WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 I invite you to open your Bible with me to the 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:06.379 book of Genesis and today to the 12th chapter 00:00:06.379 --> 00:00:17.059 of Genesis. I'm going to begin reading in chapter 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:20.199 11, verse 31, to pick up the flow of things. 00:00:21.379 --> 00:00:29.760 It says, Sarai, his daughter -in -law, his son 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:33.219 Abram's wife, and they went out together from 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:35.840 Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:39.579 of Canaan. And they went as far as Haran and 00:00:39.579 --> 00:00:42.880 settled there. And the days of Tyra were two 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.460 hundred and five years, and Tyra died in Haran. 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:51.439 Now the Lord had said to Abram, Go forth from 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:54.229 your country. and from your relatives, and from 00:00:54.229 --> 00:00:56.570 your father's house, to the land which I will 00:00:56.570 --> 00:00:59.990 show you. And I will make you a great nation, 00:01:00.009 --> 00:01:03.009 and I will bless you, and will make your name 00:01:03.009 --> 00:01:07.409 great. And so you shall be a blessing. And I 00:01:07.409 --> 00:01:09.750 will bless those who bless you, and the one who 00:01:09.750 --> 00:01:14.650 curses you, I will curse. And in you, all the 00:01:14.650 --> 00:01:18.290 families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram 00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:22.299 went forth as the Lord had spoken to him. And 00:01:22.299 --> 00:01:25.980 Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy -five 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:29.599 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:32.340 took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:34.599 all their possessions which they had accumulated, 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:38.459 and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:42.159 and they set out for the land of Canaan. Thus 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:45.980 they came to the land of Canaan. And Abram passed 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:48.439 through the land as far as the site of Shechem 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:52.340 to the oak of Moray. Now the Canaanite was then 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:54.540 in the land and the Lord appeared to Abram and 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:57.959 said, To your descendants I will give this land. 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:01.379 So he built an altar there to the Lord who had 00:02:01.379 --> 00:02:04.760 appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:08.159 to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:11.080 his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:14.159 east. And there he built an altar to the Lord 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:17.400 and called upon the name of the Lord and Abram 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:23.530 journeyed on. continuing toward the Negev. The 00:02:23.530 --> 00:02:27.949 panorama of Genesis chapters 1 through 11 provides 00:02:27.949 --> 00:02:32.689 for us the historical origins of our world and 00:02:32.689 --> 00:02:39.250 its early history. From that historical, sweeping 00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:44.449 worldwide perspective, the focus of Genesis now 00:02:44.449 --> 00:02:49.139 comes to one lone figure in chapter 12. And that 00:02:49.139 --> 00:02:54.580 is, of course, Abram. You might ask the question, 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:59.699 why Abram? There is only one answer that I know 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:04.240 to that question, and it is this. It is God's 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:10.159 gracious choice to focus on Abram. From among 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:12.639 the nations, all of whom were under his judgment, 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:19.449 God calls a man to salvation. and he calls that 00:03:19.449 --> 00:03:23.949 man to know him and to walk with him. It is somewhat 00:03:23.949 --> 00:03:26.550 reminiscent of Noah who in the days before the 00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:30.710 judgment of the flood it is said found grace 00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:36.750 in the eyes of the Lord. That word grace in Genesis 00:03:36.750 --> 00:03:40.969 chapter 6 comes from a root that means to bend 00:03:40.969 --> 00:03:45.629 or to stoop over. Thus it shows the condescending 00:03:45.629 --> 00:03:51.460 or unmerited favor of a superior person to one 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:56.379 who is inferior. Noah found grace in the eyes 00:03:56.379 --> 00:04:02.379 of the Lord. Abram is an idolater according to 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:06.099 Joshua 24 verse 2, but God appears to him nonetheless 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:12.139 in this place that is called Ur, Ur of Chaldea. 