Walking With God Or The Devil: Which?
SCRIPTURES
In Genesis 3:8 we read, “And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day,” and in the book of Job, first chapter and seventh verse, “And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
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THE MESSAGE
My friends, we have before us two of the greatest generals that ever crossed swords on earth. One rules heaven and the other hell, and the country that you and I live in is in dispute, and we find these commanders walking up and down on this earth seeking companionship. They are both seekers — they are beating their drums and calling for volunteers, and you have to walk with one or the other of these generals. You see you are a free agent, and this war is in the country where you live, and you are compelled to take sides with one or the other, and then you are so constructed that you can’t go through this country without a companion. You see we are of a very puny make-up. There is a place in your heart that must be full all the time, and if you are not walking with God and filled with Him, then you are walking with the Devil and you are filled with him.
You see, in some respects God and the Devil are just alike. They are both walking up and down the earth — they are both seeking you. God wants you to glorify Him, and, of course, the Devil wants you to glorify him. They are both looking at you, and if God doesn’t get you, the Devil will. They both take everybody they can get. We read in II Chron. 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” So you see, my friend, God is looking for somebody to walk with Him, and there is nothing that pleases God better than to find a person who will walk with Him. In Psalm 84:11, He said, “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Well, glory to God, heaven is plunder to the man that is walking with God, and God has nothing too good for the man that will link arms with Him and walk through this country by His side. With all God’s greatness and riches and glory in heaven, He seems to have left it all, and He is down here walking up and down in the earth looking for someone to walk with Him. It seems like God would rather walk with a man on earth than to sit on a throne and rule a universe; and it matters not how poor and sinful and wretched a fellow is, if he is tired of sin and evil and immorality, and sick of himself and disgusted with the Devil, there is nothing that would please God better than to link arms with that poor sinner and pull him out of his poverty, and put shoes on his feet and a ring on his hand, and clothe him with the robe of righteousness, and order the fatted calf killed.
Well, thank God, He has been able to find a few followers that were willing to walk with Him, and He has left nothing undone to prove to this old world that He was making the fellow happy that was walking with Him. So you see, my friend, God is doing all that a God of love and mercy can do to make you one of the purest holiest, happiest and best men on earth. And the Devil is doing all a mighty devil can do to make you one of the most corrupt, vile, degraded, sin-cursed, devil-ridden, hell-bound men that walk on earth. The Devil is a mighty general; his black flag is floating over multiplied thousands of Adam’s fallen race, and he is robbing heaven and populating hell with human souls. My friend, if he can persuade you to walk with him he will put hell in you while you are on earth, and then put you in hell after you die. The only use the Devil has for you, is for you to commit sin for him; and when you do it, you dishonor God, degrade the human family, glorify the Devil, and become a co-worker with him. My friend, if you will stop for a few hours and just walk through the Devil’s camp and see the awful wreckage of his soldiers, and hear their groans and shrieks and wails as they die in darkness and despair, you will be convinced that the Devil is the greatest enemy his followers ever had.
Come, friend, and walk with me through the camp of the Lord, and let us see if we can see any difference between the soldiers and the camps of these two commanders. The first one of the Lord’s soldiers I want you to look at is Enoch. We read in Genesis 5:22, that Enoch walked with God three hundred years. So you see that God found a man going in the same direction that He was going, and it was so easy for them to walk together. After a stroll of three hundred years we find Enoch and the Lord enjoying each other’s society so much, and their companionship so delightful, that the Lord proposed to Enoch to go home with Him and stay all night, and of course, Enoch did not refuse. And he went up to the country where the Lord lives, and he met so many of the old soldiers there, and they had such a shine on their faces, and they had so many things to tell him about the city that he seemed to forget all about this country — and then, to his surprise, the sun has never set there, and he has been there in that city with the Lord and the old soldiers five thousand years, shining and shouting, and to his great satisfaction there has never been one night there, and of course, Enoch could not very well come back to this country until he had stayed one night with the Lord. You see, friend, a day in the Lord’s country is as everlasting as God Himself, for the Lord God is the light thereof.
