Pilgrims on the
Earth
By Dr. J. D. Watson
Hebrews 11:13 and
Ephesians 2:19
From
the back cover of the printed
booklet:
In
our day of social upheaval and political unrest—even in
America—what is the Christian’s position? In this
message—which was preached on November 19, 2000 in the
midst of the presidential election controversy—the
author offers the Biblical answer. Based on Hebrews
11:13 and Ephesians 2:19, he demonstrates that while we
are inhabitants of this earth and residents of a
particular country, we are actually only “pilgrims on
the earth” and our true citizenship is in
Heaven.
To illustrate the importance of
the pulpit ministry, this booklet contains the message
exactly as preached, except for very minor adjustments
that are needed for print. Some additional material on
the First Amendment was also added to this printed
version for the sake of
clarity.
A message preached on the
Lord’s Day, November 19,
2000
Grace Bible Church –
Meeker, CO
Dr. J. D. Watson –
Pastor/Teacher
I would like to call your
attention this morning to two texts. Hebrews 11:13 is
our main text:
“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.” Also
coupled with that verse, Paul writes to the Ephesian
believers in Ephesians 2:19, “Now therefore ye are no
more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with
the saints, and of the household of
God.”
Beloved, what I want to share with you this
morning is something I’ve had on my heart for about two
weeks. In light of what is transpiring in our nation as
we speak, I want to share these verses with you this
morning. I’d like to share with you the burden the Lord
has laid on my
heart.
In light of it also being the Thanksgiving
season, I want to begin by saying that I have never in
my entire Christian life been more thankful to be a
Christian than I am right now. Never. The reason I say
this is because I am so thankful that my citizenship is
not here. I was born in America, I am a citizen of this
country, and all of that, as everyone here is, but I am
reminded again of where my true citizenship is. That
while physically I am a citizen of America, and while I
used to be—and I use this word in this way
purposely—“proud” of that fact, I no longer am. I am
blessed and thankful to be an American, and am thankful
from the bottom of my heart for what this country used
to be, on what she was founded, the principles on which
she was founded. But I am no longer proud to be an
American. I don’t believe in pride. Pride, as I’ve
shared
with you many times, is
never used in a positive way in God’s Word. Not
once. Pride is totally of
self. But I am still thankful to be an America. I am
thankful for what this nation is and what she used to
be. But more than that, I am thankful that my true citizenship is in Heaven. I am
thankful that I am a citizen of Heaven, that I am not a
part of the squabbling, corrupt, ungodly, and immoral
people that are prevalent in this nation
today.
Being a student of history, I have seen that
never in this country have we seen what we have seen in
this nation in the last eight years. To me what has
transpired and what is going on right now is absolutely
incomprehensible. For those who might be listening to
this on tape, we are right in the throes of this whole
election controversy in the year 2000. It is absolutely
unbelievable. Indeed, I have never seen what is
transpiring here. Never has this country seen the lack
of integrity, the lack of honesty, and the lack of
character that we have seen in the last eight years. And
I can say from being a student of history, we can’t even
come close to
this.
Do I mean that there has never been corruption in
our government? No, of course there has been. There’s
been corruption throughout our history, but never have
we seen the ignoring of the rule of law, never have we
seen the blatant breaking of law after law after law
that we have recently
witnessed.
I shared this with you awhile back, but I want to
do so again because I believe it’s the best way I’ve
heard of summing up what we’ve seen. While this
statement was made by a secular talk show host who I’m
sure is not a believer, it is very accurate. He said,
“We have witnessed the most criminal regime in the
history of America.” And if I may add to that statement,
it continues unabated and unchallenged. No one who has
the authority to do so has had the courage to stand up
and say, “You will cease and desist from breaking the
law.” No one seems to want to do that, and we wonder
where it will all end.
