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 copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
A PILGRIM’S HEART!
Sunday, December 01, 2002 PM
Tonight I want us to take a look at the characteristics of a Pilgrim as found in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, verses 8-16.
Hebrews 11:8-16, "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. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 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. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."
Thanksgiving Day 2002 is gone forever but one thing that I will always remember about Thanksgiving is the story of those first pilgrims that came to our continent so many years ago. They were called Pilgrims because they had left their homes and their native lands to seek out a land that they knew very little about. They didn’t know where they were when they got there but they did know that it had to be better than where they came from.
Their entire journey began as an idea that was placed in their minds by Almighty God to seek a place of freedom from tyranny and slavery under the old European monarchs that ruled their lives with such a tight fisted grip. They also were seeking a freedom from the oppression of the state run and organized churches and the religious hierarchy that was forever making rules and regulations that brought their congregations into deeper and deeper despair. There was no joy, no power of God, and no deliverance in the message of the church anymore, only more ways of extracting money and enslaving the people to the wishes of the church leaders.
I think that each of us can relate to the way they must have felt so long ago for the heart of man is ever under the oppression of the power of sin and iron fisted rule of the devil. We come to Christ as a beginning on the long, trouble filled and sometimes despairing journey toward a land that we know very little about.
Just as Abraham, we are seeking a city without foundations laid by the hands of men, but of God. We seek a city, a home that is not of this world but of the world to come. By all definitions of what a Pilgrim is, we are pilgrims in a journey from our old life to a new and more glorious life in the Heavenly realms.
Abraham, like the pilgrims, had the same 8 general characteristics that I want us to notice. All true pilgrims, you and I included, will show forth these same characteristics. Should the day come, before we reach our final home in glory, that we fail to show forth these characteristics, that will be the day that we cease to be pilgrims any longer and we surrender to the wiles of the devil.
Not only did Abraham exhibit these characteristics but every one of the heroes of the faith that are named in the Book of Hebrews had the same things applied to their lives as well.
With all of these heroes as our examples, we should realize that we must identify with them in every way. What are those 8 characteristics? Let’s examine them.
1)Abraham obeyed the call to go
God told Abraham to leave his home land and go into a place that he wasn’t sure of. He was quick to answer the call. He left everything behind and never looked back but set his face toward the direction where God was sending him and started walking.
That first step has been taken by every born again child of God. The only way to take that first step is to obey the call of the Lord upon your life. But it means a lot more than just taking that first step. It means that we must make a continual, every day decision to obey the voice of God and keep walking where the Spirit leads.
2)Abraham never settled down
Everywhere that he went, Abraham was tempted to stop and make those places his home. It is so very easy to get to a place in the Lord where we think that we are exactly where we need to be and we get complacent.
Satan will help you find your place of comfort and then sing you a lullaby until you are fallen asleep and you aren’t hearing the voice of the Lord anymore.
Where would you settle down? Suppose God brought you to a place where you thought you had finally arrived. Suppose that you had a work to do that you loved doing and that you were getting paid a big salary for doing it. Suppose that you were happy, satisfied and able to sit around like a fat cat and just enjoy the blessings of ministry.
Would you be happy there? Would you begin to think that this is where it’s at and I know I’m in God’s perfect will? Too many of us would think just that.
But that’s not the life of a pilgrim. That’s the life of a man at home with the world. If you are a real pilgrim, there will never be a place in this life that is perfect. You will never feel completely fulfilled because this isn’t your home and there will always be a desire for someplace better because nothing in this world compares with the home that you are destined for.
Don’t ever get to the place where you think you don’t need to grow some more in the Lord. Don’t ever think that you know all you need to know, that you have done your share of working for the Lord, and now it’s time for someone else to carry the load. Don’t ever think that God called you to sit around and bask in the sunshine of His love and do nothing. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance and if we don’t obey God and keep moving one, we will fall into disobedience and be lost on the road to eternity.
3)Abraham was looking for an eternal city
He wasn’t looking for anything that the world had to offer because he knew that his soul was eternal and that there was more than this world.
God had birthed in Abraham, just as He has in each of us, that there is a better place waiting somewhere out there and we should not settle for the pitiful excuse of life that this world has to offer.
4)Abraham had telescopic vision
I don’t mean that he was always looking through a pair of binoculars or had stars in his eyes. Abraham could see, in the realm of the Spirit, what no human eyes can behold. He saw the promises of God as something far greater than what other men could see.
He saw, in far-seeing eyes of the Spirit, that there was a heavenly city out there somewhere. He could see himself walking down those streets of gold and living in that mansion that God had prepared for him. He could already picture in his heart the great nation that God had promised to him.
