-Transcript-
00:23 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:27 Welcome to the Cafe. Pastor Clark Covington here with another episode of KJV Cafe. And it’s just so good to be here.
00:35 Hopefully you’re having a great day, a great week, amen. You know what? Beautiful day outside and lots of people driving around, I’ve noticed, lots of activity as spring kind of starts to emerge.
00:47 And you know, as we travel, oftentimes we can see a picture of the Christian life.
00:53 You know, we can see a picture of the Christian life in traveling. And our text verse, I’m going to start with that and then back up a little bit and look at what it’s like to travel.
01:02 This is the second part of a, let’s say, four-part series, I think it’ll be, I think, on traveling on the King’s Highway, keeping the way.
01:13 Traveling on the King’s Highway, keeping the way. It’s one thing to travel on the King’s Highway, it’s another thing to keep that narrow path. Proverbs 16:17, the highway of the upright is to depart from evil.
01:29 He that keepeth his way, preserveth his soul. The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way, preserveth his soul.
01:39 Now that is plain and simple to understand, isn’t it? That as we live this life, we are to depart from evil. And that as we depart from evil, we’re going to keep the way that God would have us to go and we’ll preserve our soul.
01:57 You see this throughout the Bible, there’s rich text about overcoming this life, not giving in to temptation, waiting on the Lord, the idea of having that faith, enough faith that you really believe He is coming and you do serve Him and live for Him and you don’t fall into sin and try to play a game like, hey, I’m a Christian when you look at me, but deep down, I’m anything but, I’m living in this world.
02:23 Now getting back to the idea of traveling, as we travel, we’re constantly on the move. When you travel, you’re not still. And the idea in the Bible would be like a sojourner, a person that resides temporarily.
02:46 And we’re called to have that mindset of traveling through this world. And the idea is not making the world our home, because our home is in heaven with the Lord.
02:53 And we’re headed toward a predetermined destination, which is heaven, and we are simply traveling through this world.
02:59 Jesus Christ embodied this attitude so perfectly. In the New Testament, you read about Jesus and they would ask Him questions and oftentimes He would say, I’m not from this world, and then He’d say, okay, well, I don’t want to offend.
03:11 So yeah, let’s go ahead and pay taxes or do what we’re supposed to do.
03:16 But I’m not from this world. This world’s not my home. And if you look at Jesus’ earthly life, that was made clear in His whole life.
03:20 He didn’t have a residence, so to speak. He said, foxes have holes and birds have nests and I have nowhere to lay my head, to paraphrase. He didn’t have a lot of money.
03:34 I think of the disciples, you know, when they healed the lame man, they said, silver and gold we have not, because he was begging, but they said in the name of Jesus, get up and walk.
03:44 And he got up and walked. And I think of that, that, you know, the disciples didn’t have worldly wealth, amen.
03:51 Jesus Himself didn’t have worldly wealth. He wasn’t notable. He didn’t come from the stock of the land, the pedigree, so to speak, that would have led Him to worldly wealth.
04:02 And now He did come from the line of David, King David. But it was something you really had to dig down and research because He’s from Nazareth.
04:11 And I think it was Nathanael that said, what good can come from Nazareth? So we see here that Jesus Himself embodied His attitude of passing through, being obedient to the Father, doing the Lord’s will, heading toward a predetermined destination.
04:27 And as Jesus lived His life here on earth, He faced many obstacles and detours. And we, as we travel through this earth as Christian pilgrims on our way home to heaven, we’ll face many obstacles and detours, but we should embrace it. You know, we should rejoice.
04:39 And I really mean that. What does that mean to rejoice? It means to have joy, you know, to rejoice in all of these afflictions and all of these snares, all of these problems.
04:46 Why? Because number one, they’re only for a season.
04:52 They’re temporary. They’re not forever. And number two, because it is just part of the Christian walk.
05:00 You know, I think it was the disciples were preaching Jesus and they were reprimanded by the high priest and so forth. And they were in deep trouble and they rejoiced. They were counted worthy to suffer.
05:16 They rejoiced. And so as we live this life, I have to remind myself that, you know, when I gave my life to Christ, it seemed as if there were a lot of good things that happened at that point.
