I want us to look particularly this evening at verses 8 to 10 of this passage, which shows to us the faith of Abraham as he responded to the call of God upon his life. As we think of how he responded, we see what he was looking towards and where he was going. Abraham is one of the great characters of the scripture, isn't he? He's called the friend of God. He's called the father of the faithful. And there's quite a lot about Abraham. There's a lot comparatively in this chapter of Hebrews 11. The author there spends quite a considerable time upon Abraham. But there's a lot also in Genesis and references to Abraham throughout the scripture. The first thing to see this evening is the call of Abraham, or Abraham as he becomes known. have been living in Mesopotamia, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur was an ancient Sumerian city, which is in modern Iraq. And this on the mouth of the river Euphrates was incredibly wealthy. There was a lot of trade coming through. And at the time that Abram lived there, it was the peak of civilization for them. It was the Bronze Age. And so at this time where there is a lot of wealth in this place, it was a place that was comfortable. It was easy to live there. And therefore, it was a place that was difficult to leave. Why would you leave this to go to Backwater Canaan? But as well as being a very wealthy city, Ur was also a very wicked city. It's interesting how often these two things go hand in hand. Not that wealth itself is evil, but the love of money. is a root of all forms of evil. And Ur was incredibly wicked, particularly with idolatry. If you know about the ziggurats that they have in the Sumerian world, there was one here at Ur, and it was devoted to the moon god, which was the patron deity of the region. And because Ur was the most successful city in the region, therefore they considered at that time that their God was supreme over all the other gods. You can understand the logic of that, but nevertheless, they are still worshiping and serving the creature rather than the creator. They're looking up to the moon and believing that this moon is a God. And they're spending all their effort worshiping this moon, when obviously we can see, and the heavens declare it today, that if there's a moon, There's a God who made the moon. God calls Abraham to leave this city, this prosperous city, this wicked city, and to leave it and to go, and to go where? Well, ultimately, we know where he's to go. He's to go to the land of Canaan. He's to go to the place that is the promised land where the Israelites are to live and where It's the theater of most of the Old Testament. That's where Abraham is to go. But yet, when God tells Abraham to go and deliver of the Chaldeans, he doesn't say where to. Imagine going on a journey. I said, we're going to go. And you say, where are we going? And I said, well, we don't know yet. We don't know where we're going. We're just going. All we know is that we're to go. That's the sort of journey Abraham had. He did not know where he was going. In fact, he goes in two steps along the way. It doesn't quite make that clear in Genesis 12, although it's referenced in Nehemiah 9 and Acts 7. And we see that the first step of the journey is to go along the Euphrates, avoiding the Arabian desert, and to come to Haran. And it's in Haran, which is modern-day Turkey, on the Syrian border, that's where Abraham's father dies. And although it seems that a number of Abraham's family come with him that far to Haran, they don't go on with him to Canaan. That's why later on, remember, when Abraham wanted to get a wife for Isaac, he goes up to his descendants in Haran. That's where he's going to find, and ultimately he finds Rebekah, his own people. So it's this two-step journey. God first shows him the way to Haran, and then later God calls him even further into the land of Canaan. Makes us wonder, was Abraham from a family of faith? It's an interesting question. We know in terms of his genealogy that he is descended from the line of Shem, one of the sons of Noah. We can trace that in the Bible. And in some sense, the line of faith is preserved among the line of Shem. That's where we get the word Semite from. Shemite. It's the same root word in Hebrew. So there perhaps is the fact that there was some faith in Abraham's family. But at the same time, there's the looming question, was there also idolatry? Was there syncretism? Was there a mixture of this moon god, deity, from Ur, was that mixed in? Certainly only some of the family go on with Abraham to Canaan. Remember, he leaves with his wife, Sarah, and also his nephew, Lot. But then later on even, Lot does not continue with Abraham, and Lot becomes a bit entrenched in the mindset of the world. Nevertheless, Abraham's call is to go. To go where? He does not know, but to go. and to obey. And the point here of Hebrews chapter 11 is that when God tells Abraham to go, not simply does he obey, but he believes. