Faith - obeys/desires a better country/city
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Faith - obeys/desire a better country/a better city
Faith - obeys/desire a better country/a better city
Introduction:
Life and faith are in the final sense journeys that mercifully we undertake segment by segment.
Faith is in the final sense far sighted - faith far sighted.
Faith understands that a life well lived by faith, invests both in the now and in the future - that which produces dividends, many of which might well benefit successive generations more than us.
“How far do we see?” Those who trust God for forgiveness of sin, for what it means to walk with Him and serve Him, for what it means to witness for Him, must always take the long view. That long view will keep their faith focused and leave those who follow in their steps with a faith focus to build on.
Before we begin to consider Abraham and Sarah and their descendants, we do well to allow the Word of God to remind us that taking the faith long view begins with a miracle. Without that miracle, there will be no spiritual sight, let alone faith in the short, intermediate or long view.
The Word of God graciously tells us the truth. WE ARE BORN SPIRITUALLY BLIND.
Jesus explained that to His disciples as the purpose of parables.
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matt 13:10-
Some might read this explanation and wrongly conclude that Jesus spoke in parables to make the truth obscure. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Those who believed in Jesus asked Him to explain the parables. To those who asked, Jesus lovingly explained what He meant - basics of the Gospel . So did John the Baptist - Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
In introductory algebra we soon learn in simple algrebraic equations or equations how to solve for X or whatever.
When we come to personal faith in Christ - repent, confess sin, ask for forgiveness/Christ’s imputed righteousness - we begin to see spiritually. Jesus explained that to Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus at night. What we do not initially will have some unknowns BUT the Scriptures are clear with regard to - sinfulness of mankind, holiness of God, need and means of salvation, what it means to repent and believe the Gospel, Kingdom of God ...
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Jn 3:9-
Last week we were reminded that:
Abel saw how to come to God & did.
Enoch walked with God in a day when most did not.
Noah worked for God and was a preacher of righteousness when only his family believed.
UNLESS YOU AND I BY FAITH WHAT THESE THREE BELIEVED BY FAITH AND DID BY FAITH, WE CAN NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT ABRAHAM UNDERSTOOD BY FAITH.
By faith Abraham obeyed God - 11:8-10
Although the writer of Hebrews will refer to Abraham later with regard to God’s command to offer up Isaac - 11:17-19 - in this, his first reference to Abraham, his readers and for that matter, us as well are reminded of two things with regard to Abraham - his faith and his obedience. That is not to say that Abel, Enoch and Noah did not obey. They obeyed unequivocally.
But when it came to Abraham and his faith, his faith was demonstrated not by a verbal confession, although there can be no doubt that he would CONFESS faith in God and God’s call being the reason he journeyed from Ur of the Chaldees to the land that God promised to give to his descendants.
Summary of - The Genesis account records that Terah’s, Abraham’s father began that journey by heading NW up the Euphrates River, stopping at Haran. We are told that they settled there - . We are also told that Terah died there. With the death of Terah, God said the Abraham.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Gen 12:
Obeyed and went to a place not knowing where he was going - 11:8
When God spoke to Abraham, Abraham obeyed.
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Rabbis had taught:
Abraham pleased God because of his works.
God had look for an outstanding righteous man and selected that man, Abraham to be the father of God’s chosen people. That was grossly false teaching that needed to be corrected.
BUT Abraham was not righteous because of what he did but because of faith or because he moved to another country. He believed God.
Stephen understood and testified of that.
And Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
For a Jew to accept that salvation is by faith, he/she would need to understand the same had bee true for Abraham.
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
Gal
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
When we read the writer of Hebrews faith/obedience/journey summary of Abraham’s life, it is noteworthy that Paul’s reference to God’ preaching the Gospel to Abraham was simultaneous with calling Abraham to leave were he was to go to where God would lead him.
This was not Abraham’s plan - leave Ur/travel to Canaan -
Called by God
Abraham was a sinful pagan who was raised in an idolatrous household. Joshua understood that.
And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.
God called Abraham from that spiritually hard area. Isaiah also understood that.
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
By faith, Abraham obeyed and began a journey, not knowing where he was going - FAITH IS A PILGRIMAGE
We are pilgrims - not only physically but spiritually. In our faith journey, once our eyes are open, we see that which lead us astray - Pilgrim’s Progress - John Bunyan
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
FAITH CALLS US FROM EVERYTHING THAT WE KNOW AND HOLD DEAR TO EVERYTHING THAT GOD HAS FOR US.
Abraham went to a place not knowing where he was going.
When each of comes to faith in Christ we have no idea where He will call us.
Abraham went to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance BUT did not receive.
