Hi, this is Pastor William. On behalf of the members of Providence Baptist Church, I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and thank you for joining us. It is our joy to share God's truth, and we trust that the preaching of God's Word will always bless His people. But we humbly remind you that no recording can ever replace biblical corporate worship or true Christian fellowship. So we encourage everyone everywhere to commit themselves to the service of God's kingdom in a local church. And we pray that the Lord keep and bless you as you continue to earnestly seek Him. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. and turn with me again to Hebrews chapter 11. Now, as we've stated before, the book of Hebrews stands as a distinct New Testament work. It underscores the supremacy of Christ, the centrality of faith, and the need for resilience in the midst of our trials and tribulations. Hebrews 11 is often called the Hall of Faith, a Hall of Faith, excuse me. And it holds a central place in the text. And as we come to Hebrews 11 verses 8, 9, and 10, our attention turns to Abraham. And a good portion, I'd say maybe two-thirds of the chapters, is about Abraham, who is the patriarch of the Jewish family, as we mentioned earlier this morning. And this begins his remarkable journey of faith. So, pick up and read with me there at Hebrews 11, verses 8 through 11. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Now in this passage, we see how Abraham's unwavering faith compelled him to obey God's call to leave his homeland despite having only a vague idea of his ultimate destination. This story is set within the broader context of the book of Hebrews, so it's there to reinforce faith as a cornerstone of the Christian experience, and we see that in Abraham's actions. And this emphasizes the critical importance for us to maintain faith in Christ when things are uncertain, or when we face adversity, or even persecution. In Hebrews 11, in its entirety, it serves as a powerful testament of the enduring nature of the Christian faith and its central role in the lives of believers. So this book serves to reiterate, or this particular story serves to reiterate the overarching theme of Christ's preeminence and the significance of faith and the imperative that we have a resolute perseverance in our journey as Christians. So let's take a closer look at how the author lays out the faith of Abraham. beginning in verse eight. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and when he went out, not knowing where he was going. So Abraham's faith is described here. The way it's described, it appears kind of deceptively simple. It's like he was just on a task almost, but it is profoundly significant. Abraham demonstrated his faith by obeying God's command to leave his homeland, despite not knowing where he's going. Now, this might not strike us as something remarkable from where we sit today in modern America, but that's because most of us are unfamiliar with the ancient Near East culture, or the ancient Middle East culture. Lots of people today just load up and move across the country, go to college, go get a new career. They'll grow. They'll drive all the way. Taryn and I did that in the first year of our marriage, packed up everything, moved to California for a year. That's not uncommon for us today, but in this context, you know, Abraham wasn't in the modern world. In this context where he was, physical protection, your safety and your security was tightly connected to your family, your kinsmen, your community. So embarking on a journey like this would expose you to many potential dangers from marauders and thieves. And there was no law of the land to protect you. There was no right of justice that you could pursue. So Abraham's decision to leave Haran for an unknown land reflects a remarkable trust in what God had spoken to him. But sisters, this was an incredible act of faith. The only thing I can think that would possibly compare to it today would be for one of us to pack up and go to Iran, to go to Saudi Arabia, to go to China, to go to be a mission in those our missionary in those countries. That's the kind of courage and faith that it takes, that it would take Abraham to move. So Abraham's faithful response to God's call exemplifies these key principles of faith, this confidence in the unknown or the unseen, which is what the author describes in verse one. And it exemplifies the intimate connection, the intimate connection between faith and obedience. This would not be a story in scripture if Abraham had not obeyed. In fact, we do have a story of that though, do we not? We see that all through the Old Testament where people failed to obey, but one particular person called, failed to obey, and he got ate by a fish. So Abraham's story prompts us to reflect on the nature of our own faith and how we respond to God when God calls us to an uncertain future. That's one of the elements of Abraham's faith that we should consider is this faith in uncertainty. Abraham's faith was characterized by this trust in God, even though he couldn't see the future, he could embrace the promise. Abraham's example of total belief in God's promises, even though he could not physically see the promised land from where he was, he did not understand all of the challenges that he would face, but he knew there would be some, and that challenges us to have confidence in the spiritual and eternal aspects of life. Abraham's journey from the familiar to the unknown demonstrates that God's call often leads us to uncertain and unfamiliar territory. Just as Abraham had to be a stranger and a sojourner, we may often find ourselves in situations where we don't have the answers, where the future is uncertain, or where the path forward is unclear, or the outcome is uncertain. In such situations, we can look to Abraham to teach us that faith and obedience can lead to remarkable outcomes, even when we can't see the full picture, even when we don't know how it's going to play out. Faith in that