Only Two Ways

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. I'm just like Peter, stepping out of the boat onto the water, and I see the waves coming. So keep on praying. Greetings to each one this evening, in the precious name of Jesus. That is the central theme, Jesus Christ. [00:00:35] Being strangers and pilgrims is not something that just happens and it's not something that's isolated. When I was thinking of that verse, it's very difficult for me to bring it to a certain point. But it seems to me like the heart of the whole thing is a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what makes us strangers and pilgrims in this world. and to me it reaches into any area that you can think of. Stranger than the pilgrim. But where do you draw the line? [00:01:07] This evening, Brother Glenn read from 2 Timothy chapter 2 or 1 Timothy chapter 2? 2 Timothy chapter 2. That was one of the verses I thought of bringing up this evening. I'd like to ask the question, at what point do we become or consider ourselves entangled? How free are we? Having been in Kenya for eight months helped me. Having visited some other countries has helped me. [00:01:38] We compare ourselves with Americans. And I think if we do, we're short-sighted. Short-sighted. Yeah, we're not looking far enough. Why conquer so slowly this nature of mine? Well, if it's happening too slowly, whose fault is it? Are we waiting on God or is He waiting on us? It's my firm belief that God is always waiting on us. [00:02:18] He always takes the initiative. I, you, and I are where we are in our Christian life because of our decisions, our extent of commitment to God. That's what determines where we're at. I thought I might forget this while I hung up here tonight, but I think it's an important point. And I trust that at least some point that I will make this evening can be a blessing to somebody or everyone's heart. That everyone can receive something that will be a blessing to your heart. [00:02:48] We have a rubber stamp about this big that we use sometimes on mail that we send out. And that's it. I thought it was so good, it impressed it on my own heart. Because it's so true. There are really only two ways to do something. Something that's right or wrong. Yeah. There are only two ways. Either we do it God's way. No, I think it's this way. God's way or any other way. Every other way. Every other way. Either God's way or it's not God's way. [00:03:27] And I think it's a very good point that I have a desire that would be fastened onto our hearts by the Holy Spirit. After all, that's where all the life comes from. We are definitely in a battle. Like the scripture that was read this evening. We're in a battle. and if you are not meeting up with an enemy then it may be because our condition is something like [00:04:01] a non-Christian who was talking to a Christian and he said he doesn't believe in a literal devil he's never seen him and the Christian said to him well of course not you're going the same direction he is so he doesn't meet up with him if we're going opposite directions we'll meet up with him There's a battle. We're in a battle. Well, that's a few points. I said that I want to do what I can. [00:04:34] And it absolutely was a trial of my faith all week. I didn't know what I was going to be like by the day. And it seemed like the progress of the, especially the pain level was kind of slow and kind of up and down like two steps forward and then one step back and then two steps forward again. and I finally just felt like this is what God wants me to do [00:05:08] is commit myself and commit this and come up here and do what God enables me to do and so that's how I'm here. And because of that, as I was thinking of it, I thought of this little gospel track. You may not think that this necessarily relates to being strangers and pilgrims But if it blesses your heart and moves you to draw closer to Jesus Christ, then it will accomplish that purpose. So, I'm going to read it. [00:05:39] I'll probably read a number of things. I kind of like to read things. If I could remember it all, I would prefer to give it my memory. But if I do, I'm going to miss some points. And I don't want to miss points in this story. This is about a little girl who did what she could. It's related by a missionary in Japan, and this little girl was a Japanese girl. Children and young people are sometimes tempted to feel there is little they can do for Christ and the salvation of souls. [00:06:11] Here is an account of what one child did after someone else had passed a little tract to her. Read how God used them all. Now this is the account given by the missionary. I would like to share with you the story of a little girl in Japan who had been for two years in a tubercular sanitarium. Her body had wasted away so much that she could hardly move in bed. One day when a group of gospel workers were visiting the hospitals, they