It is always a delight to have the opportunity to come back and share with the brothers and sisters. It is always in my heart, as we share God’s Word, to tremble at His Word.
From the hymns, the word in my heart concerns sojourners. Let us open the Bible to Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11:8-10:
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
For he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Let us also turn to John 14.
John 14:1-2:
Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father’s house are many abiding places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
And also John 17:16:
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Lord, we do want to be sensitive to You. It is by Your grace and Your mercy, Lord, that we can come to the throne.
Lord, in this time together, we do want to hear from You. So we ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to come upon us, Lord, for the speaking and for the hearing.
O Lord, it is our desire to see You, to behold You Yourself. O Lord, grant us our prayer. Lord, we thank You, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
You know, in the Old Testament, our brothers often say, we are given a picture; and the New Testament gives us the explanation. So, as we read the words in Hebrews 11 regarding Abraham, we see an Old Testament saint.
What I want to emphasize is the end of verse 10: “For he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
We know that throughout Abraham’s life, he almost did not own anything. God gave him the promise of land, but even his burial place he had to pay for. That was all he possessed.
The reason he could sojourn in the world was because, as the Bible says, he looked for the city. Somehow God revealed the city to him, and he looked forward to that city. Therefore, he was able to live the life of a sojourner.
In the New Testament, as we read John 14 and John 17, I think they give us a very good picture. In John 14, the Lord said that He was going to prepare a place for us. Then, in John 17, He encouraged us that we are not of the world.
If the Lord simply said, “I am going to take you out of the world,” that would be very pitiful. There would be no place to go; we would have no home. But the Lord first prepared a place for us and said, “That is not your home. Your home is in heaven. It is what I have prepared for you.”
Now it is a completely different situation. We have something to look forward to. We are no longer homeless. Even though we are called out of this world, our home is in heaven.
Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to France. There was a long wait at the airport and then a seven-hour flight from Washington to France. This was really a business trip. People often ask, “Why do you not stay around, do some sightseeing, and get to know the people there?”
I just tell them, “It is not home. It is not home.”
It is always good, when I travel, to be able to come home. It is always nice to come back to the brothers and sisters. There is a place where you can go home.
We praise the Lord that He has prepared a home for us, a place to which we can return.
The burden today is really from 1 Peter. What we have considered so far is more or less an introduction. Let us turn to 1 Peter.
It is a very short letter—only five chapters. You can sit down and read from the first sentence to the last sentence in ten minutes. But when I read this letter, the first place at which I stop is 1 Peter 1:1:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion.
Peter is writing to the elect—to those who have accepted the Lord, to those who believe in the Lord, to Christians, to us—who are sojourners.
At Peter’s time, I believe this circular letter was written somewhere around A.D. 66 to 68. Christians were scattered. It was about thirty years after the resurrection of the Lord.
But here Peter is not merely speaking about Christians who were physically scattered. He is speaking about Christians who live as sojourners in a spiritual sense. There is a difference. We can be foreigners or sojourners physically, but we may not live in that way spiritually.
Look at 1 Peter 2:11:
Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.
If they were merely foreigners or sojourners in a physical sense, they would not necessarily need to abstain from lusts. This gives us a hint that Peter is writing to believers who live the life of sojourners—those who are looking for the city and who can be foreigners in the land.
The Old Testament gives us a picture of what it means to be a sojourner. It speaks of Abraham:
By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents.
God gave Abraham the land, but he lived there as a foreigner. He lived in tents. Abraham almost did not own anything in the world.
A tent is not considered something permanent. It is temporary. You can set it up and move somewhere else. That was Abraham’s life: he lived in tents, he did not own many things, and he was always ready to move on to the city prepared by God.
When I read through the whole letter of 1 Peter, one thing comes up many times: suffering. In the English translations, I think the word occurs at least eighteen times, perhaps more.
Why is suffering somehow connected with being a foreigner, with being a sojourner in this world?
We have to go back to the Lord’s words. In the Gospel of John, when the Lord came, John said:
He came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not.
The Lord came, and He was rejected. He came to His own people, and they rejected Him.
Further on, in John 15:18-19, He said:
If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
That is the reason there is so much persecution.