05:25 I explained it like there was a lot of problems I couldn’t solve that all of a sudden started solving themselves, which is not true.
05:32 God was solving those problems as I gave my life to Christ. But new things emerged. You know, I felt much weaker, you know, physically and sometimes even mentally giving my life to the Lord.
05:41 I didn’t feel as in touch with this world and on and on. And you realize, hey, you know what, that’s part of the Christian walk. And these are signs that we’re living for the Lord, that we are.
05:52 And you’re saying, Brother Clark, it’s a sign that you’re weak and you’re living for the Lord. Yeah. You know, on the Beatitudes in Matthew, Jesus Christ himself said, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek.
06:07 You know, in the Bible it says, I think it was Paul that wrote, you know, when I am weak, I am made strong, amen. That Paul himself had a thorn in the flesh that was very bad.
06:17 And he, he asked the Lord three times to heal him and the Lord didn’t because in his weakness, he was made strong through God.
06:23 So if you face weakness, if you face hurt, if you face hardship in your Christian journey, then view that as a sign. View that as God’s stamp of approval on your life, amen, on your life.
06:32 And conversely, if you’re comfortable and everything is good and you get along with the world and you can’t figure these Christians out, then you really need to go to the Lord in prayer and say, what’s going on?
06:39 Now, I would never ask God for affliction, would never ask God for affliction, but affliction is part of the life of a Christian.
06:51 No, not everyone’s going to be like Paul being whipped and shipwrecked and all these things and plotted against and stoned. No, not everyone’s going to go through that, but we all should face afflictions. We all should face turmoil and strife.
07:04 And that is part of the Christian walk. That is part of our journey. And another part, and the part we’re going to focus on here for the rest of the message today is that a traveler will face many temptations.
07:15 So going back to this idea of traveling, you know, when you’re somewhere new, you’re out of your element, you kind of face different and diverse temptations.
07:29 You know, when you’re out of, you know, when you’re traveling, you know, maybe you leave some of your morals behind. You leave some of your tendencies behind and, you know, you’re in a new place.
07:38 Maybe you feel anonymous, like people don’t know you there, and you may just act different. James 1: 2-4, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have herperfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
07:56 And so see here, the trying of our faith works patience and that, you know what, we should rejoice when we fall into these diverse temptations.
08:04 And I’m telling you, as we travel through this Christian life, we will face temptation after temptation after temptation. You know, it’s hard, but this is the life that we live.
08:15 You know, when you travel, you may be tempted to break local laws, and you may say that’s crazy.
08:23 But think about it. When you’re traveling, you may be more likely to speed. I was staying at the beach for a season, and I noticed that most people there were not from there.
08:32 They were also just staying there for a season. The word would be like transient. People were just passing through.
08:38 And I got my license plate stolen, which has never happened since then and never happened before then, and Lord willing, it won’t happen again. And I said to myself, what kind of crime is this?
08:47 And you know, I called the South Carolina DMV and asked them about it, and they said, yeah, it’s kind of common, and it happens. And in my mind, I don’t know if this is something that was reported to me, but in my mind, I kind of thought it was more popular to happen there because I had never seen it before.
09:02 I think if I remember correctly, I spoke to someone else that happened to as well. And guess what? People are traveling through. I’m thinking they took that license plate and got on the highway and went on their way to wherever they were going.
09:13 So when we are traveling, when we are living in this world, we are not in our heavenly home. We have to be careful not to fall away from God and his commands, to fall into that temptation and that trap that, you know what, we’re just going to be like the world for a season. You know, God’s commands are still true.
09:34 This morning we spent in our homeschool time with the kids. I spent talking to them about the Ten Commandments, and we watched a video illustration, animation on it and so forth,
09:45 because it’s still important that they understand, you know, God himself gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Now, yes, we’re no longer under the law, but those those commandments are still important.
09:56 The fruit of our Christian life is to stay away from sin. In the very book of Romans, Paul says, don’t go near sin because you know what sin is. It leads to death.
10:04 And so when we travel through this Christian life, we don’t want to fall into the temptation of breaking the laws.