Beloved, in the shadow of all this, where does
this put us as the children of God? What should our
attitude be to all this? I want to share with you this
morning that what our attitude should be is expressed in
our text. Just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were, so are
we—strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. And as Paul tells us we are fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the
household of God. We are citizens of glory.
Our true citizenship is in heaven. We are only—and this
is the point of this message—pilgrims on this
earth.
I’d like to share with you this morning two broad
principles. First, the Pilgrim’s Journey, and second,
the Pilgrim’s Life. First, based on our Hebrews text,
which relates directly to Old Testament believers, and
we see
I. THE
PILGRIM’S JOURNEY
What is our journey all
about? Beloved, we are believers, we are Christians, we
are more than the so-called “Christians” that are spoken
of so loosely in our day. We are supposedly—and if this
were not so tragic, it would be laughable—living in a
“Christian nation.” Unbelievable. What is transpiring in
this nation is incomprehensible. Every day we become
more socialistic. Every day we become more jaundiced and
calloused to law, morality, and just simple right and
wrong.
But as true believers, what is our journey? Our
text tells us. The writer has been referring to several
believers in the previous verses. He speaks of Abel the first martyr. He speaks of Enoch who was translated and did not
see death. He speaks of Noah who built the Ark for the saving
of his house. He speaks of Abraham who went out, not knowing
where he went. He mentions Isaac and Jacob, heirs with Abraham of the same
promise. After listing many others, he then gives the
marvelous summary, “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 then he adds the
very important words, and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.” Their eyes were not on the
earth; their eyes were not here. Even though they never
saw those promises fulfilled in their physical life,
their eyes were ever on that goal. They never considered
themselves anything else than strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.
A pilgrim is one
without a fixed habitation, one who is journeying
through a strange and foreign land. We read back in
verses 14, “For they that say such things declare
plainly that they seek a country.” Are we seeking a
country today? If we say, “No, I’m not seeking a country
because I’m already the citizen of a country,” then
we’ve missed the point. While physically we are citizens
of America—born here, raised here, educated here, part
of the voting public—this is not our true country. And
this is equally true of all the people of God in every
age of the world. These words therefore apply to us in a
very real way. Let’s trace six aspects of the pilgrim’s
journey.
First, the pilgrim’s original
home was the city of destruction. Abraham, for example,
was born and educated in that far off country. He lived
and dwelt there. There he was employed in some temporal
way as everyone else. But in this state he was far from
God, far from peace, far from safety. He, like everyone
else, was an alien without God, without hope, a child of
wrath even as others. The pilgrim starts out without a
country. He might be in a
country but he cannot claim
that country as his own. He starts out alienated. He
truly is in a place of destruction. Likewise it is true
of us. As Paul tells us in Ephesians
2:1-5:
And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: Wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved).
We were “children of
wrath.” We
were in a place of destruction, a place that was cursed
under the wrath of God. We were dead in trespasses and
sin. We walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air. That’s
where we started
out.
Second, the pilgrim’s pilgrimage
begins through the influence of the gospel on his heart.
When he comes to Christ, his real journey begins.
Beloved, do you find living exciting? Do you find
in each day something new and exciting? While every day
is in one way routine and mundane, in another way is
each day a new experience, an excitement? If not, we’d
better look at our hearts, because this challenges us to
realize that we are not looking at every day as part of
our pilgrimage as Christians. Even though many days will
be the same, each day is still a new day in our journey
with Christ. And it all begins through the influence of
the gospel. Our true journey really began when we came
to Christ.
Do you remember that day when you came to Christ?
One day you realized what you had without Christ—which
was nothing—and the next day when you became a believer
your whole life changed. Everything changed: your
values, your philosophies, your attitudes, your actions,
your goals, your desires. And I am convinced, in light
of our day, that even our politics should change when we
become a Christian. Why? Because Christ changes our
entire value system and morality
system.