Lived in a land of promise as in a foreign land - 11:9
By faith
As in a foreign land
Lived in tents with Isaac & Jacob - also heirs.
In those tents - Abraham would have reminded them that in time they would be given this land but that was not the end.
Looked to the city whose foundations, who designer and builder is God - 11:10
Has foundations, whose designer & builder is God
Ge
Jerusalem - symbolic - then and future/heaven
On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
Rev
Heaven - this world not our home.
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
Heb 12:
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
The Gospel song writer expressed it this way - author of lyrics cannot be verified - most roots seem to stem from an African/American spiritual
“This world is not my home I'm just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Oh Lord you know I have no friend like you
If heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.”
One of life’s most important lessons to teach our children.
By faith Sarah received power to conceive - 11:11-12
For Sarah, faith involved believing that she could still conceive - become pregnant - deliver a healthy full term baby.
Barren - had born Abraham no children - years after entered Canaan gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife.
Change of life - Gen 18:11
Abraham - 99 years old when a child promised -
Both old and advanced in years -
When Sarah hear promise of a child/a son - laughed to herself - ,
Sarah denied had laughed - - GOD said
Considered Him faithful who had promised - 11:11
Gen 18:
But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
BUT God - at the time God had spoken - - I will establish my covenant with you - Sarah will bear a child this time next year.
The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Gen 21:
Considered Him faithful who had promised - 11:11
By faith, believed God faithful to do as had promised
Heb 10:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
THEREFORE:
From one man as good as dead
Were born descendants - as many as - stars of heaven/innumerable grains of sand by the seashore
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
With Lot gone covenant confirmed.
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
Gen
Not Eliezer.
And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Gen 15:
Gen 15:
These all died in faith - 11:13-16
The “these all died” of verse 13 refers to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their immediate families. That is not say that there is not a secondary application, but the “these all died” all still have some degree of connection with the land from which God called Abraham - 11:15 - If they had been thinking of the land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.”
Secondary application - descendants born - 11:12
Almost 500 years after Jacob died before Israel began to possess Canaan, the land promised
ALL these died in faith.
For them receiving and residing in the land of promise was never a question if “IF” but “WHEN”.
Had a sampling as visitors not as possessors.
NOT having received the things promised BUT having seen and greeted them from afar.
For them, the promise = what promised - with the result that they saw it and greeted it from afar.
By God’s grace, many of us have those in our lives, whose word is their bond. What they say, they will do. You can take it to the bank.
For them a commitment made is a commitment kept. Those commitments are kept in spite of what others might deem extenuating circumstances - weather, health, distance …
During the years that I served with SGA, I never charged or had a set honorarium. That does not mean that I expected nothing. With the Lord’s help, I asked if a love offering would be possible. Beyond that, if the distance or cost involved exceeded what God’s people might be expected to give, I did my best to have multiple meetings.
God always cares for His.
HAVING acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
In that day and any era strangers & exiles are regarded and treated with contempt.
Strangers and pilgrims in their what would be theirs.
This does not mean that they were poor, but they were not owners & citizens.
They were outsiders - gaijin - outside person , gaikokujin - other/foreign country person,
DESIRED a better country.
David
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Job
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
Job 19:
THEREFORE, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepare for them a city.
In the OT context and terminology, this is a confession.
Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
1 Sam 2:
Faith is the bottom line that honours God.
Jesus also emphasized that.
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matt 10:
What should we expect the Spirit of God to embed in our hearts, minds and lives?
When asked most people, including many professing believer, “What is most important?” , some might indicate that they focus on the long term and others, in everyday life that is not always the case. Under the surface, there is the sense of the here, now and I are the bottom line.
“It’s not about me; it’s about Him.
Who I am and what is life? If I don’t believe what God says about me then it’s about me.
It
It’s not what others say but what God says.
And even when I believe what God says, whom do I serve?
Collectively , whom do we serve?
What are we willing to leave, where are we willing to go when He calls me?
It’s not what others say; it’s what He says.
It’s not about now; it’s about then.
Rich young man -
Rich fool - build new bigger barns -
Lay up treasures in heaven -
It’s not about here; it’s about there.
Life is always more than the short term immediate.
Focus on the long view
Plowing before the days of GPS
The word of God gives us the long view
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness -
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
It’s not only about me and Him; it’s about others and Him.”
What is good for others and me.
What about my family?
Am I modelling walking with/following Christ, so that when the Lord takes me home, others will not loose sight of their goal.
Will what God is calling me to do be secondary to what God is calling us to do?
May those who come behind us faithful.
Every generation much define faithful in their generation and teach the next generation.
Parameters and principles
Who we worship more than how we worship
Can mean change - music, worship format, spirit and truth, Biblical grid rather than ones personal grid.