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go. It's not just simply that he went when he was told to. If you shout at someone loud enough, they might do what you want them to do. But they don't necessarily want to do it, and they're not really doing it out of a clear conscience, a good conscience. But Abraham responds by faith. By faith he obeyed when he was told to go. He didn't know where he was going. Was he going to go to a fertile land? Was he going to go to a good land? Was he going to go to a land that had enemies in it? Would he have to conquer? Was he going to a land where there was strength? Or was he going to a land that would be difficult to farm? Where was he going? He doesn't know. He's not given the opportunity that the Israelites had later on when they could send in 12 spies to the land and look out and see what the land was like and report back. Now, Abraham simply has to go. And at 75 years old, I imagine that was a difficult move. It's one thing for a young person to decide I'm going to pick up sticks and move and go and have a sense of adventure. It's another thing at that age to leave your homeland forever and never go back. Was it a leap of faith? That's a phrase we talk about. I've sometimes heard Christians say, you just need to take a leap of faith. Sometimes I've heard them say it to non-Christians, just take a leap of faith. And yet friends, the Bible never encourages us to take a leap of faith. Faith is always grounded in the word of God. It's always grounded in what God says, the word of promise. And Abraham doesn't have much to go on, but he does have the word of promise. He does have what God has told him, and therefore he's not leaping into the unknown, just blissfully hoping it'll all be right. He knows it will be all right, even if it is unknown. God hasn't told him everything, but God has told him that he will be with him, and that he will show him the place that he's to go. And as we read from Genesis 12 verses 2 to 3, there's the promise of blessing. God's saying, go. Yes, go into the unknown, but I will bless you. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So it's not a leap of faith. It's faith grounded in the promises of God. And I would always encourage you not to ever take a leap of faith. Not ever just plunge yourself blissfully into the unknown and ignorantly, but always go back to the scripture. What does it say? Because it is our only infallible rule for faith and practice. Abraham is called by God to leave behind his family, his homeland, and perhaps even the idolatry. He's certainly to go away from that, and he's to go somewhere new. And God does the same to us, doesn't he? He gives a similar call to us in our lives. He hasn't said to you, you must leave your homeland and go to a different country, never to return back again. But he does say to us that he has a call on our life and he wants us to go on a pilgrimage. We don't know exactly where or how we are going, but we have the promise for his people, that in Christ we are eternally secure, that he will preserve us and he will keep us, that he will go with us and before us, that he will guide us and show us the way, and that he will reward us. He will reward those who diligently seek him. He's taking us to a land that he will show us, a land flowing with milk and honey. He's taken us to Emmanuel's land, which is heaven itself. And what we're called to do is to leave certain things behind us and to go. To go based on that word of promise. We're not told exactly how we can get over every hurdle along the way, but we are told that God will help us pass every hurdle. But we're to leave behind certain things. We're to leave behind sin, as Abraham was to leave behind that idolatry. of worshiping the moon God, if that's what he engaged in. So we must leave behind any sin to serve the one living and true God. God commands us to repent of sin. That's at the start of the Christian life, isn't it? And it continues throughout the Christian life. When Jesus came into the world, what did he preach? He preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is here, repent. Turn from your sin. Leave your wickedness. No longer walk in ways that displease God. No longer make yourself Lord of your life. No longer serve the creature rather than the Creator. You need to turn from this and obey the call of God, which is a call to faith. It says here again, verse 8, it was by faith that Abraham obeyed. He was looking forward to Christ, and we'll think of that more in a moment. But that's a call on us, a call to faith, repent and believe the gospel. Friends, that call has come to you often from this pulpit, a call to repent of your sin, to turn away from it, trusting in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your sins. But it's a call that is accompanied by a promise, a promise of blessing, Forsaking sin always has the promise of God's blessing with it. Paul tells us that godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted. That's godly repentance. That's true repentance. That's repentance that is humbled by our sin, that mourns our sin, that hates our sin because it's an affront to God. and turns from the sin depending upon Christ. That's what godly sorrow is. And that godly sorrow, which produces repentance, leads to salvation. Now there's a worldly sorrow that does not lead to salvation. A worldly sorrow that is only sorry about the consequences of sin. That life has become a bit harder. There's a misery in