WALKING BY TRUTH

1. If a police officer thinks someone is intoxicated, they may impose some testing.

2. A police officer may ask someone to walk a straight line.

3. I’m not sure where this test came from, but it may have been the Bible.

4. For our Scripture reading we heard Gal. 2:14.

5. When it comes to living for and serving God, we must “walk uprightly.”

6. Walking uprightly means to “walk in a straight line.”

7. What kind of straight line are we to walk on?

IN ORDER TO “WALK UPRIGHTLY” WE MUST HAVE A LIFE BASED UPON TRUTH.

a) The joining of “walk” and “truth” in Gal. 2 is a thought developed throughout the New Testament.

b) Romans 6:4 is a verse we have heard, read and studied many times.

c) This morning let’s look at it from a slightly different perspective.

d) After a person has been baptized Paul said he or she “walks in newness of life.”

2) If walking and truth go together (Gal. 2), waling in newness of life means walking in truth.

3) Before conversion people are walking in error and falsehood.

4) After baptism and only after Bible baptism can we say individuals are “walking in truth.”

a) Once we draw this conclusion we may reason a little more deeply.

b) A lot of our people believe in the Lord put their trust in Him for salvation.

c) Stated another way, this is “faith only” salvation—just believe and there is new life.

d) The “new life” from faith only is certainly a walk, but it is not walking in truth.

e) Someone who repents can make important changes, but they are still not walking in truth.

f) Such may also be said of the man who confesses Christ and says “I’m saved.”

5) We can only “walk in truth” if we have become a Christian in the way the New Testament describes.

6) If we are not walking in the truth, we will be walking in error.

7) Jesus believed this because in Mt. 8:22 He said, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

a) How can a corpse bury another corpse?

b) Jesus did not use the word “dead” in a literal sense.

c) He meant the “spiritually dead” should care for those who have physically died.

d) If a person has not accepted the truth, it is like they are dead.

e) Until a person has found and embraced the truth, they cannot have the life described in the Bible.

f) Jesus spoke of a man with two sons; one of his boys left and spent all his inheritance.

g) When the son returned the Father said, “My son was dead but is alive again.”

h) Without the truth it is impossible to walk with God.

i) Eph. 4:18 refers to man’s mind being “darkened in understanding.”

8) Truth and walking in it means our spiritual eyes are open and things are clear.

9) Until the truth of the gospel opens our eyes, it is like there is a hood over our heads.

10) As we look at the word “walk” we see it being used in Rom. 8:4.

a) Paul said God’s people do not “walk after the flesh.”

b) We cannot walk in truth and live like the world.

c) Some of the men I work with like to golf.

d) One of these fellows recently described a newer golf course in the Chicago area.

e) There are golf carts on this course that have “service buttons” right on the vehicle.

f) Golfers can punch a button and some maids will come to golfers with something to drink.

g) This maid service is not serving up lemonade—they serve alcohol.

h) Imagine a golf outing at a Christian school or an orphanage like Shults-Lewis.

i) The planners announce that if brethren get thirsty, call the clubhouse to have some beer delivered.

j) Whenever someone hits the little button, a liquor cart will pull up and serve up drinks to the brethren.

k) We don’t expect that to happen with Christians, but we are not surprised by it in the world.

l) Certain items are typically associated with the world and the flesh but not with walking in truth.

m) The same group of men that I see at least 5 days a week also like to sit back and rate women.

n) What I heard 20 years ago in the world is still being said by those who walk in darkness.

o) We are not surprised by what we see in the world, but we don’t expect to find it with God’s people.

11) When Paul preached he sometimes spoke on this very subject.

12) He gave some examples of walking after the flesh in Rom. 13:13 – READ.

13) Right after illustrating his thought with specific words he said this – verse 14 – READ.

14) Verse 14 tells us that walking in truth means “putting on Christ.”

15) Becoming more and more like the Lord says we are pursuing and absorbing the truth.

16) 1 Cor. 3:3 goes right along with Rom. 13.

17) According to the apostle it is possible to “walk after the manner of men.”

18) We can live as the world lives—this is the way the majority of people live.

19) Living after the manner of men, however, in not walking in the new life and the truth.

20) Because most walk “after the manner of men,” the vast segment of our world rejects the truth.

21) Because most reject the truth, most will be (just as Jesus said) eternally condemned.

