Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS
Isaiah 35:8, "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."
We are all on a journey right now. This journey will last for the rest of your life. It is a journey down a long and dangerous highway, one that is filled with potholes, dangerous curves, mixed up signs for directions and dangers from every side.
The road that you must travel is called “the way of holiness” and it is a road that is not traveled by many people for most do not like to lack of worldly facilities with all of their glitz and glamour. Those who travel this highway do not seem to care much for the things of this life for their eyes are set on a greater goal. They are heard to speak of a city that is not of this world but one that is far greater than any that the world can offer.
Proverbs 16:17, "The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul."
Proverbs 4:25-27, "Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil."
If we are going to travel this Highway of Holiness, the things of this world must grown dim. The desire for a better lifestyle, while not totally wrong, must always take 2nd place to our desire to “abstain from every appearance of evil” and from those “things which will deter us from our journey”.
Our eyes must be set on Christ and His way of righteousness and we must never forget that all of the beauty of this present world is going to be destroyed by fire in the end.
Guard your vision! Guard your heart! Guard your mind! Be careful of the things you hear and see, lest they cause you to leave the Highway of Holiness to be lost in the streets of sin of this present world.
You are a citizen of Heaven. You are journeying through a strange, foreign and dangerous world on your way home. Watch out for your soul, for there is nothing more important than going home.
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don’t look at the things of this world lest your gaze creates a desire to be a part of this world. Put on your spiritual blinders and walk the straight path of holiness. Don’t allow sin to become your master. Put your body under subjection and keep your desires upon the things of God.
Every time we stray from the Highway of Holiness we miss God’s best for our lives. Every time we fall it is another delay and another spiritual hurt that God must heal.
My job and that of the leadership is to make the Highway as safe as possible for you!
Isaiah 62:10-12, "Go through…prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."
Just as God told Isaiah to prepare the way of the people for the nation of Israel, God has given that same commission to the leadership of his church.
With God’s help, I must watch for stumbling blocks in your path. I must try to remove those rocks and stones to keep you from falling. It is my duty to see the dangers, to warn you of them and to try to steer you around them. Sometimes, trying to keep people from falling, there are things that must be said that are uncomfortable.
If I can see even the possibility of danger ahead on the journey, I must cry out against it. That means that I may be like the one who directs traffic at an accident scene or a construction site on the highways. No one likes to be stopped, sit still and wait. None of us like detours or delays. Yet, if we do not obey that man who gives the signals, we endanger not only ourselves, but everyone around us too.
If you wreck your life and leave the highway of holiness through indulgence in sinful things, your testimony is destroyed, your spirituality is dead and your very soul lies on the side of the road gasping its last breath because of the separation from the Spirit that gives you life.
The Apostle Paul had to correct the churches that he had helped to establish when they began to stray from the truth that he had taught them.
Galatians 3:1, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?"
Galatians 4:16, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"
Sometimes the message that you need to hear is not popular or easy to swallow. There have been times when anger would rise up because we didn’t like the way the Word came forth or the manner in which it was given.
But, if that message keeps us from falling, it’s worth making us upset. Get over it and keep moving on.
All along this road there are signs just as there is on any road you travel in the natural.
Yield – let God direct your path, put yourself under God-called leadership and obey them that have been placed over you as long as they obey God.
Stop – don’t go that way, it leads to death and destruction. You are starting down the wrong path. Stay away from sin, from those who would pull you away from God and from anything that comes before God in your life.
Caution - the way to go is not clear ahead. There is the fog of indecision. Turn on the search light of the Word of God, spend time in prayer and find the right direction.
No Passing – don’t get ahead of God’s time. Let the Spirit direct your every move so that we won’t be found “out on a limb” wondering where God is.
Merging Traffic – all along the “Highway of Holiness” there will be those who will attempt to cut you off or fall in behind you who will slow you down. They may seem to be on the same journey as you for a while but then you will see their true destination as they begin to turn aside going after the things of this world. Keep steady on!
Distance Signs and information signs – keep your eyes and ears open for the signs of the end times. Your destination is much closer than you think. If you are watching and waiting for coming of the Lord, you won’t miss it when you come to the end of your journey.
The Highway of Holiness often requires traveling by faith in God!
Hebrews 11:8-10, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
Is your path clear ahead? Do you know exactly what God’s will is for the rest of your life? Do you know every event of your future, the good times and the bad times that lie ahead, and how and when your journey shall end? Of course not! Not one of us knows all these things. Even so, we must continue to travel under God’s direction. God knows all of these things and He knows how to bring us home safely.
Like Abraham, the Friend of God, we travel ever onward to a city that is built by God. We are aliens in a strange world, searching and seeking after our home that is not of this world but a city that God has prepared for each of us.
Hebrews 11:13-16, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country…a better country, that is, an heavenly…for he hath prepared for them a city."
Just like every other Christian that has walked this Highway, you will not see the glory and beauty of your final destination until this life is over and you cross over into the next.
Your faith in God’s ability to bring you home and in God’s promises of eternal life must endure until the end. The entire walk is a walk of faith.
We can’t touch, smell or feel the wonders of Heaven and the New Jerusalem but, through the eyes of the Spirit within us, God has allowed us glimpses of the glory to come.
He has given us blessings, salvation, healing, eternal life, peace, joy and so many good things. God has given us just a down payment on our eternal reward through salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Ghost. These are an earnest, a small portion of what Heaven will be like.
The move of the Holy Spirit in Youth Camp, in our church services, and in Camp meeting, were only a tip of the iceberg of the great things God has planned for us all.
John 14:1-3, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
There is God’s Promise to His Children!
Don’t fret and worry over tomorrow or over the road you must travel. Put your faith in God. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide and Jesus will welcome you home.
He has been preparing a place for you for 2000 years now. If God created all the grandeur and beauty of creation in 6 days, what will you mansion and the New Jerusalem be like after God’s power has been building it for 2000 years!
Jesus is Coming Again! He is coming to get His Bride! He has prepared wonderful things too great to imagine for us all! He wants you and I to be with Him forever!
Stay on the Highway of Holiness, keep your eyes on Jesus, and you will come to the end of this journey and you will reach your Eternal Home!