sin. That's worldly sorrow. But a godly sorrow hates sin because sin is against God. It's like a blessing to repentance. It leads to salvation. Whereas the scripture also says repentance and forgiveness of sins must be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. See, there's a need. for us to see the blessing accompanied alongside repentance. To leave behind your sin is a good thing, a right thing, and a blessing. It's not that you're going to go and think, boy, I miss it. I want to go back. And you think it would be better for me to go back to this sin. No, it's always better to move forwards, to go along the pilgrim route towards heaven. Leave your sin and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a call, isn't it, to discipleship? And we've been using the language of pilgrimage, and pilgrimage really is just discipleship. The whole Christian life is one of discipleship. Taking up your cross, having denied yourself, and following after Jesus to where he goes. So that's the first thing we see, the call on Abraham's life, and it's the same call to us, repent, turn from these things and head towards heaven. The second thing to see is the sojourn of Abraham in verses nine and 10. Again, this verse begins with, by faith. By faith, he went to the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, airs with him of the same promise, for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." So we have Abraham leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, coming along the Euphrates to Haran, and then being told to leave there and head further south into Canaan. And as he leaves behind all that was normal, his established life, 75 years he'd been living in Ur. He's now going to live a nomadic life, moving from place to place, always living in tents, never building for himself his own house. You think about ourselves, isn't it, in one sense, our dream to be able to own our own house, to have our own bit that belongs to us and exclusively us and is ours? And yet, Abraham, although he was incredibly wealthy, would never own his own house. He would never build his own house. Rather, he would live in tents. Every day of his life, living in tents, moving from place to place, dismantling the tent, traveling, setting up the tent again. That was the life. of Abraham. There was only one plot of land that he ever owned in his life, and that was when he bought a grave for his wife, Sarah, because he believed it was important to bury her in the promised land. Abraham not only was wealthy, but he also was a man with incredible strength. He had servants. He could fight He did fight, didn't he, when he had to go after Lot to try to bring him back. But although he had mighty strength, although he had essentially his own personal army, he didn't come into the land of Canaan seeking to invade and to conquer the land. No, he lived as a nomad, moving from place to place, living in tents, mostly a peaceful pastoral life. He passed through the land as one A commentator says he went through the land claiming everything, yet possessing nothing. And that's what he did. Because as he walked, every place where he set his foot belonged to him. It didn't belong to him legally. He had no claim to it in the courts of the land. He couldn't go to the tribal chiefs and say, hold on a minute, I own this land. They would have laughed at him and said, no, you don't own this land. It belongs to us. He owned nothing, and yet as he passed through, walking on that land, he could claim everything as his because of the word of promise. This land, God was giving to him. That was the life of Abraham, the life of a nomad. He left Haran at age 75. Isaac was born when he was 100 years of age. Jacob was born 60 years later. He was 160. And when he died, Jacob was 15 years of age. And so it's quite literally true here. You sometimes don't appreciate the chronology of it. When it says here that he lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, he did actually live in tents with Isaac and Jacob. They were, that was his life. Although he was a man, then a father, then a grandfather, he did not have a house to live in. But they moved about in tents. When Abraham died, it was 100 years after he had been first called, and he still did not own any land except for the grave that Sarah was buried in. Still living in tents. See, we go through these chapters in Genesis, and they pass so quickly. It's just one after the other after the other. But there are so many years, 100 years, in such a few short chapters. He dwelled as a foreigner in these tents in the land of promise. Why? Why did he dwell as a foreigner? Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to build, to have a house, But yeah, that's exactly the point, isn't it? He was living in the land of promise. He was looking forward to what God had said. He was waiting for God's appointed time for it. His nephew Lot, we didn't read in chapter 13, but Lot and Lot's servants and Abraham's servants are having strife because they're so numerous. God has blessed them. They can't possibly live together. They can't coexist. There are too many of them. And so Abraham lets Lot choose. Do you want to go east? I'll go west. Do you want to go north? I'll go south. That's the way it is. Whichever way you go, I won't be put out. I'll go a different way. And what does Lot do? Lot picks a good spot of land. He heads down to the city of Sodom and he begins to put down roots. He lives in a house, doesn't he? He dwells amongst these people who were notorious sinners, who committed all sorts of abominations before God. And it was very difficult for Lot to leave. It was very difficult for his daughters to leave. His sons-in-law laughed at him and would not leave. And his wife, although she intended to leave, turned back and became a pillar of salt. And as Jesus says, remember Lot's wife, heed the warning of Lot's wife who turned back, who turned back towards sin. She couldn't leave sin. She wasn't a pilgrim at all. In her heart were not the ways of pilgrimage towards Zion. She was a hypocrite. She was stuck in the world. That's where her mind was. And Lot came dangerously close to that. We are told in the New Testament that he was righteous Lot. He was a believer, but yet he came dangerously close because his heart was hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Abraham didn't live like that. Abraham lived the nomadic life, moving from place to place, looking forward in faith. to when God would give this land to him. It was promised. There was no reason to believe that there would be a blessing besides the word of God. There was no human prospect of Abraham or his descendants ever owning this land. The Canaanites were too mighty. But yet he believed God. He took him at his word. And that's why verse nine says, by faith He went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land. He did this all by faith, living the pilgrim life, the ups and the downs, all by faith. And if you were watching Abraham in those days, if you were a Canaanite, and they surely took notice of him because he had many servants and many flocks and herds and much livestock, They would have looked at him and thought, what is this madman doing? Why is he living in tents like this? Why is he not building? Surely he could seek to build a city. He has enough manpower to have an army that he could force us out of an area and build a city there. What is he doing? Why is he keeping moving throughout the land of Canaan? He looks mad to the world. But yet Abraham was believing the promise. And it was only faith that could lead him to persevere in this nomadic life. Faith in what? Faith in God, yes. But more specifically, saving faith. Saving faith. Because remember, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. What sort of faith is that? It's faith that lays hold of Christ, as he's offered in the gospel. in the covenant of grace by the types in the shadows. He believed in Christ and therefore it was counted to him as righteousness. That's what Hebrews 11 is showing us. He was looking forward to Jesus. The promise was about Jesus. And so Abraham is believing these things. He believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That is, to put it maybe in more New Testament language, He believed for his justification. He believed so that before the courtroom of God, although by nature he should have been declared guilty, condemned, and sentenced to hell, yet he believed for justification, that all his sins were remitted, forgiven, wiped out, and the righteousness of Christ was put upon his account. So that in the eyes of the law, the law of God, The sinner Abraham was looked upon as being the most righteous saint. He was looked upon as being perfect in the eyes of God, because Christ's righteousness was counted to his account. Abraham had saving faith that he may be pardoned from his sin. And because of this, because he was justified, he was therefore reconciled to God. And that's why he's called the friend of God, because he was reconciled. And friends, you can be justified this evening, pardoned from your sin, declared righteous in the court of law, and therefore reconciled to God. And tonight, you can go away being a friend of God, rather than being a sworn enemy of God. It all comes by faith in Christ. And Abraham had that. But not only did he have faith in Christ for justification, But he was also looking to the future. His faith in Christ was for eternal life. And isn't that what Jesus has come? He's come that we may have life and life to the full. He has come to give us eternal life. And that's why verse 10 is showing us that Abraham, as this nomadic man, was looking forward to something. He never built his own city. He was rather looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. That's what he was looking forward to, this city. And what is this city? Well, sometimes heaven is spoken of as a city, and that's exactly what this is. Abraham was looking forward to heaven, to the great heavenly city which has foundations and whose designer and builder is God. He was looking forward to heaven, the place of glory for God's saints, the place of bringing us into God's nearer presence, where we are blessed eternally. You see, this friend of God knew that his ultimate dwelling place was not in this world. He went through times of communion with God. He went through times of fellowship with God. In fact, God came down