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:18.730 And Abraham obeys what God says to him. Stephen 00:04:18.730 --> 00:04:20.910 talks a little about that in his great sermon 00:04:20.910 --> 00:04:47.970 in Acts chapter 7 when he says, We may think 00:04:47.970 --> 00:04:50.230 that Abram would have been glad to leave the 00:04:50.230 --> 00:04:54.250 deserts of Mesopotamia and go to the land of 00:04:54.250 --> 00:04:59.029 Canaan. But friends, we need to understand what 00:04:59.029 --> 00:05:03.790 Ur of the Chaldeans was like. Ur was a very civilized 00:05:03.790 --> 00:05:09.050 area. The excavations from Ur revealed to us 00:05:09.050 --> 00:05:14.009 that it was a place of great artistry, jewelry, 00:05:14.970 --> 00:05:19.019 and art treasures. China, an exquisite crystal, 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:23.660 have all been found in the ruins of Ur. Musical 00:05:23.660 --> 00:05:28.420 instruments and other crafted objects that are 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:33.560 particularly exquisite. Archaeology shows that 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:38.040 Ur was in a state of high civilization 500 years 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:43.939 before Abraham lived there. In the ruins, they 00:05:43.939 --> 00:05:46.879 have found thousands of clay tablets that reveal 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:51.120 that Ur was a place of a thriving economy. It 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.779 was a great and prosperous city with perhaps 00:05:53.779 --> 00:06:01.040 360 ,000 people living in this city and its suburbs. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:04.319 Francis Schaeffer talks a little bit about this 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:07.160 city in his book entitled Genesis in Space and 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:11.759 Time. He says the excavations show us that Houses 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:14.379 were made of brick and were whitewashed for aesthetic 00:06:14.379 --> 00:06:18.519 purposes. They stood two stories high. In the 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:21.620 larger houses, there were up to 10 to 20 rooms. 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:24.920 They had wonderfully equipped kitchens, a good 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:29.399 plumbing system, and sanitation. From the evidence 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:31.360 that's been found, some people have thought that 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.660 perhaps they taught cube root in their schools. 00:06:36.589 --> 00:06:40.750 God called Abram to leave what was the most civilized 00:06:40.750 --> 00:06:44.689 place in the Near Eastern world to go to a land 00:06:44.689 --> 00:06:52.430 that he did not know. But Abraham obeyed. And 00:06:52.430 --> 00:06:57.310 calling Abram, God is hereby creating a new beginning 00:06:57.310 --> 00:07:02.730 for his plan to bless all mankind. In Genesis 00:07:02.730 --> 00:07:08.220 chapter 1 and verse 28, God says, Be fruitful 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:13.120 and multiply fill the earth and subdue it and 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:20.220 in saying those words God blessed man This is 00:07:20.220 --> 00:07:22.620 the third time however that there has been a 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:29.480 beginning Adam failed God started over with Noah 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:34.720 and his sons and that led again to failure And 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:39.079 so the third time, God starts again a new beginning 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:44.379 with Abram. In responding to God's call upon 00:07:44.379 --> 00:07:49.240 his life, Abram becomes God's alien, God's refugee, 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:54.279 God's pilgrim, if you please. And he begins a 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:59.060 lifelong pilgrimage or walk with God, an adventure 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:03.899 in following God. What I hope that we will glean 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:05.939 not only this morning but in the coming weeks 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:08.459 as we study our way through the life of Abram 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:11.620 and others in Genesis is this, that God calls 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:17.560 us to be pilgrims too and to follow Abram's example 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:21.740 in an adventure of faith. There are three actions 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:26.839 that I see in our text this morning which are 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:31.550 actions of God's pilgrims. Throughout the ages, 00:08:31.870 --> 00:08:35.929 we see them exemplified in Abram. In the first 00:08:35.929 --> 00:08:40.590 place, God's pilgrims leave their past. While 00:08:40.590 --> 00:08:44.169 in Ur, God had called Abram to leave his country, 00:08:44.330 --> 00:08:47.289 his people, his father's household. This involved 00:08:47.289 --> 00:08:51.070 a complete break with everything that tied him 00:08:51.070 --> 00:08:56.409 to his idolatrous past. When God calls you and 00:08:56.409 --> 00:09:02.149 me to Himself, It is a call that is also away 00:09:02.149 --> 00:09:08.409 from what has enslaved us before. As Paul writes 00:09:08.409 --> 00:09:12.789 to the Thessalonians, you turned to God from 00:09:12.789 --> 00:09:19.710 idols to serve a living and true God. And as 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:23.090 he says in Acts chapter 14 in the city of Lystra 00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:26.149 when he and Barnabas were declared by the ignorant 00:09:26.149 --> 00:09:29.820 populace there to be gods. He says, men, why 00:09:29.820 --> 00:09:33.200 are you doing these things? We're also men of 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.600 the same nature as you and preach the gospel 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:39.240 to you in order that you should turn from these 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:47.960 vain things to a living God. God's pilgrims leave 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:52.700 their past. God calls us to Himself and away 00:09:52.700 --> 00:09:58.909 