But _Secondly_, Walking with GOD not only implies, that the prevailing power of the enmity of a man’s heart be taken away, but also that a person is actually reconciled to GOD the Father, in and through the all-sufficient righteousness and atonement of his dear Son. “Can two walk together, (says _Solomon_), unless they are agreed?” JESUS is our peace, as well as our peace-maker. When we are justified by faith in CHRIST, then, but not till then, we have peace with GOD; and consequently cannot be said till then, to walk with him. Walking with a person, being a sign and token that we are friends to that person, or at least, though we have been at variance, yet that now we are reconciled and become friends again. This is the great errand that gospel ministers are sent out upon. To us is committed the ministry of reconciliation: As ambassadors for GOD, we are to beseech sinners, in CHRIST’s stead, to be reconciled unto GOD; and when they comply with the gracious invitation, and are actually by faith brought into a state of reconciliation with GOD, then, and not till then, may they be said so much as to begin to walk with GOD.
Further, _Thirdly_, Walking with GOD implies, a settled, abiding communion and fellowship with GOD, or what in scripture is called, “The Holy Ghost dwelling in us.” This is what our LORD promised when he told his disciples, that “the Holy Spirit should be in, and with them;” not to be like a wayfaring-man, to stay only for a night, but to reside and make his abode in their hearts. This I am apt to believe is what the Apostle _John_ would have us understand, when he talks of a person abiding in him, in CHRIST, “and walking as he himself also walked.” And this is what is particularly meant in the words of our text. “And _Enoch_ walked with GOD.” _i. e._ He kept up and maintained a holy, settled, habitual, though undoubtedly not altogether uninterrupted communion and fellowship with GOD, in and through CHRIST JESUS. So that to sum up what has been said on this part of the first general head, _walking with_ GOD consists especially in the fixed habitual bent of the will for GOD, in an habitual dependance upon his power and promise, in an habitual voluntary dedication of our all to his glory, in an habitual eying of his precept in all we do, and in an habitual complacence in his pleasure in all we suffer.
_Fourthly_, _Walking with_ GOD implies, our making progress or advances in the divine life. _Walking_, in the very first idea of the word, seems to suppose a progressive motion. A person that walks, though he move slowly, yet he goes forwards and does not continue in one place. And so it is with those that walk with GOD. They go on, as the psalmist says, “from strength to strength;” or, in the language of the Apostle _Paul_, “they pass from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the LORD.” Indeed in one sense, the divine life admits of neither increase nor decrease. When a soul is born of GOD, to all intents and purposes he is a child of GOD, and, though he should live to the age of _Methuselah_, yet he would then be only a child of GOD, after all. But in another sense, the divine life admits of decays and additions. Hence it is, that we find the people of GOD charged with backslidings, and losing their first love. And hence it is, that we hear of babes, young men and fathers in CHRIST; and upon this account it is that the Apostle exhorts _Timothy_, “to let his progress be made known to all men.” And what is here required of _Timothy_ in particular; by St. _Peter_, is enjoined all christians in general, “But grow in grace, (says he) and in the knowledge of our LORD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST.” For the new creature increases in spiritual stature; and though a person can but be a new creature, yet there are some that are more conformed to the divine image than others, and will, after death, be admitted to a greater degree of blessedness. For want of observing this distinction, even some gracious souls that have better hearts than heads, (as well as men of corrupt minds, reprobates concerning the faith) have unawares run into downright _Antinomian_ principles, denying all growth of grace in a believer, or any marks of grace to be laid down in the scriptures of truth. From such principles, and more especially from practices naturally consequent on such principles, may the LORD of all Lord’s deliver us!
From what then has been said, we may now know what is implied in the words, “walked with GOD,” viz. Our having the prevailing enmity of our hearts taken away by the power of the Spirit of GOD; our being actually reconciled and united to him by faith in JESUS CHRIST; our having and keeping up a settled communion and fellowship with him; and our making a daily progress in this fellowship, so as to be conformed to the divine image more and more.
How this is done, or, in other words, by what means believers keep up and maintain their walk with GOD, comes to be considered under our second general head.