What about you? Can you already see yourself in Heaven? What will that day be like when you first step into the realms of the eternal glory of your Lord? What will you do, what will you see, and what will you say? I know that you can “only imagine”, like the chorus goes. But can you see yourself already there? Are you absolutely convinced, beyond any shadow of doubt, that Heaven is real and that you are going there soon?
In the eyes of the Spirit you can already see Peter, James and John. In the eyes of the Spirit you can already picture Christ Jesus as He stands there with hands outstretched to welcome you home. In the eyes of the Spirit you can already picture the dinner table at the marriage supper of the lamb. You can already see the Father sitting upon the throne.
I know that what we see in our spiritual eyes right now won’t even begin to match just how great it will really be. But, we can use our telescopic vision, through the study of God’s holy Word and we can catch a glimpse of the world to come if we will only open our eyes and look for it.
5)Abraham acknowledged his faith in the promise of God
Everywhere that Abraham went he was faithful to tell others of his journey and to praise the God of Heaven. He could not and would not be persuaded to leave his faith behind and follow the promises of men.
That’s the same way that we must ever be witnessing of the Love of Jesus Christ that has been shown to each of us. We must ever be praising Him and giving Him glory for every blessing of our lives.
Proverbs 3:6, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
Luke 12:8, "Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:"
Simply put, if you will let people know of your faith in the Lord then He will tell all of Heaven that you are His child.
6)Abraham never turned back
Luke 9:62, "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
So much for the doctrine that teaches unconditional salvation! These are the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God – not mine!
It’s a dangerous thing to let people think that once they are saved that they can live any way they want and still make Heaven their home. That teaching flies into the face of God and denies the words of Jesus.
We cannot start out for God and quit serving Him and then expect to see Heaven. It just won’t happen. God requires a 100% commitment to obey the call of God upon your life. It means that you can’t live the way you want to anymore but you have to live according to God’s will instead.
That old life won’t be so great anymore Don’t get upset that you have to surrender your old dead sinful life and never “enjoy the pleasures of sin” anymore. Those pleasures will never be really fun for you anymore because you have been exposed to a better way of pleasure, a better path to joy, and a much greater source for happiness.
If you happen to decide to go back to it, you will find that it has grown 7 times more deceitful and more destructive than before and there will be no real satisfaction in it at all, only emptiness and despair and ultimate destruction of your soul.
Don’t ever turn back – just keep on moving forward in Christ, even if it seems to be such a slow growth time.
In Matthew 12:45 and in Luke 11:24-26 we read these words of Jesus, "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first."
7)Abraham longer for a better land
Are you satisfied with this life? Are you looking forward to being in Heaven with the Lord?
The older I get the more I realize that this world has so very little to offer. I have had a good life by most standards. I have a wonderful home, with a beautiful wife, and great children and grandchildren. God has blessed me with so much that can never be thankful enough for his blessings.
All of these things are great but I still desire to see a better place. I want all of my children, my wife and all of you to be there too. If you are all there it will make Heaven so much greater.
I want a place of rest and peace. I desire a place where I can do the things that I love doing the most and see the work of my hands prosper. I desire a place where sin, sickness and death, or being tired can never enter in. I desire a place where joy bursts forth like the bright sunshine after a dark night. I desire a place where danger is non-existent and where the threats of mortal men can no longer touch us.
What about you? Do you desire that better place? Where is your treasure? Where are those things that are most important to your life? Is it here in the this place of sin and corruption or is it there where Jesus dwells in the realms of glory? Wherever it is, that’s where you will long to be.
8)Abraham was faithful unto death
This final characteristic of the pilgrim is one of endless faithfulness and trust in God to bring about what He has promised even in the face of impossible odds.
Jesus is speaking to the church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:10 when He says, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
Like Winston Churchill’s speech once said, “Never Give Up, Never Give Up…”
In the darkest hours of your life when it seems that all is lost, never give up.
In the hours of despair when you see no way out, never give up.
When the devil lies in your ear that you can’t make it, never give up.
When your friends and family tell you that salvation isn’t real, never give up.
When those ministers and pastors and men of God fail you and you are tempted to just throw in the towel and walk away, never give up.
When it seems that the promise of His coming will just not happen, never give up.
Never give up – never turn your back on God – never walk away from your love of Jesus Christ – Never give up!
Those are the characteristics of a Pilgrim that loves the Lord.
If you will hold on to those characteristics and trust God unto the end and have the same attitude that Job had in Job 13:15, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him," then you will become one of the heroes of the faith along with all of those named in the Book of Hebrews.
Your name will appear in the Book of Life, God’s citizenship roll of Heaven, right along with those of Moses, Abraham, Barak, Gideon, Samuel, David and all of the prophets and millions of others who have been faithful unto death.
That’s when you will walk into the same city that Abraham searched for! That’s the place where you have your citizenship. That’s where God has foreordained for you to spend eternity.
