Living the Life of a Pilgrim
by Pastor Matt Black
19 November 2006
Lord’s Day Evening
Hebrews 11:13-16; Psalm 1:1-3
Open your Bibles to Psalm 1. We are going to read this entire Psalm. This is one of my favorite portions of Scripture. I love it because it tells us where true happiness is found. We are in the season of Thankfulness, and we have so much to be thankful for. But the source of all blessing is not this earth—it is the Lord. The title of our message tonight is “Living the Life of a Pilgrim”.
Introduction: In September 1620 the Mayflower began her voyage from Plymouth England to Plymouth, Massachusetts. King James I was on the throne of England. James’ mother was Mary Queen of Scots, also known as “Bloody Mary” because as a Catholic ruler, she executed those who would not submit to the Catholic Church. With King James, there were new freedoms that England had not seen before. The King James Bible had been printed and officially recognized by the King, but it was not the Bible of the Pilgrims. They would not part with their beloved Geneva Bible.
The Mayflower Ship
The Mayflower was not a passenger ship, but a cargo ship that had transported wine between England and France for many years before its passenger voyage to America. So on September 15, 1620, the Mayflower journey began. A hundred and two people and chickens, goats, dogs, and other animals into a ship whose ceiling was only five feet high. The ship was 90 feet long and 24 feet wide. The entire front half of the ship was reserved for the crew of 20 men from the Virginia company that sponsored the Voyage. The back half of the ship was a series of tiny cabins and bunks that housed the 82 passengers. Half of those passengers were Pilgrims, and the other half were members of the Church of England who simply wanted to move to the New World. One baby was born on the voyage over. And one man, William Button died before land was sighted.
Difficult Conditions
The conditions inside the ship were difficult. They lived underneath in the belly of the ship where it was always dark except for the light of the candles. It was very wet. It was called a “loose” ship because it’s construction wasn’t the best, and small amounts of water coming in left the quarters damp and smelly. They ate salted beef and biscuits for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It was a nine week journey to cross the Atlantic, and they finally arrived on November 9, 1620. So it was this time of year that the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth rock. Upon their arrival, the Pilgrims made provisions for a time of thanksgiving to God. That Thanksgiving Feast lasted THREE days!!
The Mayflower set sail back to England on April 5, 1621, arriving back May 6. None of the passengers went back to England with it. The ship made a few more trading runs, to Spain and then to Ireland, and lastly to France. In March 1622, Captain Christopher Jones died, and the ship never sailed again. In 1624, the ship was broken down for it’s wood (which was in shortage at the time) and it was sold as scrap.
That winter 1620, the Pilgrims spent time ashore preparing homes and searching for food but partly remained based aboard the Mayflowefor their living quartersr. Only about half of the settlers would still be alive when the Mayflower left in the spring.
Who were the Pilgrims?
Small groups of English people criticized his church for
being too much like a Catholic church, and not true to what the Bible says a
church should be. One group of people wanted to make the King's Church more
“pure,” and they came to be called “Puritans.” There were also “Separatists,”
who believed that the English church was so bad it was beyond repair. They
wanted to separate and form their own church. Such a thing was not allowed in England at that time; it was illegal and punishable by law.
To escape persecution, some Separatists from the northern part of England went to Holland and built a church they believed was a Biblical one.
We must not forget the forefathers of our country. They loved God, and were willing to pay a price for their own holiness. They were willing to suffer everything, even death, in order bring their children up in godliness and not hypocrisy. A pilgrim is someone who is not attached to this world, but is on his way to another home.
Is heaven your home? Are you a stranger in this world? Look with me at Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11 records the lives of those who though they lived here on earth, they were seeking a different country and were citizens of a heavenly kingdom. The chapter talks of Enoch, Noah, and Abraham and Moses who all separated themselves from this world and gave sought the kingdom of the Lord. Verse 13 of Hebrews 11 says this, “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. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a [another] country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 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.”
To be a pilgrim is to be a citizen of heaven. You long for home. You are distant from this world. The person who is saved has God's presence with him.