Perhaps in America there is less outward persecution. But we hear stories that, in some countries, if someone accepts the Lord, that person must leave home or may even lose his life. That is the kind of persecution and hatred that comes from the world.
So there is no doubt that sufferings become a large part of the life of a sojourner in this world, because the world hates those who believe in the Lord.
There does not seem to be any escape from suffering. It is not that, once you become a Christian, you simply suffer. Of course, the Lord can intervene. The Lord has mercy on us. He can protect us from season to season.
But in general, there is suffering—whether suffering from the outside or suffering from the inside.
As I meditated on this, I felt that the converse must also be true. In John 15, the Lord said that the world loves its own. I am not saying that if you do not suffer, then you must be close to the world. I am not saying that.
But if the Lord does not allow us to suffer, there is a warning there. We need to come to the Lord and ask why. Perhaps we are living a compromised life.
In 1 Peter, we are also told that because God is holy, we ought to be holy. Holiness means separation—a life separated unto the Lord Himself. The opposite of holiness is mixture or compromise.
At least when I read this, it is a warning to me.
I think we should answer the question of suffering. Bible teachers often say that suffering is encapsulated in the cross of our Lord Himself. And it is a wonderful thing when we consider that.
1 Corinthians 1:18 says:
For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.
Think about it. The Lord Himself was nailed to the cross. I do not know what Satan thought at that time. Maybe Satan said, “Now I have this Man. I have Him on the cross. He is finished.”
But Satan did not understand that God could raise Him from the dead.
Suffering is not the end. As we go through 1 Peter, we find that suffering brings forth fruit. Suffering is a process through which the fruit of the Spirit is brought forth.
If suffering were the end, life would be very sorrowful. We would suffer, and that would be all. But I would like to quickly go through some of these references in 1 Peter and see what the Bible says. It is better to read God’s Word than for me merely to say it.
1 Peter 1:11:
Searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them.
There is suffering; there is no question about it. But what comes after suffering? Glory. Suffering brings forth glory.
1 Peter 2:19-21:
For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps.
This finds favor with God. Suffering can be a pathway of grace and favor.
1 Peter 2:23:
Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.
Here is One who suffered and committed Himself to God. Suffering calls forth faith—faith in God Himself.
1 Peter 3:14:
But even if ye should suffer for righteousness’ sake, blessed are ye: and fear not their fear, neither be troubled.
Suffering brings forth blessedness—indeed, happiness.
1 Peter 3:17-18:
For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing.
Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
Again, suffering brings forth death in the flesh and life in the Spirit. It is something positive.
1 Peter 3:20 speaks of those who were disobedient:
When the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
The long-suffering of God brought forth the salvation of men.
1 Peter 4:1:
Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.
Suffering is connected with ceasing from sin.
1 Peter 4:13:
But insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of His glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.
Suffering brings forth joy. It may seem impossible, but the Bible says so.
1 Peter 4:15-16:
For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters:
But if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.
Suffering as a Christian brings glory to God and to His name.
1 Peter 4:19:
Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.
Again, as we suffer, we commit ourselves in faith to the faithful Creator.
1 Peter 5:1:
The elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Again, suffering comes before glory.
1 Peter 5:9-10:
Whom withstand steadfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world.
And the God of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.
Through suffering, we are strengthened, perfected, and established.
Sometimes I regard suffering as something horrible. I do. In a natural sense, I try to avoid suffering. It is not pleasant.
But God is able to use suffering to turn things around, to make something positive, and to bring forth the fruit He desires.
Peter wrote this letter, and it is natural for us to try to save ourselves. We can see this in Peter’s own life. Peter denied the Lord three times. Why did he do that? He tried to save himself. He was avoiding suffering.
We also have examples of saints who faced suffering head-on. In Philippians 3:8, Paul said:
I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ.
He suffered the loss of things for one purpose: that he might gain Christ Himself.
Did Abraham suffer? Hebrews 11 is related to the account in Genesis 13. There was strife between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. Abraham said, “You go and choose. Whatever you choose, I will go the other way.”
Lot chose the best that he could see. He chose land that was like the garden of the Lord. Abraham did not choose. He could have gained the advantage. He was Lot’s uncle and could have chosen first, but he did not. He suffered.
What I am trying to say is that suffering is not bad. It is not always negative. It brings forth something that we otherwise do not have. It brings forth fruit.
