slowly you also need to walk in the same way. Then He will say to you, “Since you have walked a long time with Me on the earth; come now walk with Me in the heavens.”
Stanza 3 says, “Step by step I’ll walk with Jesus, / Just a moment at a time, / Heights I have not wings to soar to, / Step by step my feet can climb.” You cannot be translated from a low situation and arrive on the top of a mountain suddenly, in a supernatural way. No, little by little you need to climb the mountain. One day you will look down and say, “Where are the problems that bothered me?” Step by step, you will climb heights with the Lord. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” You have to walk according to your capacity. However, don’t stop, keep going.
And the hymn continues saying, “All the way I’ll walk with Jesus, / Through the sunshine, through the gloom, / Though His blood-marked steps may lead me / To the garden, to the tomb.” The places through which you follow Him will not always be pleasant; you will go to the tomb sometimes. What happens there? The Lord being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground (Luke 22:44). Was it an enjoyable situation? No, we need to follow the Lord even in this kind of situation. We not only follow Him in the garden, but also in the tomb where He was buried. Are you willing to be buried with the Lord? It is better in this way because after death comes resurrection.
Stanza 5 says, “Here a while we walk with Jesus, / But the time will not be long, / Till the night shall change to morning, / And the sorrow into song.” In stanza 6 we read, “Then, with all who walked with Jesus, / We shall walk with Him in white, / While He turns our grief to gladness, / And our darkness into light.” In His light there is no darkness at all.
In the end, stanza 7 says, “Jesus, keep me closer–closer, / Step by step, and day by day; / Stepping in Thy very footprints, / Walking with Thee all the way.” We need to learn to be young people who please God, “raising sheep” not for our personal profit, but on the contrary, only to please God Himself. We need to be those who apply the blood of the Lord. Young one, you must learn this lesson: apply His blood, pray and ask Him for forgiveness of your sins. In this way you will gain a good testimony by faith.
We need to be those who walk with God in every situation and in every place. We also need to bring other to walk with God. You need to walk with God and bring others to walk with God as you do. In this way, when the Lord comes He will say, “Since you walked with Me all the time, you can continue walking with Me in the eternal life.” Young one, this is to live by faith!
We expect that you will remember these two examples and learn to be someone who pleases the Lord using the blood of Christ, someone who pleases God walking with Him.
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