22) That is so sad because walking after the truth is something all can do.

a) Paul spoke about “walking wherein we “were called” (1 Cor. 7:17).

b) The Corinthians reminded that Christians come from different walks of life.

c) Some were circumcised some were not. Some were slaves and some were free.

d) No matter what a person’s status or background, they could walk in the truth.

e) We do not need to be especially smart to walk in the truth.

f) Neither do we need lots of money or some other qualification.

g) Walking in the truth is a choice for all who are able to make accountable decisions.

23) When we choose to walk in truth we are choosing to “live by faith.”

a) 2 Cor. 5:7 says Christians “walk by faith” instead of “by sight.”

b) I can recall times when people have asked me why God has commanded certain things.

c) Why do we find in the New Testament a pattern to take the Lord's Supper each Sunday?

d) We can offer some ideas as to why this might be God’s will.

e) If we could give no reason at all, we “walk by faith.”

f) There may be many things we do not understand or understand well.

g) We believe, trust and obey even though some things are not always be clear.

24) As we think about Christian living and walking according to truth, Gal. 5:16 comes to mind.

a) There are many in today’s world who make wild claims about the Holy Spirit.

b) Paul told the Galatians to “walk by the Spirit.”

c) What does it mean to “walk by the Spirit?”

d) Some think it means letting the Spirit whisper mysterious things to us; listen to His prompting.

e) That is a high sounding claim, but is it true?

f) We have already seen how truth and walking go together.

g) If we are “walking by the Spirit,” we are “walking according to truth.”

h) Jesus said the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth.”

i) If a person is not following the truth, the Holy Spirit can have nothing to do with him.

25) A few verses later (Gal. 5:25) we are told to “live by the Spirit.”

26) Many good people read this text as well and they are confused by it; that need not be the case.

27) There does not need to be bewilderment and various interpretations.

28) We live by the spirit when we abide by the truths found in the Scriptures.

29) If we walk by the truth given through the Holy Spirit we have peace and mercy (Gal. 6:16).

30) Another helpful text is Eph. 5:8; here we are told to “walk as children of light.”

a) How can we be a child of light and like a city set on a hill if we do not have the truth?

b) Imagine a doctor that has a roomful of medicine; he has drug after drug.

c) The one drug a patient needs, however, is not in the physician’s office.

d) Medicine is not what is needed; what the patient requires is the right medicine.

e) A similar thing is true with respect to being a light to the world.

f) People may do many good things, and even do them in the name of the Lord.

g) Unless the good works are grounded in truth, they are worthless. They cannot be a light.

h) Jesus warned of this very problem in the Sermon on the Mount.

i) He said people would claim they did “many mighty works” but He will deny them.

j) The works were actually done, but they were built upon a spiritual foundation that was false.

k) Eph. 5:15 says to us “look carefully how we walk.”

l) Be sure that we have the truth and the truth only.

m) Religious people often proclaim how we are all one with just a few differences.

n) Phil. 3:16 refers to the “same rule” and says we are to “walk by it.”

31) Supposed we worked in a place where we had to punch a time clock.

a) Every employee is supposed to clock in at 7 a.m.

b) This is “walking by the same rule.”

c) Let’s suppose for our purposes that this company has 10 employees.

d) The first two punch in at 7, the correct time.

e) The next 3 punch in at 8. Two more prefer to arrive at 10.

f) The next one clocks in at noon, and the final two punch in at 2.

g) Those employees wouldn’t last long; there is a stated procedure (punch in at 7).

h) We walk according to the given standard or we do not.

i) Both in the world and in the spiritual realm this truth applies.

32) Failing to walk in the truth is being “disorderly” (2 Thess. 3:11).

33) Making this choice results in punishment, 2 Thess. 3:14.

34) One of the most important verses for today’s subject is found in 1 Jn. 1:6.

a) If a person claims to have fellowship with Christ but does not walk in the truth, he is a liar.

b) We cannot believe and practice error as a Christian or we are liars.

c) 1 Jn. 1:7 refers to “walking in the light” so we have fellowship with God and forgiveness.

d) A life based upon truth is helpful in every way; lives based upon error destroy.

e) Walking in the truth is described as “walking in white” in eternity (Rev. 3:4).

35) As we look at our lives, do we walk uprightly in the truth?

36) Is truth in front of us, behind us, on both sides of us, below us and above us?

37) If not, something is very wrong and the time to change that is running out.

38) We cannot walk a deviant path and make it to heaven.

39) We must walk that narrow line and only that line because it is the way to life.

40) That narrow line starts with faith in God, repentance from sin, confessing Christ, and being baptized.