If I may be so blunt, how in the world can
someone who claims to be a Christian follow the liberal
causes and socialistic agenda of the world? Most
political and social philosophy today is ungodly and
even anti-God. I was speaking
to a fellow believer just a couple of days ago who said,
“Anyone who would vote for Al Gore and call themselves a
Christian, I just want to shake them. How can you vote
for someone who wants to kill babies, someone who lies
constantly, and someone who has no integrity or
honesty?”
Beloved, I am convinced that when we come to
Christ our entire life must
change. Everything changes as our real journey begins.
We see in our text that the truth came to the pilgrim.
His misery and peril and personal wickedness were
exposed. His life then changed. “If any man be in
Christ, he is” a what? “A new
creature. Old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). His life
changes. If his life does not change, he has not come to
Christ. Christianity is a life-altering experience. The
pilgrim’s condition of ruin was declared, and escape and
instant flight were urged upon him. A better land was
revealed and gospel salvation, including present rest
and future glory, were made known. Receiving the truth
of the gospel, he abandoned the city of guilt and death,
and fled for refuge to the hope before him. Each one of
us came to Christ by grace alone thru faith alone. And
when we did, we left the land of destruction.
This leads to the third aspect of the pilgrim’s
journey.
Third, by
faith in God’s testimony the pilgrim sets his face
towards the heavenly Zion. He believed God, and
therefore set his heart to seek “a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb.
11.10). The pilgrim sets his mind, sets his sites on the
glory of Heaven.
Again this pictures the New Testament believer
plainly. We too seek that heavenly city. Matthew 6:33 is
the key to our understanding of this: “But seek
ye first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all these things [that
is, temporal needs] shall be added unto
you.”
First you seek the kingdom of God. You don’t seek
welfare. You don’t seek socialism. You don’t
seek—contrary to the popular anthem of the last eight
years—“the will of the people.” You seek what is
right. You seek what is the
law. You seek what is
true. You seek what is
moral. You seek God. This must be the desire of the
true believer. The true believer who understands the
truth of God, the morals of God, and the righteousness
of God will always vote that way and stand that way
without compromise. His views will never even hint at
socialism or “the will of the
people.”
Again, nowhere in the annals of history has there
ever been a nation like America. 224 years ago an
incredible thing happened. But she is collapsing; she is
crumbling from within. Why? Because there’s no truth
anymore. There’s no longer any desire for truth or law.
When you study our history, you discover that much of
our law was based on the law of God. Read William
Blackstone’s (1723-1780) Commentaries on the Laws of England
and discover the true foundations of
America.
When was the last time Americans read the
Preamble of our own Declaration of Independence?
When in the course of
human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them
with another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth the separate and equal station to which the
Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitles
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to
separation.
Commenting on those eight
words, Blackstone described the Law of Nature as “the
will of [our] maker,” and described the Law of Nature’s
God as the direct revelation of God as revealed in the
“doctrines . . . and . . . law . . .
that are to be found in the holy scripture.” He then
concludes:
Upon these two
foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation
[or the law of nature’s God], depend all human laws,
that is to say, no human laws should be [allowed] to
contradict these.
Can we say that this is
still true in our nation today? How many laws today
contradict the laws of
God?
Beloved, when we come to Christ, we indeed set
our face toward Him, toward the City of
God.
Fourth, the pilgrim claims no
possession in the country through which he passes. As
Paul wrote, “Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth” (Col 3:2). Does this mean that we
must take a vow of poverty and live the ascetic life of
a monk? Certainly not. Nowhere does God’s Word say that
money is the root of all evil. What does the Bible
actually say? It says, “the love of money is the root of all evil”
(I Tim. 6:10). We should also note that the modern
translations that read “All kinds of evil” are wrong. Literally
the Greek reads, “For a
root of all the evils is the love of money” (Young’s Literal Translation). All the
evils of this world can ultimately be traced back to
money in the end.