left a Christian tract with her. [00:06:47] She was not able to hold it, but had the nurse prop it on a stand above her head and turn the pages one by one so she could read them. As she read them and re-read them, that simple gospel message gripped her heart. She prayed, asking the nurse to help her by standing by to hear her voice in prayer. God reached through, and she prayed for forgiveness of sin. She had a wonderful experience of salvation. [00:07:17] And as many do, and I hope this is our experience, one day I first saved, this girl wanted to share the joy the Lord had given to her. One day she read in the newspaper of a wicked man who had been condemned to death for murder. She decided she must write him and tell him about Jesus. It took her three days, but she finally was able to use her little strength and movement to get a letter finished. And with it, she sent the tract, which had meant so much to her. [00:07:49] When he received it, he was indignant. But later as he re-read the letter he realized how much this little one-page letter had really meant to the little girl who had mailed it to him His heart was touched in thinking that someone would care enough for him to write him a letter at such cost He began to read the tract Over and over he read until the truth grasped his heart and he believed it God came into that Tokyo prison and saved that brutal murderer through the witness of an almost helpless little girl [00:08:20] and the tubercular sanatorium across the city. Later, the murderer was taken to another prison more than a thousand miles away where he was placed in death row as his final place before execution. One day he was singing a gospel hymn which he had learned from Christian workers who held services in the prison. And as his lonely cell echoed with the praises of God, he heard a voice call through the peephole to the next cell. It was a man named Yukida, this is my pronunciation of the word, Yukida, who had also found Christ as his savior. [00:08:58] What a joy when the two were able to share their faith together. Mr. Iwata, for that was the prisoner's name, and Mr. Yukida began to pray and work for the salvation of the other men in death row. The warden gave them permission to share their testimony with other prisoners when they were all together at mealtime. And in the two years that Mr. Iwata was in death row, 41 condemned prisoners were won to Christ. The warden permitted the baptism of the Christians in the prison bathtub. [00:09:32] And he stated that the whole atmosphere of death row had changed from frenzy and fright to Christian joy and peace. As the guards made their rounds along the cells, they could hear gospel hymns coming from the cells. The time finally came for Mr. Iwata to die for his sin. He was permitted his last request, that he might be taken to the tubercular sanitarium to see the little girl who had written him that one-page letter and sent him the gospel tract. [00:10:10] Standing beside her bed, the converted murderer told her the story of what the letter and tract had done for him and his friends through the saving power of Jesus Christ. Tears poured from the girl's eyes as she heard the story of what God had done. Before leaving her, Mr. Iwata was moved to lay his hand upon her head and pray a prayer of faith for healing. [00:10:42] He then returned to prison and was soon executed for his crime. But he went to God whom he knew and trusted and loved. The power of the living word of God which had transformed him and the 41 men of death row now came into the dying body of the little girl in the sanitarium. Within two weeks she was completely healed of her illness by the power of God and she walked from that sanitarium and returned to a normal life. What a wonderful work of God this was. It all started because one helpless little girl [00:11:15] it all started because one helpless little girl who could not do so much as who could not do much did the little that she could and because a condemned murderer imprisoned in death row did not give up, but did what he could to tell others of his Lord. Truly, the Word became flesh and lived again in the lives of those people. I thought it's so rich that it will bless everyone, [00:11:48] whether it's directly related to strangers and pilgrims or not. But I think it takes a separated life to be committed to this extent And so yes, strangers and pilgrims This world really does not have much to offer Didn't even read that verse yet, did we? I think we should turn there 1 Peter 2, verse 11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims [00:12:23] abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. I've thought this over and over and over again. Strangers and pilgrims. The description I found that I felt was best was a stranger in a strange land. Is that me? Is that you? Do you feel like a stranger in a strange land? [00:12:55] Or are we at home here? Do you feel pretty well at home? I wonder if the time won't come when we will no longer feel so well at home. The direction that our leadership in this nation is trying at least to take the nation. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the time might come when we will feel very much like strangers and pilgrims and we don't fit in anymore and this is not our home and we don't want to stay here. We're ready and crying out to go, crying out for deliverance [00:13:28] and sharing it with everyone that we have the opportunity to share with. While this world does not have much to offer, doesn't have anything to offer that's lasting and if we're building, why do we conquer so slowly? Why? This old nature of mine? Because we hold back. There's something, yeah, maybe we're not aware of it, but we're holding back. [00:14:02] Now I'm going to continue that question. How much time do you normally spend with God each day? How meaningful is that time in your life? Can you get by without it? Or is that your very life? I think a lot of people excuse themselves and they say they didn't have time. There are too many things to do. I don't have time to spend a half hour, an hour with God every day. That might be alright for a young Christian. [00:14:34] But if the time doesn't come in our life where we spend at least that much time a day with God, I think we're going to lose out. And I think it will tell on us. And if that's not our testimony this evening, I think it is telling on us. Okay? I still love you no matter how I'm talking this evening. That's why I want to talk bluntly. That's why I want to say what's on my heart. Because we've got to have the relationship with Jesus Christ as a person that will make us strangers and pilgrims in this world. [00:15:08] You can take any other rot and you won't achieve it. Jesus makes the difference and it's spending time with him that makes the difference in us it is of the utmost importance we don't become strangers and pilgrims to this world because of this or this it's important that's not what I'm saying at all [00:15:38] But it does not make me a stranger and a pilgrim. I see plainly dressed people who fit in right smack into the world. They drink, they smoke, they curse, they listen to rock music and you name it. They are not separated from this world. They're not strangers and pilgrims. They're fitting in. Jesus Christ and their relationship with him is what will make me truly a stranger and a pilgrim. in this world. I want fit in. What the world has does not appeal to me. We need to have the same testimony that Paul had in Galatians chapter six, verse 14. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. [00:16:34] And if my relationship with Jesus Christ hasn't done that in my life, then God has not accomplished in no way in my life what he wants to accomplish. I'm not a stranger and a pilgrim. I was impressed recently by thinking of this verse in 1 John 2, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. No matter what I think, we can't love both. [00:17:06] We can't have two loves. We can't have divided hearts and be alright. We can't be on the middle road because we are in... There are only two kingdoms. I thought of some of these thoughts that we have in our lessons on separation and nonconformity at Bible school. The first lesson is built around the fact, the principle of the two kingdoms. There are only two kingdoms, and I know all of you would say amen to that. [00:17:39] Sure there are only two kingdoms, we all know that. The one kingdom is headed by Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the darkness of this world. There's another one, I can't think of them all, but you know them. He's the head of the one kingdom and Jesus Christ is Lord of the other kingdom and there is no middle ground. That's the primary point. That's the focus in that lesson at Bible school. There is no middle ground. [00:18:11] It's a battle that's raging and from what I've found it's a battle to the death, to the end. It's a life and death matter. Well, to the Christian, this world has nothing to offer. Not really. I think that many Christians are just missing out on the point of what Christianity really is. We're kind of like this little boy who was traveling on a ship across the ocean. [00:18:45] Someone paid his fare, but he was unacquainted with traveling. So he took some cheese and crackers along for his voyage and I don't know how many days it was. I know a little bit what it's like to be on the ocean because I was on the ocean on a ship for nine and a half days when I was a young boy. And in those days I was going to school because it was like going to school to go over there away from my friends and my family and everyone into a strange land among strangers. [00:19:17] I really felt like one there, a pilgrim and a stranger. Anyway, and I can picture this little boy on the ship. And whenever the dong rang, calling the