Therefore, I believe the burden here is that we should face suffering with the right perspective, knowing that God is going to bring us through it.
Besides suffering, what else do we find in 1 Peter? The books of the Bible are not put together randomly, nor are they arranged merely according to the time in which they were written. There is spiritual progress.
If we want to study love among the brethren, we go to the letters of John, just before Revelation, the last book of the Bible. I believe there is something very important here for us, because the Lord is coming soon.
Suffering is often imposed by the world because we are not of the world. We have been taken out of the world, and this brings forth the world’s hatred.
But in 1 Peter, there are also characteristics related to the city. On one side, we are taken out of the world; on the other side, we are being fitted and molded so that, when the day comes, we will be fitted to live in the city.
As I read 1 Peter, another matter appears again and again: obedience—obeying, submitting, being subject.
There is a slight difference between obedience and submission. Submission is really a military term. A soldier is subject to command. When a command is given, the soldier takes the command without question.
Obedience means listening, hearkening, taking the word to heart, and then carrying it out.
Formerly, we were sons of disobedience. If we go back to Genesis 2, after God created Adam and Eve, God specifically told them that they could eat of every tree except one. They were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Then, in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve ate from the tree. From our side, we say that was disobedience. That disobedience brought sin into the world, and God had to deal with it.
Isaiah 14 speaks of Lucifer:
Thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
“I will make myself like the Most High.” That was Lucifer’s attitude. He was unwilling to submit to God.
That is the Adamic race. Formerly we were children, or descendants, of Adam. What is in Satan is in us. We cannot submit to God; we simply cannot.
Peter writes to the sojourners and exhorts them to obedience and submission. As you look through the letter, he speaks about relationships: husband and wife, master and servant, governments and subjects. He says, “Submit.”
This is a hard thing to do. It is a hard thing for me to do. It is very convicting sometimes.
I find that I have a tendency not to pay attention to my wife or to my children. Sometimes they say something, and I have to ask, “Wait a minute, what did you say?” It is not only that I do not pay attention. Sometimes I listen, but I do not take what I hear to heart.
The Bible says that we are to obey one another. Do we have that attitude and heart to listen carefully to one another, to hearken to one another, and to take each other’s words to heart? That is part of being fitted for life in the city.
I am still working, so I experience this at work too. When you have been in business for a while, you may seem to know everything. Then you may have a boss younger than you, and you think, “Do you really know that?”
Sometimes I challenge the decisions and think, “Oh, you cannot do it that way. That is foolishness.” But the Bible says, “Submit.” Submit even to your boss, even though he may seem unreasonable.
Why does God want us to submit to one another? Is He not working in each one of us so that we may be fitted for life in the city?
Sometimes we say that we submit to God, but we do not practice submission to one another. Then it is not real. The same is true of obedience. We can say that we obey God, but if we are not obedient to one another, it is not real.
Thank God that there is One Person who fully submitted, and that is our Lord Himself. Philippians 2:5-8 says:
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Throughout the Bible, we find the obedience of Jesus. In the Gospels, He continually said that He could do nothing apart from what the Father told Him to do.
The life of Jesus enables us to obey. The life of Jesus enables us to submit. That life is enough. That is what is beautiful about it: we become and live by His life.
As we come to obey one another and submit to one another, we will be fitted on that day to live in the city.
Another thing I find in 1 Peter is so amazing: the word love. Peter encourages us to love the brethren, to love God, and to love the brethren.
We all know that love has two words in Greek: agape, divine love, and phileo, human affection.
In John 21, the Lord asked Peter to love Him with divine love—with unconditional and sacrificial love. Peter answered, in effect, “I have affection for You, but I do not have that perfect, unconditional love to give You.”
But by the time Peter wrote 1 Peter, more than thirty years had passed. He was able to encourage the brethren to love with God’s unconditional love and to love the brethren unconditionally.
Peter is very close to the end of the Bible, and the next letters are John’s letters. Love among the brethren is so critical among God’s people. Unconditional, sacrificial love for the brethren is difficult, but it is tremendously important.
1 John 3:16-17 says:
Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoso hath the world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him?
There is really no escape. If we take God’s Word as God’s Word, there is no escape. God loves us, and we are commanded to love one another. We are commanded to lay down our lives for one another.