Rather what Paul is speaking about is not what we
have but what we want. He is asking, Where are your
affections? Where are your values? What is it that you
really want? As someone has said, “The Pilgrim considers
all around him as changeable, and therefore he buys as
though he bought not, rejoices as thought he rejoiced
not. He considers the world as the desert in the way to
Canaan,—the sea over which he crosses to the shores of
glory.” That is all this world is. We are traveling over
a desert on our way to glory. There’s nothing here we
want to take. There’s nothing in a dry, barren desert
that we really want and that is worth having.
The true Christian
pilgrim understands that “where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also” (Lk. 12:34), and his treasure
and heart are set on heaven. I again use that word
“true” purposely. The word “Christian” is thrown around
today. There are millions in this country who claim to
be Christians but who clearly are not. Their life does
not give evidence of that fact. Their treasures are not
in Heaven. They have not set their affections on things
above. They don’t seek first the Kingdom of God. They
say the word “Christian” like it is something positive,
but it was never used as a positive term. Acts 11:26
tells us that “the disciples were called Christians
first in Antioch,” but this was to cast aspersion on
them. They were calling the disciples “little Christs,”
and they hated them because they imitated Christ. Oh,
but today “everyone is a Christian.” While in many
countries to be found out to be a Christian means death,
in this country we no longer embrace the true meaning of
the word. The true Christian has his heart and treasure
set on Heaven.
This leads to another aspect of this
journey.
Fifth, the true Christian
pilgrim is often not even welcome in the country in
which travels. In this country we have the term “illegal
alien” who is not welcome here. Some who actually become
legal citizens are still not welcome by certain groups.
Likewise many Americans find out they also are not
welcome when they travel to other countries. I am
convinced that the latter is not just due to jealousy or
“sour grapes,” but is due to the fact that America no
longer stands for what she used to stand for. The things
that have transpired in the last twenty or thirty years
are unbelievable. We have betrayed and lied so often
that we have little credibility.
Out text says Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were
strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. In the ancient world strangers—which translates the
Greek zenoi—were often
regarded with hatred, suspicion, and contempt. They had
very few rights, even by the standards of that day. They
were also pilgrims (parepidemoi), that is, exiles,
strangers. They were refugees in their own Promised
Land. They were not welcome in the very place that God
had given them.
Beloved, this challenges all of us that the true
Christian will often feel out of place. It bothers me
greatly when a professing Christian is comfortable in
socialism. It bothers me greatly when they can vote for
people or measures or legislation that is ungodly,
immoral, or murderous.
I am compelled to trace the demise of this nation
to 1973. Of course, 1962 and 63 were pivotal. That’s
when it all began when God was kicked out of the public
school system. But I believe the spoiled fruit of that
event was born in 1973 with Roe v.
Wade, and we have been murdering over a
million babies a year since. But in the minds of most
people in this country, it’s no big deal. Most don’t
even think about it. And any professing Christian who
says, “That’s a mother’s choice,” is ungodly to the
core. Such language upsets many people today, but it’s
the truth. It’s absolutely unimaginable that a Christian could
say such a thing. But I’ve read evangelical leaders who
say that in some instances abortion is okay, such as
when the mother’s life is in danger. But may we ask,
where is the sovereignty of God here? Where is God’s
will and power in all this? How do they know
the mother’s life is in danger? We just don’t stop and
think. We don’t discern. We don’t stand upon the truth
of God. We just think it up as we go along.
I am truly convinced that we don’t truly
understand where America is. Who knows how this election
will come out? If the rule of law is followed, Mr. Bush
will be the President. If the rule of law is not
followed, Mr. Gore will be the President. But either
way, will it get any better in the long run? Oh, one or
more persons in an office might stem the tide a little
bit; it might slow down the demise. But since 1973 our
conscious minds have been so seared —as Paul proclaims
in I Timothy 4:2—that we can no longer feel anything,
not even the simplest, most basic morality of the
sanctity of life. What hope is there then for this
nation?