uncertainty, trusting God in the future, is that not what our children do? Especially our young children, they don't understand all the details of this life. They just trust mom and dad, and that's where we're going. Or wait right here, whatever it might be. That's the kind of faith that Abraham exhibited. God spoke, Abraham believed, and he responded. He responded to God's call. Abraham's response demonstrates the relationship between faith and obedience. When God called him, he obeyed. Faith and obedience are never contradictory terms, but they're intricately linked. Hebrews 11.6, we looked at, I believe, last week. It emphasizes that God rewards those who seek Him. So Abraham's obedience is a tangible expression of his faith and his seeking after God. His actions flowed from his trust in God's promises. And likewise, our faith in Christ should lead us into obedient living. Just as faith without works is dead, as James tells us in his epistle, so faith without obedience is incomplete. The obedience is the working out of the faith. It's not just simply a matter of resting and being content where you are. Yes, we are called to be content. We are called to be content with where we are, but sometimes God may ask us to move from where we are. And I don't necessarily mean to move your location, but I mean move something else, move in some other way, some other step of faith. We also see in Abraham's example, perseverance and hope. Abraham's unwavering faith sustained him through trials and challenges, reinforcing the importance of perseverance. And we see that as we move through the story, he faced some challenges. Abraham had to hold on to God's promises, even when the fulfillment seemed so distant. We talked about that a little bit this morning with him looking forward to the promised son. which we'll get to later, but here we're talking specifically about, in these few verses, the promised land. This perseverance was grounded in hope, the hope of an eternal city and an unshakable kingdom. This story reminds us that our faith should provide us with hope, enabling us to endure the trials of this world with the assurance of a glorious unseen future. So we act on it. We act on it. We act in faith, and that's obedience. We read earlier in Hebrews 5, 9, I don't remember exactly when we hit that neighborhood of the epistle, but Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. So then we look at Abraham and we consider Is my faith an obedient faith like Abraham's faith? Or as Jesus says in Luke 6, 4, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things that I say? That's what it means to be Lord. It means I'm the one in control. If I'm the Lord, I'm the one in control, and you all do what I say. That's what Christ is saying to His apostles. They call Him Lord. And He says, if you call me Lord, Why do you not do what I say? You're not acting as if I'm your Lord. You're not obeying me as a Lord. Now, this is what Abraham did. He obeyed. In verse nine, by faith, he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. When we read this account of Abraham, it is clear that despite the Lord's promises to make his descendants into a great nation and to give them all of this land in Canaan, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents. They lived as nomads, wandering around, foreigners in Canaan. Abraham never owned any land in the Middle East except that little plot that he bought for a burial spot for himself and Sarah. This lifestyle characterized by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as resident aliens exemplifies our life here as aliens in this world. God's promises transcend the physical territory. That's what this passage is about. That's what the story of Abraham is about. It is a picture of what the big promise is. The physical life, the physical journey, the physical land is a picture of something more profound. It's this text. emphasizes the fulfillment of God's promise, the fulfillment of God's promises transcend the physical territory. It symbolized the real promised land that we all look forward to. And this shared experience of theirs means that they were heirs to the same promise. That's what the text is saying. Living in tents serves as a pretty powerful illustration for life's transitory nature, and it provides meaningful example to us for our own journey as we await our heavenly home. This life is temporary. It is transitory. This is what the Bible tells us. The Bible describes that our earthly lives are lived as, or should be lived as sojourners, as pilgrims in this land, like we are living in tents. Tents, by their very nature, are not permanent. They're designed to put them up quickly, take them down quickly, and move on as the circumstances change. So just as Abraham and his descendants didn't have a permanent resident in Canaan, we are encouraged to understand that this world is not our permanent resident or residence. This should, brothers and sisters, not be a burden to us. It should not cause us alarm, but it should be a safeguard against excessive attachment to worldly possessions. a safeguard against excessive, well, I don't know how else to put it, attachment to these worldly possessions that we have. It should instead direct our focus to our eternal attachments, our eternal destination. It should remind us that instead of storing up treasures here, we should be storing up treasures in heaven. It also serves to remind us of the trials and the joys that we experience in this life are fleeting. This life is fleeting. While the city of Abraham anticipated, represented God's unshakable and eternal kingdom. That's what he was anticipating. Not so much a land in Canaan. It was that fulfillment of that promise. of a land that had, how did it put, we'll get to it in a moment, with the foundations whose designer and builder is God. That's what he's looking forward to. And this should encourage us to be preparing for eternity. Just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived as sojourners in the promised land, we too should live with an awareness of our temporary status here. Brothers and sisters, it's like we have a green card for earth. And pretty soon that's over, it's revoked. This perspective encourages us to store up treasures in heaven and to prioritize our relationship with God above all else. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. That is our ultimate destination, a city prepared by God where we dwell with Him for eternity. That's what Abraham was looking forward to. That's what verse 10 tells us. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. This is the core of Abraham's faith. He was anticipating a city with enduring foundations, with eternal foundations, a city that was masterfully designed specifically for us and constructed and maintained by God. This city represents a stark contrast to Abraham's nomadic existence in tents. Tents have no foundation. They're just nailed to the ground. The author encourages Hebrew believers to focus on this heavenly city as the fulfillment of God's promise in Jesus Christ. That's what we've been talking about since day one with Hebrews, is the fulfillment of promises in Jesus Christ. But this story of Abraham's life goes well beyond the idea of a man acquiring some land in the Middle East. It's about deeper theological and eschatological ideas. It's about deeper theology and end times. That's what I mean by that. Theological, the study of God. Eschatology, the study of end times. Abraham's whole story has deeper meaning in those areas. The story of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They lived as resident aliens in the land of Canaan. And that serves to remind us that we too are like foreigners just passing through and eagerly anticipating the promised heavenly city. Abraham's journey was a quest for spiritual and eternal city where God's people could experience lasting communion with Him. It's the city of God. This is significant, this image of a city is significant in this context because as I just mentioned it, for one, it contrasts the, it's contrasted with the idea of living in tents as a nomad. The city represents a place of permanence and stability. It's a place where God's very presence is the foundation, and the community enjoys unbroken fellowship and communion with God. It's a city that suggests permanence. Any city suggests that, it suggests the idea of permanence where you live with order and security and all of this is fulfilled perfectly in Jesus Christ as part of God's promise to his people. This eternal foundation, the author makes it clear that this city's foundation is eternal and it is based on Jesus Christ. So this underscores the centrality of Christ in God's plan for the redemption and the restoration of humanity. We see that in a number of places, that Christ is the cornerstone, a cornerstone that was rejected by God's very covenant people at the time. He is the unshakable foundation upon which the city is built. Now, remember this, brother and sister, that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, which is something else that the Old Testament saints were also looking forward to. They were looking forward to a promised Messiah, a king who could lead them perfectly, a priest who could lead them perfectly in the Word of God, and a prophet who could tell them about the things of God, a priest who could stand in mediation before God. They were looking forward to this. That's Jesus Christ. That's a promise kept. And if God kept His promise concerning sending the Messiah, then we can certainly trust Him to send the Messiah back to get us. to take us into the promised land, the city that He is preparing for us. Is that not what Christ tells us? That He has gone to prepare a place for us and He will come for us again. This is the eschatological hope that all Christians have that is exemplified in the story of Abraham. The author refers to this city as the city which was to come and the heavenly Jerusalem. These phrases carry strong eschatological significance, strong end times significance. They point to the future fulfillment of all of God's promises, the ultimate inheritance that believers look forward to, the communion with him that is eternal, the wiping away of every tear. These are the end time promises that God has given us. And He's given us a down payment in that, as we've already read in the Holy Spirit. This heavenly city isn't bound by geographical limitations, but it is the realization of God's eternal kingdom where He dwells, where Christ Himself dwells and reigns. It is a picture of the ultimate destination for God's people. It's where we want to be. It's where Little, where Christian was going in the Pilgrim's Progress. And another allegory, it's where, it's Aslan's land, where, what is the little rat's name? Yeah, Ripcheap went off into. Couldn't think of it at the moment. It is the ultimate destination that we look forward to. That's the eschatological hope. That's the end times hope. And the author's intention is to encourage his readers to shift their focus from their earthly concerns, which was making them consider going back to their old traditions, but instead to shift their concern to their future, the hope, the heavenly city. This heavenly perspective is vital because it reminds us even today that believers are truly citizens of heaven. Our true citizenship is in heaven. Yes, I'm an American, but I'm a Christian first and foremost. I'm a child of God first and foremost. And all the things that I have here are gonna pass on to someone else. The physical world is temporary. and subject to change, but the city of God represents an eternal and unshakable reality that we do not lose. Abraham's story challenges us to examine the nature of our own faith. Do you place your trust in God's promises, even when you can't see the future? Even when you don't have a clear path Do you trust Him and His purposes for your life and your future? When God calls you towards the future, towards some goal, do you respond with obedient faith? Do you embrace