from what we were. God's call is a sanctifying 00:09:58.909 --> 00:10:03.389 call, setting us apart to be His own. It is a 00:10:03.389 --> 00:10:07.789 cleansing call that washes us of our past, previous 00:10:07.789 --> 00:10:13.009 associations of sin. It is a call to separation 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:18.610 from the idolatrous culture and its values. For 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:21.549 Abram, it meant physically leaving these things 00:10:21.549 --> 00:10:26.659 and people to go to the promised land. We may 00:10:26.659 --> 00:10:29.659 physically remain where we are but our relationships 00:10:29.659 --> 00:10:33.720 are called to be different We are called to be 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:39.279 a holy people Response to God's call means just 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:44.799 this that we place Him in our lives as our highest 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:50.740 love Whereas before we may have loved many things 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:55.799 and did When we respond to God's call it is away 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:59.120 from those things that our love must go and to 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:05.379 God Jesus says if anyone comes to me and does 00:11:05.379 --> 00:11:08.179 not hate his own father and mother and wife and 00:11:08.179 --> 00:11:11.039 children and brothers and sisters Yes, and even 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:16.200 his own life He cannot be my disciple Now you 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.379 know there that Jesus is not saying that we must 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:20.419 literally hate them, but he is saying that our 00:11:20.419 --> 00:11:25.399 love for him as our master must be so strong 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:28.399 that earthly affections in comparison are like 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:32.360 hatred. The point that I'm making is that a pilgrim 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:38.019 dares not allow his past to dominate him. Heron 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:43.000 left Ur along with his father and other relatives, 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:48.019 and they stayed in Heron. The word Heron means 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:51.590 delay. And it became that for Abram's complete 00:11:51.590 --> 00:11:56.009 obedience. It was a delay for him. In chapter 00:11:56.009 --> 00:11:58.710 11, verse 31, we see that Terah, his father, 00:11:58.830 --> 00:12:02.750 and Lot, his nephew, accompanied him. This delayed 00:12:02.750 --> 00:12:06.490 his pilgrimage in this city and later created 00:12:06.490 --> 00:12:08.909 trouble for him in his pilgrimage in Canaan. 00:12:10.009 --> 00:12:13.049 But when his father had died, he left Heron and 00:12:13.049 --> 00:12:17.110 continued his journey. It may be that there is 00:12:17.110 --> 00:12:23.370 some delay also in your following the Lord? What 00:12:23.370 --> 00:12:27.090 is it that holds you in your heron instead of 00:12:27.090 --> 00:12:29.730 going on and being in that place where God wants 00:12:29.730 --> 00:12:37.169 you to be? God's pilgrims leave their past. Secondly, 00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:41.970 God's pilgrims receive his promises. Some think 00:12:41.970 --> 00:12:45.190 it foolish to leave the certainty of what one 00:12:45.190 --> 00:12:51.230 has. for what one does not have. But the pilgrim's 00:12:51.230 --> 00:12:53.610 faith, you see, rests upon the promises of a 00:12:53.610 --> 00:12:57.929 trustworthy God. In Hebrews 11 we read, now faith 00:12:57.929 --> 00:13:02.970 is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction 00:13:02.970 --> 00:13:07.929 of things not seen. By it the men of old gained 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:13.049 approval. Abram had never seen a travelogue film 00:13:13.049 --> 00:13:17.080 or video of Canaan. He had never seen a satellite 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:20.100 picture of it. He didn't know what was in Canaan, 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:25.960 but he went there. Because that was the place 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:30.340 where God had promised to bless him. Just very 00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:33.519 quickly, Abram's promise of blessing involved 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.120 several things. First of all, this land that 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:41.000 God would show him, this land of Canaan. Secondly, 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:43.460 we noticed it involved a nation that God would 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:49.899 make him. a nation of people, which would in 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:54.159 turn then bless others. Third, we notice that 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:56.820 it involved an identity that God would give to 00:13:56.820 --> 00:14:01.639 him. God says, I'm going to so identify with 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:05.620 you, Abram, that those who bless you, I will 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:09.840 bless. And I will be so identified with you, 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.840 Abram, that those who curse you are cursing me 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:18.679 and I will curse them. God says to Abram, I'm 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:24.399 giving you a new identity. It's with me and Fourthly 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:27.919 it is a blessing that God would give to all the 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:30.799 families of the earth through Abram. That's what 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.899 his promise was He says Abram. I will bless all 00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:41.059 the families of the earth through you You and 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:44.779 I who today 4 ,000 years later believe in Jesus 00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:48.059 Christ or among those included in Abram's promise. 