This is hard for me to say. I love this country.
In my younger days I was willing to go to war for this
country, and I probably still would. But it’s hard to
imagine doing so for what she is today. I think of the
tens of thousands of individuals who have died for this
nation, and then I weep as I look at what she is
today.
How thankful I am that my true citizenship is in
Heaven. How thankful I am that when I look around and am
saddened and burdened by the condition of this nation, I
can then say, “Thank God I’m going to Zion. Thank God
I’m just a pilgrim here.” I look around and am
grieved—just as our Lord was grieved and wept over
Jerusalem and her wickedness. The prophets pleaded with
her to repent. We too weep over America and plead with
her to repent, but our sights are set on someplace much
higher—the glory of Heaven.
Would you ponder something else with me? As any
foreigner, we speak a different language than the world.
So many today want to make everything multilingual, but
is this not silly? This is America. We speak English—or
more accurately, we speak American. If I go to a foreign
country, I should not expect the inhabitants to speak
American. I’m an alien there. I’m a foreigner. Likewise,
the true Christian speaks a different language. It’s
alien. The inhabitants of this world will not understand
us. We have different
customs,
different values,
different morals. Everything about the Christian life is
different. The world will look at that and say, “You’re
an alien. I don’t know if you’re from another country or
maybe even a different planet.” They simply will not
understand, and we should not expect them to. We will be
misunderstood by the inhabitants here and disliked
because we are a “peculiar people” (I Pet. 2:9). The
Greek word behind “peculiar” does not mean “weird,” but
in the context of our day, it will often still apply.
So may we be challenged that we should fully
expect to feel out of place. And frankly, if we don’t
feel out of place, we’d better take a step back and take
a look. Where is my heart? Where are my affections?
Where are my treasures? Am I really a foreigner in this
country or am I part of the
inhabitants?
Sixth, and finally, the pilgrim
continually travels onward towards the
city of habitation. He doesn’t put down roots. He goes
from place to place, from experience to experience, from
dawn to dusk, from birth to old age in constant
spiritual growth. He advances in knowledge, love,
obedience, and holiness, and therefore, increases in
heavenly mindedness. All he does here continually
prepares him for an eternity in glory. True Christianity
is progressive, deepening, and ever expanding. As Paul
declared of himself after 30 years of ministry (Phil.
3:12-14):
Not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect: but I
follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which
also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
I want to
make special note of the word “apprehended.” It
translates the Greek katalambano, “to lay hold of, to seize with eagerness.” Paul
uses it here in reference
to the ancient Olympic games. He is saying in essence,
“While I am strenuously contending for the prize, ever
eager to seize it, I have not yet attained it. I have
not arrived yet. I therefore continue to reach forth, to
press toward, to pursue, to go after the prize of the
knowledge of Christ.” Paul says this after thirty years
of being a Christian and a servant of God. Thirty years!
I haven’t been in the ministry quite thirty years yet,
but Paul had been. After preaching and planting churches
all over the known world, he was saying, “I haven’t made
it yet. I haven’t reached that goal, that prize of
perfect knowledge of Christ, so I continue to reach for
it, to seize it, to grasp it, to contend for it like the
athlete contends for a temporal
crown.”
Beloved, that is what
it means to be a pilgrim. To be a pilgrim means that we
are continuing to travel onward, progressing, growing,
and maturing in
Christ.
With the pilgrim’s journey in mind, please ponder
a second principle.
II. THE
PILGRIM’S LIFE
This principle is inseparable linked to the
first. Without the one, there cannot be the other. Let
me share just a few thoughts here before we close this
morning.
First, there is the pilgrim’s heart, which is a renewed heart. It is
a heart that has been delivered from the love of sin and
the world and one that has a heavenly nature. It is a
heart that has spiritual attractions and is moved by
spiritual influences. Of all the things that make a
pilgrim a pilgrim, this is first and chief. In other
words, he is born again. It’s not just “believing in
Jesus” or some other “faith in faith” concept that is
propagated in our day. Rather, he is one who is a true
child of God, one who has been saved by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone, one who has
repented from his sin, and who is committed to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. He simply cannot make the
journey without this heart of a
pilgrim.