Pre-incarnate, Christ came down in human form and walked with him and talked with him. That's why Abraham was able to plead with Christ for Sodom and Gomorrah. It's because God came down and spoke with him. But although Abraham had these times of friendship with God, of fellowship with God, he knew that there was something more. He knew that there was something more permanent. He knew that there would be a time when there would be a city and where he would be in the presence of God. See, Abraham was living in the light of eternity, looking forward to the city that is of divine origin, whose foundations are eternal in the heavens. They are permanent. its designer or architect, and its maker or builder is God himself. Heaven is not built by man's hands. Heaven is not what humanism promises us, a heaven on earth, a utopia, that by us pulling together all our resources and our education, we can in some way build something better for our children on earth. That's not what heaven is. No, rather the designer and builder of the city of heaven is God. It is higher, it is spiritual, and therefore it is better. Abraham looked for it. That's what it says in verse 10. He was looking forward to it. The word is he's waiting for it, he's expecting it. He's eagerly anticipating this city that's not to be seen on earth. He knows this promised land is part of God's promise, but it's not the complete thing. He's looking forward to something more, and he's expecting it. Think of a farmer, he goes out and he sows his field, and then he has to wait for the harvest, but he's expecting it. He knows it's going to come in due course, but he just has to wait. It's the same idea here. He has to wait for it. Lot, Abraham's nephew, sought an earthly city, and he barely escaped with his life. Abraham sought a heavenly city, and he was blessed thoroughly by God. And I think it was this faith, not just the faith that justified Abraham, but the faith that looked forward to eternal life, that looked forward to heaven, this looking and waiting for the city of God, it's this faith that helped him gave him patience to submit to all the trials of life in this world. And we don't have time to go through Abraham's life and to see the tests of faith that he had. He had many. It was a hard life, a difficult life. Friends, when you're looking forward to something glorious, that can help sustain you. Even in a very human level, if you know that at the end of the week, you've got a party, or a special meal or something you're looking forward to. That can help you, can't it? That can help you get through the nine to five of the work that you've got. Maybe you feel work is a drudgery. You just have to grin and bear it and get through it. Well, if you've got some prospect that at the end of this week we can get past this and enjoy ourselves, it helps you, doesn't it? How much more should the prospect of heaven The city which has foundations, whose designer and maker is God, how much more should that prospect thrill our hearts and help us move through the trials of this life? And so that raises the question for you and for me, what are you living for in this world? Are you living for the city of man or the city of God? Are you living for the here and now or are you living for heaven? Are you laying up for yourselves treasures here on earth or are you laying up for yourself treasures in heaven? How many people there are living for this world? There are those who would scoff at the Abrahams of this world. They would laugh at us for not prioritizing the here and now, as they laughed at Abraham for being a nomad. See, faith causes us, doesn't it, to obey God's call, and to go where he tells us to go, to forsake our sin and to follow Christ, because we're setting our hope on things that are not seen, but things that are eternal. And the things that are not seen, it's not that they're less real. They are real. That is reality. That is what is lying ahead for God's people. And so friends, let me ask you, as I ask myself, how much are we as Christians longing for heaven? How much are we eagerly anticipating it? How often are we waiting for it? How often, as verse 10 says, are we looking forward to this city? To live is Christ, to die is gain. Is that our attitude? It's easy to say it. Do we believe it? To live is Christ, to die is gain. Paul was hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, he knew it was needful. It was necessary for him to stay in the flesh for a time to be of service to the church, but he was hard pressed. He wouldn't choose life over death for selfish reasons. He longed to depart because that meant being with Christ. It would really do us well as Christians if we thought of heaven more than we think of it. Sometimes you hear people saying someone's too heavenly minded to be of earthly good. It's a phrase that's thrown around sometimes. I think many ministers say it in sermons more than anyone else. But can someone be too heavenly minded? Surely the more heavenly minded we are, the more we'll be like Paul. To live is Christ and to die is gain. If we're heavenly minded, we'll live for Christ here and now. We'll be holy and zealous and full of love and faith. We should think of heaven. And what is heaven