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:53.500 As it says in Galatians chapter 3, and the scripture 00:14:53.500 --> 00:14:56.799 foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:02.440 by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, 00:15:02.899 --> 00:15:07.419 saying, all the nations shall be blessed in you. 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:12.690 You see, in this promised to Abraham, there is 00:15:12.690 --> 00:15:16.509 this message encrypted. It is hidden to Abraham's 00:15:16.509 --> 00:15:19.049 eyes at this point and to succeeding generations 00:15:19.049 --> 00:15:23.470 until after Jesus. But it was that the Gentiles 00:15:23.470 --> 00:15:26.789 too would be blessed through the seed of Abraham. 00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:31.950 And so Paul concludes, so then those who are 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:35.789 of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. 00:15:37.259 --> 00:15:40.480 You and I are embraced in these promises that 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:45.460 were made to Abram. And like him, we as pilgrims 00:15:45.460 --> 00:15:50.159 too are to live by God's promises. We need not 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:54.340 live by God's explanations. God doesn't owe us 00:15:54.340 --> 00:15:59.299 any. But we are privileged to live by God's promises. 00:16:00.139 --> 00:16:05.600 Even when we can't see the outcome, we have the 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.590 promises of God. And when we believe and obey 00:16:09.590 --> 00:16:13.149 the promises of God, God will take us to that 00:16:13.149 --> 00:16:16.809 place that He's promised to us. Pilgrims leave 00:16:16.809 --> 00:16:20.230 their past. Pilgrims receive God's promises. 00:16:20.450 --> 00:16:24.570 And third, pilgrims perceive their prospect. 00:16:25.649 --> 00:16:30.570 It says regarding Abram that he went forth. He 00:16:30.570 --> 00:16:36.000 went forth. Why? because his faith grasped what 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:41.740 God said and he envisioned its fulfillment. As 00:16:41.740 --> 00:16:46.419 I said before from Hebrews 11, faith is the assurance 00:16:46.419 --> 00:16:54.480 of what is hoped for. Abram had a hope, an expectation, 00:16:54.500 --> 00:16:58.179 and he was assured that he would receive it. 00:16:58.460 --> 00:17:01.460 He had a conviction about something he had never 00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:06.559 seen. with his eyes. What was it that Abraham 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:09.680 had not seen with his eyes, but which he did 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:14.279 see with the eye of faith? Well, again, Hebrews 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:18.339 11 tells us, by faith he lived as an alien in 00:17:18.339 --> 00:17:22.299 the land of promise, as in a foreign land dwelling 00:17:22.299 --> 00:17:25.039 in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:29.119 the same promise. For he was looking, listen, 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.859 he was looking for the city. which has foundations 00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:39.900 whose architect and builder is God. Abram had 00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:46.400 left a city of the world behind, believing somehow, 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:50.440 envisioning in his heart that God had another 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:55.819 city for him, a city that God himself would build. 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:01.380 Like Abram, we too must look beyond our immediate 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:05.140 circumstances of the pilgrimage to what lies 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:08.539 before us. And what lies before us? The very 00:18:08.539 --> 00:18:13.779 same thing that was before Abram, a city whose 00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:17.339 builder and maker is God, the New Jerusalem. 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:21.579 That is what is before us. Again, Hebrews says, 00:18:21.940 --> 00:18:26.259 here we do not have a lasting city, but we are 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:31.650 seeking the city which is to come. Some of us 00:18:31.650 --> 00:18:33.890 were born and reared in the country and we don't 00:18:33.890 --> 00:18:37.549 like cities. Got bad news for you, if you're 00:18:37.549 --> 00:18:41.869 like me. There is a city in your future. It is 00:18:41.869 --> 00:18:47.390 the city of God. Pilgrims leave their past. Pilgrims 00:18:47.390 --> 00:18:50.750 receive God's promises and pilgrims perceive 00:18:50.750 --> 00:18:54.369 their prospect. What keeps us going through the 00:18:54.369 --> 00:18:57.859 pilgrimage? Is it the things that we gather along 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:02.819 the way? God forbid. For those things become 00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:07.960 as heron to us. What is it that motivates us 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.140 and inspires us and keeps us going? It is the 00:19:11.140 --> 00:19:16.339 prospect of the city that God has promised us. 00:19:18.539 --> 00:19:24.880 Abram was God's pilgrim. It says in Hebrews chapter 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:28.119 11 that he confessed he was a stranger and an 