Amen. As we return to Hebrews chapter 11 today, I would urge you to be in the Word there, if you can, to follow along and see what the text says. As we think about chapter 11 and what it says of faith, we recognize that its argument is primarily the importance of faith, isn't it? That faith is what we need. Faith is what gives us eternal life because it's by God's grace that we receive faith and it's by faith that we are saved. And therefore we recognize the importance of faith. But this author is also arguing that it's by faith that we persevere and endure. that we can meet the trials of life because God has given us this faith which itself endures. And therefore, it's one of the markers of true faith is that it endures. So Jesus says, all who endure to the end shall be saved. This is what we're talking about. Is it truly faith, saving faith? And so this author has been challenging them. We know the context of this letter. They're thinking of leaving and going back to the synagogue. And he says, if you have true faith, you will stay. You will worship Christ. You will recognize that He is the fulfillment of all the promises of the Bible and that He is the fulfillment of all the types of the Old Testament. Everything points to Him. And therefore, faith recognizes this, grasps it, comprehends it, believes it, and holds on to it. And therefore, if you have faith, you will remain. Now, he defines faith for us, doesn't he, along the way as the evidence of things not seeing the substance, if you will, by which we grab hold of the promises of God and they become real to us. So it's not just that we say we believe something. We've been talking about this for quite some time. But in essence, we're saying by faith we know it's true, right? It makes it real. It's not just saying, well, I kind of am hedging my bets that I think it's going to happen. Faith says it is going to happen because God said it's going to happen. And it's the reality of that within our hearts and minds and souls that tells us that God always keeps His promises. And so we see examples of that, don't we, in this text. We see Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah who have already been given to us as examples of that kind of living faith, recipients of the promises of God. God made promises to each of them. And though they were afar off, in other words, they weren't near to hand, they were distant, they believed them. You might think for a moment even of Noah. The events that God promised would happen happened in his lifetime, the immediate promises of a flood and of the need to build an ark and he believed it. He had never seen anything like a worldwide flood but he said God has said it, he has declared it, I know it must be and therefore I must do what God has called me to do. Now we would also argue that that picture of the ark itself is a type of what we ultimately need, salvation in Christ. And I believe Noah, it's telling us, believed that as well. That was very far off. And yet he said, as God is saving us now in this ark, he will one day save us through this Redeemer that was promised in Genesis 3. When you think about Abraham, we see here again a picture of faith. Abraham was told, get up, leave your land, go to a land you don't even know where you're going, but just trust me and go. And Abraham surrendered himself to God's will and went and did it. And then God said, I will give to you and to your descendants all this land. You'll never yourself really possess it in one sense, but I'm telling you it will be yours and your descendants. And we dealt with that a little bit on Wednesday night if you were here on the difficulty of that language. How did Abraham receive it? But it's interesting what Cox says. God tells him to go and survey all the land of promise. And Cox says, and as he did that, he received it by faith. In a sense, it became his because he believed God's word that it was his, and that it would belong to his descendants after him. And so in this way, Abraham is a great model of faith for us, as the Bible tells us over and over again. And we also see in Abraham and Sarah, this faith that says, though the promise of God would seem impossible, Sarah's going to have a child, naturally going to have a child. When everywhere, not only in this text, but also in Romans, it says that Abraham was beyond age and Sarah's womb was as if dead. And yet in hope, they believed, right? Against hope, in one sense, in hope they believed. In earthly sense, there was no possibility this could come to pass, but they believed that God could bring it to pass because God can do all things. And so they believed, they trusted, and they received the fullness of all that God had promised. Now we also recognize always in this that we need to keep in mind that their hope was not in Isaac. In fact, for a while Abraham didn't even know it would be Isaac. He hoped it would be his steward, and then he hoped it would be Ishmael. But eventually he realized, no, it's to be a son born of Sarah, and therefore that's your seed in one sense. But he always knew there was another seed coming. the one through whom all the nations would be blessed, even Jesus Christ. And he believed upon him. If that wasn't clear to us, Jesus tells us it, doesn't he, in John's Gospel, that he saw his day and rejoiced in it. And so again, Abraham was a man who saw these promises afar off, comprehended them, believed them, received them, and saw them as solid. He believed that they would come to pass. And the Lord says that is faith. But we also need to recognize what we said a moment ago, that that faith perseveres. Did Noah encounter problems? I'm sure he did. He was in a faithless generation, a violent generation. I'm sure he encountered many problems, yet he continued