people for the meals, he would go down to his little cabin, his little room where he stayed and eat his moldy, his cheese and crackers. Time came when it was moldy. And one day he got so hungry, when he saw the stewards going upstairs with their trays, He was heaping full with good, delicious, hot food. He got the courage to just ask him, excuse me, sir, is there some way that I could get some of that delicious food? [00:19:57] And the steward asked him, well, are you a stowaway? Do you have a ticket? He said, yes, I have a ticket. Showed it to him, well, then what are you doing down here eating your cheese and crackers every day? All this has been paid for. Come up and help yourself. This boy gasped when he learned the truth. Well, this gospel tract is written to make that point. That's how a lot of Christians are. They're just enough of a Christian to make life miserable. They don't experience the blessings. The world, and I can be tempted. That's why I need to be careful what I say. But as far as having a desire for the pleasures of this world, They are tasteless. They're gone. It's because I love Jesus. And when I say that, I'm not boasting at all. Except like this, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ. His work, His blood, His name. He as a person in my life. [00:21:03] And that makes me a stranger and a pilgrim. I don't care for this trash that's all around us, coming unsolicited in the mail, on the billboards, in the store, everywhere you go. All the trashy music. I used to love Elvis Presley's rock music. And I was in the youth group at that time, when he was popular, when young girls were fainting, when they were listening to his... Whatever you call it. [00:21:34] Anyhow, by the way, those young girls would now be probably grandmothers. No wonder society is the way it is. No wonder children and grandchildren of those no longer have a fear of God. That there's so much corruption. Such a departure from the truth. Well, I hate. Rock music. It just turns me away when I hear that beat today. [00:22:10] It does not appeal to me whatsoever. It's hard to understand how I could ever like it. But that just brings out the difference. Jesus makes the difference. Jesus makes the difference. This world does not have anything to offer that's worth having. It's so empty. When I was thinking about this evening, I just thought, I'd like for you to think about it a little bit. [00:22:42] What would it be like if this world were all that you had to live for? How empty, how worthless, how awful. I remember before I was a Christian there were times when I wished that I were an animal so that I wouldn't have to give account for my life someday wouldn't have to worry about it how disappointing today [00:23:14] if I wouldn't have that hope if I'd be just an animal of course I wouldn't know better then praise God I'm so glad that God didn't give up on me The world doesn't have anything to offer that's worthwhile. And yet so many of our own people, or had been of our own people, are out there following it, drinking it up. And it seems like a lot of our own, even in the churches, can't get by without taking in some of those pleasures and indulging in. [00:23:51] They're not satisfied with what they have in the church. Is it our fault as the parents and grandparents? I don't know what the fault is, but I know that anyone who is enjoying those things and is not satisfied with Jesus Christ alone is missing out. They don't have what God has provided for us. I don't care where they are a member. I don't care how many times they've gone along to communion and given a testimony of peace with God and their fellow man. [00:24:23] When we walk with Jesus Christ, I believe He will take those things, those desires out of our hearts because we have something better. I believe it's like Charles Finney said. I'm going to read just a little bit. It is our privilege and our duty to live above a desire for such things. All that class of desire should be so subdued by living so much in the light of God and having so deep a communion with Him [00:24:55] as to have no relish for such amusements whatsoever. It certainly is the privilege of every child of God to walk so closely with Him and maintain so divine a communion with Him as not to feel the necessity of worldly excitements, sports, pastimes, and entertainments to make his enjoyment satisfactory. Amen. I think maybe it's like Andrew Murray said, and this was a long time ago already. [00:25:30] I don't know what he'd say today, but he said that it seems like Christianity today has taught the young people or somehow the young people have come to that condition at least where they find safety in religion but enjoyment in the world. Is that us? Is that our generation? Well, I think there are a lot of them just like that. Maybe they think that they can have one foot in the world and one in God's kingdom. [00:26:03] Maybe they think so, but