like? I can't go into it in great depth, but there are similarities to the here and now, aren't there, in heaven? Not to the world around you and the suffering and the misery of the world. But the similarities come in this place, when you're amongst this people. Think of it, when you're having fellowship with one another, and I mean fellowship, not simply having a nice chat, you can have a nice chat with anyone in the world, but when you're having fellowship, those times when you're speaking about the Lord, those times that you're listening to someone talk about Christ, and you're excited by that, and you long for that, and you're able to speak back of the things of God, that is a taste, isn't it? heaven on earth. Those times when we spend a Sabbath day well and we feel we've grown closer to Christ, that's a foretaste of heaven. The times that we're singing and we're really praising God, that's a foretaste of heaven. The times that you have communion with Christ, when you're praying and you know you're being heard, When God is speaking to you in the scripture and you know he's speaking to you and you delight in his love. These are four tests, aren't they, of heaven. This is heaven on earth. But there are only four tests. It's only a living in tents compared to a living in a city. And who would choose to cling to the tents? when it's your time to move to the city? Who would choose to stay in the nomadic pilgrimage of this world with all the ups and downs and the sorrows, the trials and the tribulations, when there's a permanent city full of glory and where Christ is? Abraham was called to sojourn in a foreign land and to do so for a time. But he was looking forward to a greater city. And friends, that's the case for us. I know you're in the world, I know you're out, and you're amongst non-believers, you're out amongst difficulties in that regard. That should make us appreciate all the more those times when we have a taste of home, for our citizenship is in heaven. When I lived in America for three years, I did enjoy it. It's a nice place to live. but it's not home, not home. And the times that I met someone that was from home, they didn't have to be a family member or a friend, they could have been anyone from home. There was just something in you that knew we're from the same place and we can talk in a particular way. There can be homesickness, can't there, when we're away from home. Friends, isn't that the way it is for every true believer while we walk on this earth? We find ourselves talking to people who don't believe in the gospel, who aren't friends of God. And we're homesick, aren't we? We're not talking on the same level at all. We don't believe the same things. We can't really connect with one another. Then we meet a Christian. And it doesn't have to be a Christian from in here. It doesn't even have to be a Christian from our denomination. It can be a Christian from any denomination, someone who sincerely loves the Lord, and we talk of God, and we click, and we know we're on the same page. There are times, aren't there, of homesickness for us. It's because God has put in our hearts a longing for heaven. Heaven will be similar to here. in the sense that we'll have these four tastes, but magnified. These blessings, but greater. But heaven will certainly be different to here. There'll be no sin, no sorrow, no affliction in heaven. You think of it, your sin, my sin. Don't you hate your sin? Aren't you, as a Christian brother or sister, more and more hating your sin, and you're wrestling perhaps harder against your sin because you want to be done with it? Your sin should make you long for heaven, to be free from sin. That's what we long for now, but heaven will be free from sin. Your suffering, the trials you're going through just now, should make you also long for heaven. You should look forward to the place where there is no sickness and no bereavement. Not only that, we glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. God uses these tribulations, these trials to wean us off this world and to fix our minds on heaven. For we know that if our earthly home, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. Are you longing for heaven? Are you looking forward to it? My friends, you cannot get to heaven without forsaking sin and following Christ. Abraham longed for the city with foundations whose designer and builder was God. He longed for heaven, but before that we see by faith he obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. There's a necessity for us to leave sin, to forsake it, and go the life of a pilgrim, to live the life of a nomad, to recognize that your citizenship is in heaven. And knowing that there is a sure and precious promise of a city whose designer and whose maker is God. Friends, look to Abraham's encouragement to help you in the trials of the here and now. Look to Abraham's hope, to Abraham's faith, because that will help you to keep dwelling in the land of promise. Submit cheerfully to the afflictions and the trials that you're under, knowing that there is a city with foundations, and that that will be your permanent home. Live not for the here and now, but live for eternity. And may God give us the faith of Abraham. Amen.