to do what God called him to do. Did Abraham have many difficulties along the way? Of course he did. He's like, I've got the perfect plan. Eleazar, my steward, shall be my heir, God. I've worked it out for you. You need to do nothing, God. It's all solved. God said, no. It's not how it's going to come to pass. He said, OK, a little while later, let's do it through Hagar. We'll solve it for God again. Maybe he wants us to take the initiative. No, it's not a child of your effort. It's a child of promise, a child of promise. And so, again, Abraham at each of those junctures believes or he does not. In this case, we know he believed. Okay, if God said it will come through Sarah, though I'll fall on my face laughing at the idea, as Sarah does later, wait a minute, God can do it, for he is God. So again, we see this persevering faith, believing faith, grasping faith, beholding faith, a faith that allows us to not only hear the promises, but know they're true. We sing songs sometimes about Christ's return. Do we believe that's going to happen? Yes. If we have faith, we believe it, right? Because Christ is going to return. And are there promises held out for the people of God if we don't make it to the time that He returns? Yes, there is a glorious place that we will be. And then the promise of a new heavens and a new earth, and all of that is real to us by faith. I don't doubt it. God has told me and I believe it. And so we come now to this text and the author is going to kind of give a little bit of a cap here, a recapping or a statement based on the people we've been studying and Ben read it for us a moment ago and I think we're going to read it one more time just so it is in our minds. So these meaning those we've been reading about, all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. but now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Amen. As we look at this text, I want us to look at three quick points. First of all, a reminder of substance. Second of all, a desire for a homeland. And third, an encouragement to the church. And to tackle this, let's ask for the Lord's help. Father, as we come to your word now, Give us minds to understand and faith to believe all that You tell us in Your Word. And in hearing it and believing it, let us honor Christ, who is our hope. It's in His name we pray. Amen. As we come to our first point this morning, we want to speak about faith and substance again. It's important, but I believe it is a reminder throughout this text that faith is not simply wishy-washy believing something. You know, I believe that the Pirates are the best baseball team. No, I think it's the Mets. No, I think it's this team or that team. That's very changeable, isn't it? Based on a lot of things. But our faith isn't like that. We believe in the one who promised and therefore we believe his promises and they are sure and certain to us. I want you to notice as we enter this text that we immediately notice that there's a reference back to the great figures of Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham. and Sarah, they collectively are being spoken of here. They all died in the faith. Now, we can very quickly move past that, can't we? We can just read that and move on to what we think is more important later, but that's an important statement. They all died in the faith. And when we think about that for a moment, it means that they didn't just hear the Word of God, They didn't just say they believed it for a time, but they believed it throughout their lifetime, even to the point of their dying, and they died in the faith. If we believe what Jesus said, that it's those who persevere to the end that will be saved, this is the author of Hebrews' way of saying they had a real, true, saving faith. They were truly transformed by the Spirit of God. They believed the promises of God. It wasn't for a time and then lost. You might think about the parable of the sower, right? The seed landed on the path, it landed on stony ground, it landed on thorny ground, and it landed on good ground. The other ones, the seed either didn't sprout at all or it came up just for a time at very shallow roots and then faded away. Yet the seed that landed on the good ground sprouted roots and grew and continued to grow even into the harvest and the picture here is what? Not all who claim to have faith truly have faith. And time will demonstrate it. You will see this. Maybe you've had friends in the past that seemed on fire, on fire for all things Christ. And three or four months later you're talking to them and they're like, oh, you know, I'm really not interested in that anymore. Not going to church anymore. Not reading my Bible. Whatever it is. But there's an evidence that it came up very quickly and it went away very quickly. That is not saving faith. That is not the evidence of saving faith. The evidence of saving faith is something that lasts. Why? Because when we are saved, we are transformed into a new creation in Christ. Not something that's a phase, but something completely new and lasting. Doesn't mean it's perfect. Doesn't mean we don't have our ups and downs, right? Our moments where we're seeming to be really doing well in sanctification, other times where we seem to maybe not do so well. But it's the nature of our journey always toward the celestial city. That's the question. And I think when you think about what he's saying here, they died in the faith demonstrating that they were truly of the faith. They believed God's Word. They held God's Word. They were comforted by God's Word. They endured in those promises, as it were, by God's grace. And so there's nothing greater that can be said about the authenticity of our faith than that we died in the faith. That's the ultimate statement that can