Now, friend, as we have been watching the Lord and one of His soldiers for awhile, let us turn our eyes and just look at one of the Devil’s soldiers for a few minutes. We see a young man by the name of Cain joining the Devil’s army. The first thing the Devil puts him at is disbelieving God. The next work he has for him to do is to murder his brother, and as the earth opens her mouth to swallow the blood of his brother, we see Cain fleeing from home and crying out, “My punishment is greater than I can bear,” and there was a mark put on him so that everybody that saw him would know that he was a murderer, and he was cursed from the face of the earth, and in sorrow and disgrace he walked up and down in the earth, a fugitive and a vagabond. My friend, will you stop long enough to hear Cain tell his experience that will throw a world of light on the subject. In Gen. 4:13, 14, “And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear; behold, thou has driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from Thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” Now, reader, did you ever hear a testimony with more sorrow and sadness in it than this one? It looks like if the Devil had a heart that the testimony of Cain would break it.
Reader, just think of the difference between Enoch and Cain. Look at Enoch as he steps into a chariot and goes sweeping through the gates of the New Jerusalem, leaning on the everlasting arms. Now turn and look out there at Cain as he looks up from his poverty and misery and woe. You see the black-winged demons hovering over him, and you hear his awful wail, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”
Let us look at another of the Lord’s soldiers for a few minutes. In Genesis 6:9, we read, “These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God.” So you see, reader, here is another fellow that was willing to walk with God, and now let us see what the Lord did for him. We read in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews and seventh verse, “By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” So you see, reader, God gave this man Noah the honor of building the only ark that was ever built, and when the creek got up higher than it had ever been before, Noah had the blessed privilege of moving into the ark with all his house, and he and all his floated over a river five miles deep and more than twelve months wide. Well, thank God for such deliverance as God brings to them that walk with Him.
Now look at another soldier from the Devil’s camp. You remember a young man by the name of Saul. He started out in God’s army and God blessed him above his fellows, and he had the finest prospects before him of any man in his land. God gave him great riches and honor, and it seemed God just piled good things around him, and he had everything that heart could wish, but finally the Devil succeeded in getting him to forsake God and join him. The Devil put him to doing his work, and of all the dark pictures you ever looked at you find them in the life of this young man. His friends left him, his fortune seemed to take the wings of the morning and flee away. He lost his national standing -his people forsook him — friends and fortune gone, and broken in health and his soul and body filled with evil spirits, we find him wandering about in darkness and wretchedness without a ray of hope, and finally you see him walking up and down in the earth, and crossing the hills and mountains on a dark, drizzly night seeking for a witch to call up a dead man, to see if he could get one ray of light to comfort his poor, broken, and sad heart. But all the witch tells him only increases his awful agony of soul, and he wanders about the rest of the night, and daybreak finds him in such awful sorrow and wretchedness that to end his miserable existence he feels would be a great relief, and you see him falling on his own sword, plunging it into his heart. You hear his awful wail as he dies without God.
Now, reader, just glance at this dying soldier as he lay there with his sword stuck through his body, and the Devil with all his imps shouting for joy, and just think of what this man was at one time, walking with God, fighting under the banner of righteousness, with the smiles of God on him and the fat of the land in his possession. Now see gloated-faced devils spreading out their black wings over him as he dies by his own hand. What an awful step that man took when he stepped down and out of God’s company and linked arms with the Devil.
Now, reader, turn with me and let us look at one more soldier. In Genesis 17:1-3, we read, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” So you see this man was to walk with God in perfection, and for one hundred and seventy-five years we see God and Abraham walking hand in hand. God had so much respect for Abraham He would not do anything in the country without sending angels to consult him. And God made an everlasting covenant with him and gave him all the land of Canaan for a possession, and God allowed the angels to come down from heaven and rest in Abraham’s tent and stay with him till after dinner. But few men in this world have had the honor of having dinner for the angels, but Abraham had that honor because he was walking with God. And we read in the Bible that Abraham was the friend of God. Friend, did you know that that was never said of any other man on earth? And he is called the Father of the faithful in the Bible, another remarkable statement not said of any other man.
Well, glory to God, the man in all ages of the world that has walked with God has come out ahead. Well, glory!
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THE END