This World Is Not My Home

Hebrews 11:13–16 NASB95

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 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 a city for them.

They confess they are strangers and exiles. to proclaim, to tell, to manifest, acknowledge before men.

How can we confess?

With our words - tell others that this world is not our home.

With our actions - How we treat people. loving one another. Matt. 6:19-21 ““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

quit living as if we love… 1 Jn. 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

seek the things above… Col. 3:1-3 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

confess what?

strangers - we do not belong, we should not be familiar with this place. It should be awkward, uncomfortable, weird, not normal. I should never feel at home here in this world.

exiles - sojourners, refugees. Here's the sequence of sojourner texts. In Genesis 23:4, Abraham pleads with the sons of Heth for a grave for his wife - "I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." At the end of his life, Jacob said to Pharaoh in Egypt, "The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty" (Genesis 47:9). In Psalm 39, King David looked back over these testimonies and included himself in the lineage of sojourners on the earth. Verse 12: "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with Thee, a sojourner like all my fathers." And in the New Testament Paul says in Philippians 3:20, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." And Peter says in 1 Peter 2:11, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul."

there is no rest, there is no peace, there is no comfort in this life.

They are seeking a country of their own

A sojourner living by faith in God's promises is "seeking" another country (see Matthew 6:33). He is not settling in here. He is sitting loose to things, and is unwilling to be conformed to this age. He is "seeking" the one he has greeted from afar.

In verse 15, the writer argues that if the country the patriarchs were seeking were on the earth and obtainable by human means, they would have gone after it. But they didn't. They lived in tents (verse 9), and refused to go back to Ur of the Chaldees (see Genesis 24:6). So he says, "If they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return." But they didn't. Why not? Verse 16 gives the answer, and here we meet that other great word, "desire." Verse 16: "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one." they don’t look back, they don’t turn back they keep moving forward and heading toward their goal - Heaven

They desire a better country

desire - long for, lust after, dream about. A person of faith looks at both sides. The world on one hand and Heaven on the other. He compares. seeks new desires and satisfactions

Home in the world is - comfort Home is a place of comfort – When David decided he wanted to build the temple, he vowed that he would not enjoy the comforts of home until the task was completed: “Surely I will not enter my house, nor lie in my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob” (Psalm 132:3-5). Though God would chose David’s son Solomon to build the temple, the point about home that David expressed is commonly understood – home is a place to rest and recharge that is separate from the outside world of toil and turmoil.

Home is a place of security – When Lot welcomed the two angels (who had come in the form of men) into his home in Sodom, the men of the city surrounded the house and demanded that the visitors be given to them. Lot pleaded for them and said, “Only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof” (Genesis 19:8). He argued that his home was to be considered a place of safety – a principle that he expected even the godless residents of Sodom to understand.

Home is a place of love – This is the ideal that God has placed upon the home. Husbands are to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25). Wives are to love their husbands and their children (Titus 2:4). This is the general expectation that people have – that there is love in the home among those who are in it.

Home is a place of family – The reason why home is a place of love (previous point) is because it is primarily a place for family. The wise man said, “Let your foot rarely be in your neighbor’s house, or he will become weary of you and hate you” (Proverbs 25:17). Others may enter our homes from time to time – such as friends and neighbors – but the wise man’s point is that these other visits are occasional and the exception to the rule that the home is for family.

Our earthly home offers temporary and imperfect comfort. While we can enjoy times of rest and relaxation at home, there are responsibilities as well. There is always work to be done. Paul made this clear when he gave the remedy for the threat of idleness among the young widows: “Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach” (1 Timothy 5:14). One cannot be idle while also devoted to the responsibilities that exist in the home. Furthermore, houses do not remain comfortable if they are not maintained. “Through indolence the rafters sag, and through slackness the house leaks” (Ecclesiastes 10:18). While comfort can be found at home, it is temporary and imperfect.

Our earthly home provides temporary and imperfect security. There is certainly a degree of security that we have in our homes. Jesus said, “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into” (Matthew 24:43). However, even if we are diligent to keep our homes as a place of security, we are never completely safe. Jesus warned about focusing on earthly treasures because “thieves [can] break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19). Though a “strong man” may be prepared to defend his house, he could be overtaken and bound by intruders, then his house can be plundered (Matthew 12:29). We can and should feel safe in our home, but this security is still temporary and imperfect.

Our earthly home is a place of temporary and imperfect love. As we noticed earlier, love is commanded and taught. Husbands are taught to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25). Wives are commanded to love their husbands and children (Titus 2:4). Why does this need to be taught? It is because the love that exists in the home is often lacking or it fades. Home should be a place of love, but it is often temporary and, even under the best of circumstances, imperfect.

Our earthly home is made up of a temporary and imperfect family. Family is valuable. Yet loved ones will pass away. “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Furthermore, our families are made up of fallible people. This is because of the universal problem of sin: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Even if our family is made up of godly people, this home is still only temporary and imperfect.

Our heavenly home offers eternal and perfect comfort. Heaven is described as a place in which God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). God will “wipe away every tear,” meaning that the pain from this life will be perfectly comforted. There will also be no cause of pain in the future – for eternity – as all things that had caused sorrow will have “passed away.”

Our heavenly home provides eternal and perfect security. Nothing that does not belong in heaven will ever invade that home. John wrote, “And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). Later, the Lord said, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying” (Revelation 22:15). Once we are in our eternal home, nothing that could cause us harm will ever be able to enter into it.

Our heavenly home is a place of eternal and perfect love. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In heaven, we will be in the presence of God (2 Corinthians 5:8). Paul wrote, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). Jesus displayed the greatest love by laying down His life for us (John 15:13). Heaven is a place of perfect love because we will be in the presence of the Lord.

Our heavenly home is made up of an eternal and perfect family. Jesus warned about the possibility that serving Him would put us in opposition to our earthly families: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household” (Matthew 10:34-36). Even if none of our earthly family is in heaven with us, our spiritual family will be there. We have the great privilege – through the love of the Father – to be “children of God” (1 John 3:1). Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50). We are all brethren and have the blessing of being God’s children. We will all be together in heaven.

a new kind of life emerges that is out of sync with the world - like we said last week: a life that builds an ark in the desert and leaves the securities of home and builds a crib when you are ninety, or lifts a knife over your most treasured earthly possession.

Perhaps the command or call of God you hear just now is to stay married or stay single, to stay in that job or leave that job, to get baptized, to speak up at work about Christ, to refuse to compromise your standards of honesty, to confront a person in sin, to venture a new vocation, to be a missionary. And as you see it in your limited mind, the prospect of doing this is terrible - it's like the loss of Isaac. You have considered every human angle, and it is impossible that it could turn out well.

Now you know what it was like for Abraham. This story is in the Bible for you. It is in this message for you. It is at the end of the message so that you will not easily be able to walk away from it. Do you desire God and his way and his promises more than anything, and do you believe that he can and will honor your faith and obedience by being unashamed to call himself your God, and to use all his wisdom and power and love to turn the path of obedience into the path of life and joy?

That is the crisis you face now: Do you desire him? Will you trust him? The word of God to you is: God is worthy and God is able.