Love is very important—essential—in the life of a sojourner who is looking forward to the city and being fitted for the city.
You may ask, “Suffering is difficult already. Obedience—obeying one another and submitting to one another—is difficult. Loving one another unconditionally is difficult. How can we do this?”
If we are honest with ourselves, we must say that it is difficult.
But there is one additional thing in 1 Peter that encourages us. It is something that enables us to finish the course. The word is grace.
Grace appears eight times in 1 Peter. When you think about Peter’s life, it is wonderful that, at the end, he can speak of grace. It was by the manifold grace of God that he was able to finish the course.
Peter himself was a sojourner, and he wrote to sojourners. Grace will carry us. Grace will help us. Grace will enable us to finish the course.
We see this in Abraham’s story as well. In Genesis 13, God gave Abraham the promise of the land. But if we go back to Genesis 12, we know what happened before that.
There was a famine in the land, and Abraham went down to Egypt without consulting God. Then, while he was in Egypt, he told what I would call a white lie. He told his wife, “Tell people that you are my sister, so that we may survive.”
Was Abraham worthy for God to give him the promise of the land? Probably not. But God did it. There is grace. There is the grace of God.
I always love the hymn “Amazing Grace.” I do not know why; it is often in my heart. John Newton wrote:
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
Life is difficult as a Christian, but grace has brought us this far, and grace will lead us home.
1 Corinthians 15:10 says:
But by the grace of God I am what I am.
There is nothing for us to boast of. It is because of God and because of God’s grace. God started the work, and He will finish the work.
Let me summarize, because we are running late.
All of us who believe in the Lord are sojourners. There are no exceptions. The Lord does not leave us homeless; we are going home because He has prepared a heavenly city for us.
While we are living here, while we are in the world, we are strangers. There are sufferings. We cannot escape them. But suffering brings forth spiritual fruit.
We are here to learn obedience. We are here to learn submission. We are here to learn to love the brethren and to find the grace that enables us to finish the course and be fitted to live in the heavenly city.
I have one final exhortation. We speak about sojourners, the city, and the heavenly city. What is it like? What is life like in a city such as that?
The Lord has revealed something of it to us. We are not in darkness, without knowing what it is. In a spiritual sense, the heavenly city is Christ.
Let us turn to Revelation 22:3-5.
And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and His servants shall serve Him;
And they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads.
And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
There shall no longer be any curse. The Bible tells us that the earth is cursed and that the world is judged. But the day will come when there will be no more curse.
The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. Right now, we often ask God and ask our Lord to set His throne in our hearts. That is true in measure. But in eternity there will be fullness.
His servants shall serve Him. This brings to mind the account of the queen of Sheba, when she came and saw Solomon and saw how his servants served him. On that day, the servants of God shall serve Him. It will be far more splendid than anything the queen of Sheba saw with Solomon’s servants.
They shall see His face. That is continuous. Today we see the Lord in spirit. But then we shall see His face.
His name shall be on their foreheads. We are marked out as belonging to Him.
There shall no longer be any night. Today there is still darkness. The world is under the ruler of darkness. But on that day, it will all be wiped out. There will be no more night.
They shall have no need of the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall give them light. The Lord is such light that we do not need anything else. And they shall reign for ever and ever.
That is what a sojourner is looking for. That is the home. That is the city whose builder and maker is God.
May the Lord help us to have that vision. If we do not have it, we can lose our way. Abraham saw the city, and he was able to live the life of a sojourner in this world.
May the Lord help us to see the end, so that we may sojourn in a heavenly way toward that heavenly city. May the Lord have mercy.
Lord, we thank You for this time together. I must confess, Lord, that perhaps I did not speak Your Word clearly. But I ask the Holy Spirit to use these words to touch each one’s heart.
May Your words be alive in each heart. Lord, do that work—do that cutting work, do that fitting work.
O Lord, enable us to have the end in view. Lord, may we have the city in view, that we may be able to lay down all things, walk the heavenly way, and live as sojourners in this world—always looking and pressing on to a city that You have prepared for Your loved ones.
Lord, we commit the brothers and sisters unto You. We ask for Your mercy and Your grace to be upon us. Lord, give us grace that we may be able to finish the course.
We love You. Thank You. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.