10:11 Again, we’re not under the law, but we still don’t want to live like the world as we travel through this world. You know, and when you travel, sometimes it’s hard to keep up good habits.
10:19 Maybe at home you exercise, you diet, you got everything under control, you’re very disciplined, and then you travel and it’s like, oh, you know, I don’t have my normal routine. I’m not near my gym. You know, I don’t have my food or whatever it is.
10:31 And you’re more tendency to kind of break these good habits. And as a Christian, as we travel through this life and we face temptations, the devil will tempt you with breaking those good Christian habits like studying the Bible, praying, spending time with the brethren, serving the Lord, going to church.
10:49 You don’t think the devil’s going to hang down that carrot over and over again saying, oh, you don’t need to go to church.
10:55 Go out on the lake, go fishing. Oh, you don’t need to study your Bible. Go hang out with your buddies at the sports bar, you know, on and on and on.
11:01 Go shopping, you know, whatever it is. We need to make sure as we travel through this Christian life that we are on fire for God and that we are not breaking our habits as we go through this world where everyone else seems to be.
11:14 And also, too, when we’re traveling, sometimes we can forget about our heritage.
11:20 You know, you come to a new place and you see how everyone is acting and you dangerously kind of assimilate. And that is, you know, the old saying, when in Rome do as the Romans.
11:30 Well, hey, you know what, when in Rome or when everywhere else that you are, do as Jesus Christ would do.
11:36 And Paul would tell us to follow him because he follows Christ. So we are to follow Paul, we are to follow Christ, largely we are to follow God’s word. And that means we are to keep our heritage, our Christian heritage.
11:46 The example I thought of when I was thinking of travel would be a young man or woman that goes to college. You go to college, say you go to college in a different city, a different place far away.
11:56 You lose your heritage in a way because you’re no longer around mom or dad, you’re no longer around your preacher, you’re no longer around your friends from church or whatever it may be.
12:04 And all of a sudden you’re in a new environment. You need to double down and be sober and vigilant to be careful that you don’t fall into the temptation, to the trap, to the snare of forgetting about your heritage,
12:17 of becoming like the world, of leaving the faith for the modern way of life, giving into the call of this carnal world. Oh, how tempting it is.
12:28 Matthew 26:41, Jesus himself addresses this, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
12:39 And Jesus is saying this in Matthew to his disciples, look, his very disciples, the ones he chose, he’s telling them, your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak.
12:48 And if their flesh was weak, if Jesus is bringing this up, then how much more so do we need to be on guard? Amen. You know, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And we have to be careful not to put ourselves in a situation that’s just difficult.
13:03 You know, if you’ve forsaken alcohol, please don’t go to the bar because, you know, I’ve been there, amen. I used to drink and I got saved and I got right with God. And I said, no, I’m not going to drink anymore.
13:16 And my friends would say, oh, come out with us, come out with us. And it was the hardest time because I had to say no a hundred times. Well, if I had been watching and praying, I would have said, I’m not even going out with y’all.
13:28 In fact, I’m going to go home and pray. I’m going to go study my Bible. I’m going to go get right with God.
13:32 I’m going to go spend some time with the Christian brothers and sisters, and we’re going to have a better time at the pancake house or wherever. Amen. You know that’s true, but understand who we are, understand where we’ll go if we aren’t careful and pray about it.
13:45 One of the biggest temptations of the Christian journey, traveling down the King’s Highway is falling into this trap of temptation, of worldly temptations, of trying to live like the world, of going away from God, backsliding, however you want to put it.
14:02 Be on guard, friend. Understand we are just pilgrims passing through, that our journey is almost done.
14:07 We’re in the last of the last of the last days. God’s going to call his children home soon, I believe with all my heart. And when he does, we want to present ourselves pure to God.
14:16 We want to say, Lord, we kept the faith. Lord, we waited on you. Lord, thank you so much for this reward.
14:21 We love you so much, and we’ll spend eternity with him. We don’t want to have anything to jeopardize our reward in heaven.
14:26 Thank you for listening. Tune in next time. Take care. God bless and amen.