be made. And this author says it about them. Do not wonder about their faith. These were truly faithful people of God. And yet, when you think about it for a moment, He says what they had faith in were things that were distant from them. A far off. Promises that they wouldn't even themselves receive. And you can think about that for a moment in terms of Abel. He's promised a Redeemer. He's sacrificing in regard to that Redeemer. You can think about Noah who's building an ark that is a picture of the salvation that will come through this Redeemer, but he will not live to see the Redeemer himself. Wadovinic, he walked with God. His translation is something like a type or a picture of what all of us will receive by faith in Christ. Yet he himself did not see Christ come into the world and die on the cross and rise again. He didn't see that. He apprehended it from afar off and he believed it. And Abraham is promised this seed through whom all these great things will be effected. It will be through your seed, Abraham, that God will redeem His people and will take this blessing to the nations. All of this will happen through your seed. Yet Abraham himself did not see it except from afar off. And yet Jesus can say, from afar off by faith, it's as if he saw it firsthand. You see, that's what faith is. It's apprehending and believing the promises. And so there again is something of this substance here to be found. And seeing from afar is important. Seeing from afar is important. Maybe you'll remember in Pilgrim's Progress, along the journey, Pilgrim stops at the Palace Beautiful. It's a wonderful place of rest for the pilgrims of God. While he's there, he gets to visit the armory and get some new clothing and new armor and so forth, and he gets to rest and take in communion with the people who are there. But if you remember that book, you'll remember right before he sets out on his journey again, and after he's taken into the room of curiosities, all these objects that remind us of the great things that God has done, he's taken up on top of the Palace Beautiful, and he's given a view of Emmanuel's land, though afar off. And what that does is not only remind him the promise is real, but encourages him to continue the journey. Now the palace beautiful is a picture of the church for Bunyan. He says the best vision we get of the promises of God are as a people in the church of the living Christ. That he reminds us of those promises. He sustains us in those promises. Even the Lord's table that we come to next week in some measure is a nourishment of those promises to us. It's a reminder of all that God will do. And therefore, as we reckon this, we realize that it's important not only then to have this vision that is a far off, but to realize it encourages us to continue the journey. Abraham said, I know one day my children will receive this land. But even beyond that, I know me and my descendants by faith will receive the salvation that God is bringing into the world. Many, many years down the road, he saw that and he believed it. And that is faith. And so my friends, when you think about this for a moment, you recognize that it's eyes of faith that can see it. It's eyes of faith that allow him, as it says in the text, to embrace that promise, to welcome it, and to wrap his arms around it as if it's a life jacket of hope. That in the water, though he may seem to be struggling, he can say, I know my Father has me. He's promised things that he will never fail to keep. because that's the very nature of God. He doesn't, he never fails to keep his promise, right? He, or excuse me, yes, he keeps his promise. That's what I'm trying to say, make sure I'm not getting into a double negative there. He always keeps his promises. Let's make that as simple as I can say it. He always keeps his promises. So again, the reminder here is of his faith in this promise and that because of that promise, look at what it says. Seeing them afar off and embracing them, he makes a confession that they, now this is Abraham and this is all these people that we've been reading about, that they are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. They are strangers in a strange land. This world isn't their home. Though Abraham has promised this land for his descendants, that isn't ultimately what God is doing, is it? The Eschaton is not in the land of Canaan on this earth in this age. But even that land of Canaan points to something beyond itself, something eschatological, something glorious, something eternal, and that is the new heavens and the new earth. John Gill, in a funeral, preached off this text for his own wife, said that it's a reminder that this is a type of the greater fulfillment that God promises in the new heavens and the new earth. That there is a land that we will dwell in, Beulah land, Emmanuel's land, the celestial city, the Jerusalem that comes down in Revelation. However you want to term it, there is a place for the people of God eternally. Abraham was looking for that land. We'll see that in just a moment. So Abraham in the meantime and all these others said we are for a time sojourners, travelers, refugees. We don't have a permanent place in this world. Even Jesus himself said the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head at night. Foxes have their dens, birds have their nests, but the Son of Man doesn't have such a place. So again it's a reminder that they declared this of themselves, that they are pilgrims journeying through the world. They have no permanent dwelling here. And if they truly understood the promise, even when they later come into the kingdom, in the promised land, they would recognize this is not meant to be eternal, this age and this kingdom. But it points to what God is promising to