it's an impossibility. We cannot love both. We will either love one and hate the other, or we will despise the one and cleave to the other. It may not be so burning, but there will be one or the other. We cannot love or serve God and mammon. The Bible just simply says, we cannot. And we dare not say anything less or different. [00:26:34] We cannot. It's impossible. The love of God and the love for the world cannot exist in the same heart at the same time. It's impossible. In our study on prayer, I came across this example. And it's really to make a point on how God answers prayer, but it also makes the point that I'm trying to get across right now of the emptiness of anything that this world has to offer. Perhaps the most striking of all prayers from the lips of unbelievers This is that recorded of Carolyn Fry, the author of Christ Our Example. [00:27:08] Although possessed with beauty, wealth, position, and friends, she found that none of them satisfied her. And at length, in her utter misery, she sought God. Yet her first utterance of Him was an expression of open rebellion to and hatred of Him. Listen to it. It is not the prayer of a child. Well, now this part can be an encouragement to you of how God hears those who honestly come to Him. Just think of this prayer. [00:27:40] But, my point was that she found no satisfaction that lasted from the world when she had everything she wanted. This is how she prayed. Oh God, if Thou art a God, I do not love Thee. I do not want Thee. I do not believe there is any happiness in Thee. But I am miserable as I am. Give me what I do not seek. Give me what I do not want. If thou canst, make me happy. I am miserable as I am. I am tired of this world. If there is anything better, give it me. [00:28:17] What a prayer! Yet God heard and answered. He forgave the wanderer and made her radiantly happy and gloriously fruitful in his service. that blesses me makes two good points one is the worthlessness, the dissatisfaction of everything it's like Solomon said it's all vanity, he had everything he wanted it was not satisfying, vain empty and not fulfilling [00:28:48] and so why turn out there? surely you're not going to anyhow, why am I preaching all this? How many people can you think of who were where we are and no longer are? But thinking of feeling at home here in this world, how do you think these people felt? We can only try and imagine. This is taken from a devotional book. Can't even think of the name of it right now, but anyhow, Extreme Devotion. [00:29:23] The Villages of Gaksan The young brown-eyed girl looked up at her mother. What would her mom decide? Earlier that morning, the young girl's mother, their pastor, and 26 others in her North Korean village of Gaksan were bound and taken before a screaming crowd of communists. One of the guards ordered Pastor Kim and the other Christians, Deny Christ or you will die. The words chilled her. [00:29:54] How could they ask her to deny Jesus? She knew in her heart he was real. They all quietly refused. And then the communist guard shouted directly at the adult Christians, Deny Christ or we will hang your children. The young girl looked up at her mother. She gripped her hand, knowing how much her mom loved her. Her mother then leaned down with confidence and peace. She whispered, Today, my love, I will see you in heaven. [00:30:28] All of the children were hanged. The remaining believers were then brought out onto the pavement and forced to lie down in front of a large steamroller. The communists gave them one last chance. Deny this, Jesus, or you will be crushed. The Christians had already given up their children. There was no turning back. As the drivers started the heavy piece of equipment, the singing from the villagers started softly. [00:31:02] More love, O Christ, to thee. More love to thee. And then just some footnotes here. More. More It's what God gave when he sent his son More It's what Jesus gave when he was crucified More It's what believers give simply out of love for Christ They want to give more to the one who gave so much to them In a worldly age that values giving only when one must [00:31:33] What one must to get by Believers set a new standard More love to thee Is more than just words in a traditional hymnal It is a lifestyle without limit. Each day is a path of discovering how to give more love to Jesus Christ. For some believers, this path has led to their death. For others, more love to thee has meant financial sacrifice. What does more love to thee mean to your everyday life and mine? [00:32:09] You think they had any problem feeling at home? Tempted to feel at home? I don't think so. This world is not our home. And that song, I think, should be precious to us. This world is not my home. I'm just a passing thing. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. Is that true of us? I'd like to read a little story here that just blessed me. The thankful Hungarian lad. Tortured for his Bible [00:32:43] Mom, that new boy Carl, maybe the children especially will like this one, will you please listen children, don't miss this, okay? Mom, that new boy Carl who has just escaped from Hungary says he is very rich Jeffrey told his mother, he has burns all over his body and he hasn't got any toys and they live in an old shack How can he say that he is so very rich? Why don't you invite him over to play, Jeffrey's mother replied. [00:33:14] Maybe he is so poor that he has to make-believe that he is rich. Then she said, Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. Let us share with them some of our good food. I shall put some food in a basket and you can take it to them. Carl and his mother were glad to get the basket of food. And when Jeffrey asked Carl to come home to play with him, his eyes lit up with excitement. You got big home, Carl answered. and a nice mother too. I go play with you. Maybe you rich like me. [00:33:46] Oh, we're not rich, Jeffrey said with a smile, but we got it pretty good anyhow. Anyway, I got lots of toys to show you. You can ride on my bike too. Carl seemed out of place with his clean but patched up clothes as he followed Jeffrey upstairs to Jeffrey's bedroom. Carl did not get excited about Jeffrey's skates or his gun. or the other things that Jeffrey showed him. The Hungarian boy seemed most interested in the books [00:34:18] for he picked them up one by one and examined them and then he laid them down with a disappointed look on his face. And then he said, Would you be willing to be beaten by clubs or burnt with a red hot poker? Be locked up in a jail for days without food for these things you have shown me? Carl asked his friend. Jeffrey was so surprised at such a strange question that he did not know what to say for a minute And then he began to wonder if the Hungarian boy's mind had been damaged by the things he had suffered in his country [00:34:52] Everybody knew that Karl and his mother had suffered terrible things under the communists before they got away Of course not, Jeffrey told his friend, but why do you ask? You have got a lot of nice things, Karl muttered slowly But I don't see that you have a Bible I thought all Americans had a Bible Jeffrey laughed a little and felt suddenly ashamed Oh, I've got a Bible, he confessed, but I forget it half the time at church [00:35:26] Don't you read the Bible every day, Carl asked him in surprise Of course not, Jeffrey felt Jeffrey felt a little displeased with his friend for such a question The Bible is for Sundays only, you see I guess you are a poor boy, Carl exclaimed sadly. When Jeffrey stared at him in surprise, he explained, See all these burnt places on my arms and chest and face? The communists gave them to me because I had a Bible, and because I would not give it up to them. [00:35:56] I hid it away and read it in secret. The reading of the Bible made me very happy, for it told me of Jesus. One day he came into my heart and made me a rich boy. They beat me and locked me up without food, but they could not take Jesus away from me, for he is in my heart. You have a lot of things, but you can lose them or tire of them. I have a person. [00:36:29] I have a person. and nobody can take him from me. Every day I learn more about him as I read my Bible. It is my treasure. But I guess you don't know him or you'd feel about him like I do. What do you think? He thought a while and then he smiled as he said, Now I know why you say that you are a rich boy. I got to thinking the wrong things as being most important. [00:37:04] I'm going to read my Bible every day too and let Jesus come into my heart. What do you say we start reading the Bible together on Thanksgiving Day? Carl smiled and said, okay. But repeat this question or this statement. I got to thinking the wrong things as being most important. I got to thinking the wrong things as being most important. [00:37:39] I wonder, I really wonder, where many of our people are. But I would like for us to sing a song from Zion's praises. It's number 805 if I remember right. I heard it recently in a setting that just blessed my soul so deeply. 805. I love you, Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, take it in the name of my soul. [00:38:12] O kindle those burnings divine. and let your great spirit grow freely within to witness that Jesus is mine. I love you Lord Jesus, I love you today, I love you in spirit and mind. [00:38:46] My body is yours for anything, Lord I'm satisfied now in your love I'm satisfied now in your love O fill me and use me and bless me I pray [00:39:20] And grace all my life with your love That I breathe humbly and boldly the truth that blazes your glory above. I love you, Lord Jesus. I love you today. I love you in spirit and mind. [00:39:57] My body is yours for anything, Lord I'm satisfied now in your love I'm satisfied now in your love Amen Thank you.