Second, there is the pilgrim’s
head. There must be the knowledge of
what it means to be a Christian pilgrim and how to walk
in that way. Again, to so many people today, being a
Christian is just something ethereal and mystical, and
can mean something different to each person. What then
is our guide for walking as a pilgrim? Our guide is the
Word of God and that alone. Without It, we will be no
better than the inhabitants of this country, who are
without any guide or authority. Without the Word of God
controlling our thinking, we’ll first accept and then believe anything that comes along. And
masses of professing Christians are doing that today.
They first tolerate and then
ultimately embrace anything
because it sounds good. We never stop and think, we
never ponder, we never discern, we never look at God’s
Word for the values, desires, methods, or philosophies
that are behind a certain thing.
Beloved, we need to think. We need to use our
heads. And what are we going to think with? Our own
ideas, opinions, political agenda? No, we’d better think
with the mind of Christ as revealed in His Word. If we
don’t, we’ll remain in the shape we’re in right now.
When we kicked God out of our society and our
government, that was when we began our downward
spiral.
Before going on, let me interject that all that
I’ve shared here and other statements that I could make
are commonly dismissed out of hand with the statement,
“Oh, but all of this violates the separation of church
and state; the First Amendment prohibits religious
values in public affairs.” We have heard this rhetoric
for decades, but does the First Amendment really say
that? The First Amendment reads
thusly:
Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.
Not only are the words
“separation of church and state” not found in the First
Amendment, they do not appear in any founding
document. What then does the First Amendment
mean?
The U.S. Congressional Records of June 7 through
September 25, 1789— the dates in which the Founders
framed the First Amendment—clearly demonstrate the
Founders’ intent. The Founders wanted to ensure that
what happened in England did not happen in America,
namely, that the federal government would not be allowed
to establishment a national denomination to the
excluding of all others. The records show that in all
the discussions and early wordings of the First
Amendment, the Founders used the word “religion”
interchangeably with the word “denomination.” They
had absolutely no intention whatsoever of excluding
Biblical principles and religious values in public
affairs.
Just one example of many is Fisher Ames, who,
according to the Congressional Record of September 20,
1789, was the man who actually offered the final wording
of the First Amendment. In an article in a national
magazine dated January 1801, Ames wrote of his concern
about all the new textbooks that were appearing. He said
that while these are good, the Bible still must never be
replaced as the number one textbook in our
schools:
Why then, if these books
for children must be retained, as they will be, should
not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school
book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and
noble.
So, the Bible did not
violate Fisher Ames’ view of the First Amendment.
Several other Founding Fathers, such as Benjamin Rush,
Noah Webster, John Adams, and George Washington all
warned that removing religious and moral principles from
the classroom would result in serious social problems.
And this is precisely what has happened
in
America.
From where, then, does the phrase “separation of
church and state” come? It first appeared in a letter
written by Thomas Jefferson in 1801, who was then
President. This letter was a reply to the Danbury
Baptist Association of Danbury, Conneticut, who heard a
rumor that the Congregationalist denomination was going
to be made the national religion and wrote Jefferson in
protest. In his reply, Jefferson assured them that they
should have no fear of this
because:
. . . I contemplate with sovereign reverence that
act of the whole American people which declared that
their legislation should “make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof” [i.e., The First Amendment], thus
building a wall of separation between church and state.
[The
Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial
Edition (Washington: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association of the United States, 1903), pp.
281-282.]
The context and
intent of Jefferson’s letter had nothing whatsoever to
do with removing the Bible and morality from government,
rather it dealt with the original intent of the First
Amendment, namely, that there would never be a national
denomination.
