Walking With God
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
(Acts 4:13)
Apart from revelation there can be no satisfactory knowledge of the three things of which God is the Author…Creation, providence and grace. The natural mind has no key with which to unlock the wonderful book of Creation. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Providence is ascribed by the natural man to luck or chance; he ignores the fact that there must be mind behind order, and behind order unfailing provision (read carefully Psalm 104). Grace is a deeper mystery. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1st Corinthians 2:14). But he sees the outward fruit.
“They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Outsiders took knowledge that they had been, but they (the disciples) had the benefit of being with Jesus. How many of you know the Lord Jesus in your experience, and how far is it to be discerned by others in your walk? Those who are naturally violent, impetuous and hasty, become by grace meek, patient and sober-minded. It is very solemn to have truth in the judgment, and there not to be any effect in the life. If you have grace in your heart, the flesh may rage, but it will not reign.
Do men take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus? A plain, practical question which will try a tender conscience. Works will not bring us to heaven, but they show whether we are on the way to heaven. Not to be conscious of the power of sin, is a sad proof of deadness in sin. All sin, but if we possess grace we shall not glory in sin; it will not be our element. “If any many man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” The Spirit of Christ was humble; He never lifted Himself up; and the Spirit of Christ in the believer will battle against the risings of pride in the heart.
If you have been with Jesus, He has called you. It is not an accidental meeting, a chance acquaintance. You become His disciple – a scholar, a follower of Christ. In Mark 8:34 we read that when Jesus “had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” He carried the heaviest cross – the cross that our sins made: we carry the cross that love takes up – “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Jesus went about doing good; He never injured anyone. His word is: “Love your enemies … so shall ye be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” Is that possible? To nature, no; to grace, yes. Christ’s last miracle was to heal the High Priest’s servant, wounded by His warm-hearted, impetuous disciple, Peter.
Jesus came to do the will of God, that is what He lived for.
O that we might have grace to desire that the will of God might be done in us. In His most trying hour He prayed: “Not my will, but Thine be done.” There is a rest there, and those who have been with Him here, will one day be with Him for ever.
George Rose – 1938
Jesus is LORD! 
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