do for his people eternally. It's something of an image, a type of the anti-type, the fullness of what he has promised. And so by faith they believed it and they received it. It's important to recognize this because we come to our second point this morning. We recognize there is a natural desire for a homeland. The desire to have a place called home. We all feel this. And it doesn't lessen as I get older. I guess I'm becoming the curmudgeon of the family, you know, as we go on a vacation after three or four days, I'm ready to come home. It's just the reality. I like my own bed. I like my own home. There's something about home that's not like any other place in the world. I can enjoy the beach, don't get me wrong, but home is home, right? Home is home. But to have a homeland means a place I belong. And they desired a homeland as any person desires a homeland. Abraham wanted a home and he was never given that. Abraham was called out of a home, wasn't he, in order of the Chaldees. He had a home and God said, no, get up and leave it. And I want you to just travel and walk and I'll show you the land that your descendants will gain, but you yourself really won't, not in the sense of owning it. Abraham owned a small part of it, very small part, which he purchased of his own money. But God isn't talking about that, is he? God is talking about a land again, like the promise of Isaac, that he will give him. be gifted to him. And Abraham in one sense never received that physically. He never could say this is my home, this is my land, this belongs to me. But he recognized in the importance of a homeland that he was looking for a homeland. Even if it wasn't for him, it would be for his descendants. But listen to what the author of Hebrews says about this, because the desire for homeland is such a powerful thing. He says, by calling themselves strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, people who say such things declare plainly, evidently, that they seek a homeland. If you say I'm a stranger in a strange land, I desire a place for myself. I'm a sojourner. I'm looking for a place of rest. I'm a traveler. I'm a pilgrim. I'm looking for something. A pilgrimage is going somewhere, isn't it? We call it pilgrim's progress because pilgrim is traveling toward the eternal city, the celestial city. If he says, I'm a pilgrim, it means he's going somewhere. He's desiring a homeland. But brothers and sisters, he's not just looking for any homeland, is he? The author makes this point as plainly as can be made. If he just wants a homeland, he can just go back to Ur of the Chaldees if we're talking about Abraham. Can't he? Can't he just return back to Ur of the Chaldees, go back home to his family land, and I'm sure they'll find some parcel for him there? Why can't he do that? Because God has not only called him out of there, but given him a vision for something bigger, something greater. And once he had the vision for something greater, he can't go back to the lesser. He doesn't even want it anymore. In fact, if you take seriously what this author is arguing, he doesn't even care so much about the earthly homeland at all anymore. The homeland he wants is greater. Greater. It's not Ur of the Chaldees, to be certain. Now, it says here, and truly, if he had called to mind that country from which they had come out, this is any of them, but I'm using Abraham as a typical representative here, they would have had the opportunity to return. That's what he's saying. They could have gone back to Ur of the Chaldees or wherever it was from whence they came. But he says, but now they desire a better country. They want a better land, a better home, a better place to set up residence. And we say, of course, of course they're looking for Canaan. And it is a better land, isn't it? Anybody doubt that? Canaan is a better land. Just asking you to wrestle with this idea for a moment. Canaan is a better land. The Bible describes it as a land flowing with milk and honey. What did Cox say Wednesday night for those of you who are here? It was the glory of all lands. You couldn't look anywhere on earth and see a better place than Canaan. So if that's what it was saying, we would understand it in one sense, but that isn't what it's saying, is it? You can read it very plainly. It's not saying he was looking for a better country that is Canaan. No, Abraham was looking for a better country. And what does it say? A heavenly country. Not a place on this earth in this age. Now I've got to be careful saying not on this earth because ultimately this is picturing, right, the new heavens and the new earth. But what he's saying is ultimately a place that I won't stake out in this age. but a place that God will give His people. In the Eschaton, in the last day for eternity, He will give us a place and Abraham was looking forward to that. As much as he enjoyed the idea that his children would receive Canaan and would have this land that would one day be called Israel and we know all of that from the Old Testament, that isn't ultimately what he was looking to. He was looking beyond that to what it typified or what it pointed to and what it pointed to was a heavenly country. to put it not in country terms for a moment, in city terms, which this author also does right here, right? He says, for God has prepared a city for them. And earlier it said that Abraham was really looking not for a city in the promised land, but a city whose maker and foundations were of God, right? A city with foundations whose maker and builder is God. In other words, whether you want to use this picture of a country or a land or of a city, either way Abraham says, I'm not looking for one that's made by men in this world. I'm looking for a place that's made by God for His people. That's