the journey even when the destination is unclear? Do you embrace the task that He calls you to even when the outcome is unclear? Abraham's faith not only pleased God, but also serves as a powerful example for us as we seek to live our faith in a world filled with uncertainties. And that's certainly the case we are in today. Abraham's life spent wandering in tents was a demonstration of his faith and readiness for life's transitory nature. And that's still how we live today, even though I live in a house that has a foundation and it's pretty permanent. Life is transitory. We are also called to embrace this fact, to embrace the impermanence of this world and to trust God's guidance and to prepare ourselves and prioritize our eternal citizenship in his everlasting kingdom. So like Abraham, who looked forward to the heavenly city, we are to eagerly await the fulfillment of God's promises and our eternal home in his presence. And the author of Hebrews uses the story of Abraham to encourage us to that end, to set our sights on Jerusalem, on the heavenly Jerusalem. So as you read through this, and anytime you come across this phrase in scripture of the city of God, It should serve to emphasize that eternal and spiritual and Christ-centered nature of God's promises and the future that we look forward to. And just as God kept His promise concerning the Messiah, we can trust Him to keep His promises concerning heaven. Brothers and sisters, This is an offer of hope and assurance that Scripture gives us. Hope and assurance in the face of difficulty and changing things around us that we don't have control over. Things are not permanent here. Things are not permanent. And even if you cling to them with all of your might, You will eventually lose everything that you have ever earned, anything that you have ever found, everything that you have ever built. You will eventually lose it. This life is temporary. And inside of us, we know that's wrong. Because when we go to a funeral, we don't think they're just gone. We think they're somewhere else. We know it's wrong. Our heart's desire is to be eternally with the ones that we love, and none more than Christ. This life is temporary, and we must look beyond the temporal to the eternal. In this way, Abraham's story resonates with believers, challenging us to have that same sort of faith in the uncertainty of life. for Christians that we place our ultimate satisfaction and hope in Christ, not in the fleeting pleasures of this world. We live by faith, understanding that our true joy awaits us in the eternal city of heaven, though we can experience that now. The transient joys of this world pale in comparison to the everlasting and abundant joys of heaven. As scripture says, eye has not seen, nor has it entered into the imagination of men, the joys that are set before us in heaven. You pay attention to some of the stories and the artwork and the music and the movies that are made. It's just incredible imagination. Mankind, God has blessed us with incredible imagination and creativity and the ability to bring those things into reality. But none of that, all of that rather, pales in comparison to what God has planned for us in our future. by focusing on these. I used to explain it to my kids like that. Imagine all the great things you see in the movies you watch or the books that you read or the artwork that you see. Imagine how great that would be to encounter that in heaven. I said, well, it's going to be better than that. It's going to be better than that because these guys, humans, mankind cannot imagine what God has planned for us. What He really tells us about though is that we will be with Him. we will be with Him. And by focusing on these heavenly joys, we set our affections on eternity. We live lives that are purposeful and for Christ, and we endure hardships for His glory, for His honor. And we know that our ultimate joy is found in God's heavenly city. Our earthly cities and our earthly comforts are just temporary. and they're never guaranteed. Look at what's happening now in other places in the world. I mean, just this, consider just this past Saturday, a whole group of young people just celebrating music in the middle of nowhere. And then out of the blue, gunmen come in for no other reason than to kill, destroy, and maim. What separates us here from that? God's grace. Those moments are transitory. Those people woke up that morning with nothing but joy and contentment in their life because of what they had planned. Our earthly cities and comforts are transitory. They're temporary. But in that city where Christ reigns, the place where we find our true citizenship through faith, that is permanent. That is everlasting. And like Abraham, we glimpse this heavenly city as we journey through life. We glimpse it in these moments of worship, in the stories in Scripture, in God's Word found in Scripture, in those moments of prayer and meditation on those things. We can glimpse it. We can experience joy and contentment in knowing that Christ is ours and we are His, and those things will never change. That is permanent. But my house is not permanent. My life here, my job is not permanent. Those things all come to an end. We read about that, we talked about that in depth when we studied through Revelation, that this is the Babylon, this world is the Babylon that will burn. And it's not burned simply because of vengeance on God's part. It's burned away to make room for something better, to reestablish this world. He redeems us. and places us in a new heaven, a new earth, where we don't struggle with the things we struggle with today. There is no more temptation to sin. There is no more trials. There are no more trials. We're free from not just the power of sin, but the very presence of it. Abraham serves as an example to us in his faith. to look towards the promises that are given. Specifically, this promise is the promised land that He was promised. And the promised land that we are promised is a new heaven and a new earth. Let us pray.