The Psalm begins with the promise: "Blessed is the man…" The person who has God in his life is truly blessed. This world literally means "happy, completely satisfied, or blissful." If you are saved you have God living inside you. That ought to make you thankful in all things! God is the source of all joy and gratitude. If you don’t know God, you are truly a joyless person. I am not saying you never experience temporary happiness. What I am saying is only in the Lord can you know lasting and full joy.
In fact, Christian people can thank God for all things—both good and bad. We can thank God for every wrong that was committed against us as well as all the blessings.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
So how can we be a truly thankful people? Psalm 1 has the answer. It begins with the words “Blessed is the man”. You want to be blessed, happy in all things? Then you must first of all…
I. First, we must DEPART FROM SIN (verse 1). Pilgrims are not connected to this world! “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly...”! We have no part in this world!
II Timothy 2:19 says “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, LET EVERYONE THAT NAMETH THE NAME OF CHRIST DEPART FROM INIQUITY.”
1 John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
The Bible says in Ephesians 4:2 2 "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts."
Psalm 101:3 “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”
B. We must LEAVE the way of sinners.
This means you will probably loose friends, and sometimes even your own family may reject you, but Jesus promised to give you a hundred fold in this life and in the life to come. I remember when I got saved I stopped living the way my friends lived. That does not mean I broke off all contact with sinners. In order to do that I would have to go to heaven!! No I would not participate in their way of life. As believers, we cannot participate in any kind of sin no matter how small we think it is, or else we will break our fellowship with God!
C. We NOT LINGER at the seat of the scornful.
This means we must hate the awful condition of those that do not know Christ. We no longer sit where they sit. We have been raised with Christ. Now we must seek to live that resurrected life, and point them to Christ!
Transition: Now we have seen the negative side of the presence of God, we MUST DEPART FROM SIN. Now let’s see the POSITIVE SIDE.
II. Next, we must DELIGHT IN GOD (verse 2)
A. God is our PASSION. “his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord”
What we delight in is our passion. There are those who more than anything love sports, or love music, or something else. It doesn't matter what it is. Our first love should be the Lord. Our life should revolve around Him.
Paul said in Phillipians 3:10 “That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”
We ought to put down the TV guide and pick up our Bible!
Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
B. God is our POINT OF FOCUS.
The world knows this principle. That is why the Television, the radio, and the newspaper are so interesting. The world wants you to concentrate on it. But the Bible says right here that we should "meditate on the law of the Lord day and night." Every time we turn around the world wants our attention. Just go down the road and you will see a billboard! We must put the word of God constantly before us. We must concentrate on it.
C. God is our PROVIDER.
The Bible says we will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. If we are living in God's presence, He becomes our nourishment, the source of our power. Jesus said, I am the bread of life." He is the vine, we are the branches. He will see us through NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES! Why?
III. Finally, we must DO GOD'S WILL (verse 3). If we are living in God’s presence, we will depart from sin, delight in God, and you know what? We will be doing what God wants us to do. You know what else? It’s what we’ll want to do too!
Psalm 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
A. We are PLANTED in God's will. “planted by the rivers of water…”
This is God's work. You did not save yourself. We are saved by grace, not works! And since God planted us is His will, we can never be removed from the presence of God. We have "eternal life."
John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perich, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
B. We are PRODUCTIVE in God's will, "…that bringeth forth his fruit in his season".
When you enter God's presence, you do not leave empty handed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away; Behold, all things are become new." When God comes into your life you cannot be the same person. You are new in Christ. We cannot do it. We must let God produce the fruit in our lives through prayer and Bible study.
Illustration: We think of men like Hudson Taylor, and see 50 million Christians today in China. But you see it was not him who was productive, it was God. You see, Taylor said, “The sun has not risen all the years I have been in China, without me being on my knees in prayer.” Oh that we could say that and be productive in the presence of God!
C. We are PROSPEROUS in God's will.
"his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Ephesians 3:20-21 says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
Conclusion: Are you living the life of a pilgrim? All we have to do is depart from sin, delight in Him, and do His will. We are in His presence. We just need to realize it and recognize it.