what I'm looking for, a heavenly country. That's where these promises tend. When he thinks for a moment about the glories, if he could have imagined them, the glories of the kingdom that would have been in Canaan, the nation of Israel in its days of being a united kingdom. I guess the glory days were, depending on how you account them, in David's time or maybe in the early days of Solomon's time, But regardless, if he could have pictured for a moment the glories, the highest, most glorious days of Israel in the United Kingdom, he would have said, no, that's still not what I'm looking for. That's still not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something greater than that. You know, when you think about it, that's a stark break from the Pharisees, right, who long after the days of David were looking back to the days of David saying, can we have that again? And Jesus was telling him over and over, you haven't understood what was promised. What God promised you was that the heights of that kingdom were but a type of the glories that would be received by God's people forevermore, forevermore. Abraham understood that. He believed it. And it's as if he could touch it by faith. It was real to him. And so he said, if I never have a place in this world, I'll have a place in the age to come. God will give me a place in the age to come, and it's more glorious than any place I could have in this world. I don't know if we often think about that. We were talking in Sunday school this morning about the glories of creation. You get out on the mountaintops or somewhere, and it's just glorious. We all admit that. It's beautiful. Have you ever considered, though, this world is fallen, it's cursed? Can you imagine how glorious the world would look if it had never been, if Adam had not failed in his task? Can you imagine how glorious the new earth will be one day? The new heavens, the new earth that Paul talks about in Romans 8, how glorious it will be. My friends, it will all be for the glory of God and we will worship Him. But Abraham in some sense, even in that early day of those promises, believed it and recognized it and knew it was true. And so again, we are encouraged to. In fact, when you think about it, the entire point of this letter goes back to this idea again, right? Look beyond just the moment. Look beyond just the current trial. I don't know about you, but man, when I'm in that current trial, it's kind of got all my focus. But the Bible reminds us over and over to look past that. To leave those things to the Lord, be anxious for nothing, but with prayer and supplication, all thanksgiving, let our requests be known to Him. When we have anxiety over something, which we really shouldn't have if we understand His providence, but we're human beings, right? So sometimes we get anxious. Okay, we're given a prescription. Go to the Lord in prayer. Give it to Him. Give it to Him. But also look beyond these momentary light afflictions. Because Paul says they're giving way to an eternal weight of glory. Abraham understood that by faith. Noah understood that by faith. Sarah understood that by faith. And my friends, when you recognize this, that that's what we're to look for, this city that God has ultimately promised, this country that God has ultimately promised, this celestial city as John Bunyan describes it in Pilgrim's Progress, when we recognize what we are to look for, then we come to our third point. And that's an encouragement to the church. We need encouragement, don't we? Sometimes we need encouragement. And this gives us a word of encouragement because look at what it says here in verse 16. They desire a better, that is a heavenly country. They desire the fullness of what God has promised. And look what it says. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. God is not ashamed. for me to call Him my God, or for you to call Him your God, if we are a people of faith who trust in His promises, because how do we please God? It tells us right here in Hebrews, for outside of faith it is impossible to please God, we must have faith. That is how we please Him. In fact, what does it say of Enoch? Enoch walked with God and had this testimony after God took him, that he pleased God, because he believed God. So my friends, what an encouragement that is that God is pleased by the faith of his people and that he is not ashamed that lowly people like me would call him God and that he'd be recognized as our God. So my friends, there's a word of encouragement to us. God claims us. He doesn't mind being called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and the God of David. And if you're His, He doesn't mind being called your God either. It's a wondrous grace that God has shown us, a wondrous grace. And He calls us to be a people of faith by His own grace, by His own grace. So my friends, as we read this text, I pray that we would think for a moment about the glories of what's being told to us. We're all going to encounter trials and tribulations. They're common to life. Jesus didn't say, if you encounter the storms of life. He said, when the storms of life come. He says in John chapter 14, in this world, you will have trouble. It's not a maybe statement. That's not an if statement. That's in this world, you will have trouble. As plainly as it said, you're going to have tribulation, trial and difficulty in this world. But his message is rejoice because he has overcome the world. Now my friends, that is a call for faith. Do you believe that? Do you believe that Christ has overcome the world? Do you believe that Christ has promised us these promises that can never be taken away from His people? As Paul says, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Do you believe that? If you do, rejoice.