00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:33.619 exile on the earth. It has been long noted that 00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:36.119 Abram's pilgrimage is noted for two things in 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:39.200 particular. And you see them in the text we read 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:44.339 this morning. An altar and a tent. Those two 00:19:44.339 --> 00:19:52.309 things. The tent. Abram was loosely affixed to 00:19:52.309 --> 00:19:58.049 this world with his hope fixed on the next. Loosely 00:19:58.049 --> 00:20:01.750 attached to this world, his hope fixed on the 00:20:01.750 --> 00:20:04.250 next, and thus he did not mind living in a tent. 00:20:05.329 --> 00:20:07.410 We don't know what kind of a home he may have 00:20:07.410 --> 00:20:10.690 lived in in Ur, but he moved out of the home 00:20:10.690 --> 00:20:15.650 into a tent for the rest of his life, because 00:20:15.650 --> 00:20:18.410 he was confident that God had prepared a place 00:20:18.410 --> 00:20:23.319 for him. And then the altar. Wherever he went, 00:20:23.579 --> 00:20:28.140 Abram built an altar where he worshipped. He 00:20:28.140 --> 00:20:32.440 was loyally devoted to God and sacrificed freely 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:36.839 for him. That's what the altar represents. His 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:40.099 loyal devotion to God, his willing sacrifice 00:20:40.099 --> 00:20:50.460 to the Lord. W. H. Griffith Thomas writes, and 00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:54.920 by the tent a stranger and a pilgrim. The altar 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:59.359 and the tent together sum up the believer's life. 00:21:04.180 --> 00:21:08.160 Pilgrim, does the altar and the tent sum up your 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:15.619 life? Peter writes to his readers and he says 00:21:15.619 --> 00:21:19.650 to them, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to 00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:28.049 those who reside as aliens scattered. Is that 00:21:28.049 --> 00:21:32.250 not you and myself? Do we not reside as aliens 00:21:32.250 --> 00:21:39.869 in this world? Oh, but how it beckons. How our 00:21:39.869 --> 00:21:45.589 Chaldean culture beckons us to be a part of it. 00:21:46.829 --> 00:21:50.519 With its toys its entertainment, its attractions, 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:58.200 its values, its materialism, how it beckons us 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:00.819 to settle down and to be at home and to get out 00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:05.960 of the tent and to make ourselves comfortable 00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:10.839 here and to lay aside the altar for that which 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:16.569 is a more convenient religion. But I say to you 00:22:16.569 --> 00:22:19.170 that your pilgrimage and mine must be characterized 00:22:19.170 --> 00:22:25.109 by the attitudes of Abram. We, like him, must 00:22:25.109 --> 00:22:29.789 be loosely attached to this world and fix our 00:22:29.789 --> 00:22:35.849 hope on the next at the coming of Christ. And 00:22:35.849 --> 00:22:38.869 like him, we must be loyally devoted to God and 00:22:38.869 --> 00:22:43.589 sacrifice freely to him. Realizing that in this 00:22:43.589 --> 00:22:48.509 world we are pilgrims. This world is not my home. 00:22:48.569 --> 00:22:52.750 I'm just a passing through. My treasures are 00:22:52.750 --> 00:22:56.630 laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels 00:22:56.630 --> 00:23:01.130 beckon me from heaven's open door. And I can't 00:23:01.130 --> 00:23:13.460 feel at home in this world anymore. As we come 00:23:13.460 --> 00:23:15.640 to this table of the Lord, it is a reminder that 00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:20.000 we're pilgrims, that we're moving toward a city 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:23.880 where Jesus is inviting us to come, where he 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:27.000 has prepared the marriage supper of the Lamb. 00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:32.799 These elements remind us that we are a purchased 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:37.019 people, that we are called like Abram was to 00:23:37.019 --> 00:23:42.440 be pilgrims, to leave our past. to receive and 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:46.559 live on God's promises, to keep the prospect 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:52.359 of the New Jerusalem before us. This is a strange 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:58.279 way to live. I may even say it's a foreign way 00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:07.099 to live. It is a way that is uncomfortable in 00:24:07.099 --> 00:24:13.579 the Church in America. It is a way that calls 00:24:13.579 --> 00:24:19.880 upon us to sacrifice the now that we might lay 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:25.980 up treasures in heaven. It goes against our Chaldean 00:24:25.980 --> 00:24:34.279 culture. Are we able to leave it behind and save 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:41.380 by partaking of these elements, Jesus? I am walking 00:24:41.380 --> 00:24:50.279 on in my life as a pilgrim. I don't know, Lord, 00:24:50.339 --> 00:24:53.140 what that may mean for everyone here. I know 00:24:53.140 --> 00:24:57.599 what it means for me. But as we partake of this 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:04.660 bread this morning, convict our hearts. Show 00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:07.960 us what you want us to do. Let us hear your voice. 00:25:10.840 --> 00:25:16.500 continue on in the pilgrimage toward that city 00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:20.579 that you've prepared for us. Amen.