But in spite of these historical facts, in 1962
the phrase “separation of church and state” was ripped
completely from its context and intent. On June 25,
1962, in the court case Engel v.
Vitale, the Supreme Court used that phrase to
redefine “church.” For 170 years before
this case, the court defined “church” as
being a federally established denomination, but it
now meant any religious
activity performed in public. And as we’ve seen, this
ruling set America on her downward
course.
The facts are that the intent of the Founding
Fathers was never, never,
NEVER to separate God and government. They believed that
God must be at the center of government. Tragically that
is not the case today and we see the results. Yes, we
must think and use our head, but our head must be the
Word of God.
Third, there is the pilgrim’s spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who
indwells the believer and imparts spiritual qualities.
(1) The Holy Spirit creates in us the spirit of
devotion, praise, and worship, all of which are alien to
the world.
(2) The Holy Spirit creates in us the spirit of
self-denial and self-sacrifice. These too are way beyond
the world today, where self-esteem is a god, and each
person’s feelings and desires are supreme.
(3) The Holy Spirit creates in us the spirit of
faith and hope, of believing and trusting in His truth
no matter what. This too is alien to the
world.
(4) The Holy Spirit creates in us the spirit of
vigilance and discernment to watch against enemies and
danger. Again, this is alien to the world, but also to
much of the Church. There is little discernment of
anything today. “If it feels good do it” has been a
creed since the anarchy of the
1960s.
(5) The Holy Spirit creates in us the spirit of
perseverance and commitment to continue the journey and
not stop along the way and settle in. Once again, not so
the world. It always wants to settle in, to go with the
flow. It wants to go with “the will of the people in our
democratic society,” both of which are unconstitutional
concepts. We do not live in a democracy, rather we live
in a representative republic,
and what really matters is the rule of
law not the will of the people.
Fourth, and finally, there are
the pilgrim’s resources. Even the resources of the
pilgrim’s life are vastly different than those of the
country thru which he travels. The country through which
he journeys will have all kinds of seemingly powerful
resources, but the pilgrim’s are very
simple.
(1) The ancient pilgrim had a staff on which to
lean. Throughout Scripture the staff is a picture of
support for the weak. What then do we lean on? The
promises of God. Just believe God. Just trust His
Word.
(2) The pilgrim’s provisions are the bread and
water given him from heaven. As Moses wrote to the
nation of Israel, “And [God] humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might
make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
LORD doth man live” (Deut. 8:3). What will feed us on
the journey? The Word of God. Likewise Job declared,
“Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his
lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than
my necessary food” (23:12). Job is saying that I would
rather starve to death than be without the Word of God.
Can we say the same thing
today?
(3) And finally the pilgrim’s raiment is also
different. I don’t mean the physical attire we wear,
rather our spiritual attire; we put on the armour of God
as listed in Ephesians 6. Truth is the foundation garment. Is
this not significant in light of our day? Truth today is
in short supply. It depends upon “your point of view,”
many believe, but that’s not what God says. Righteousness is our breastplate.
The gospel is our sandals.
Faith as our shield. Salvation is our helmet. The word of God is our sword. And
prayer is the empowering
force that energizes it
all.
Yes, everything about the Christian pilgrim is
different. I want to close with words I heard uncounted
years ago and have never forgotten. Vance Havner once
said, “We are not citizens of this world trying to get
to heaven, rather we are citizens of heaven just trying
to get to thru this world.” Why? Because, as we quoted
earlier, this world is just a desert.
The question arises in the minds of many
Christians, “Should we vote?” I firmly believe that we
should. I believe it is an opportunity to stand for
morality, truth, and what is right and lawful. And I
firmly believe it is a public testimony to that stand.
But when we are tempted to get caught up in the world’s
politics, may we remember where our true citizenship is.
May we indeed stand for morality, righteousness, and
truth on this earth without compromise, but ever onward
we are on our way to
glory.
