stand together and sing hymn number 132.

132. I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today.
I know that He is living, whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer.
And just the time I need Him, He's always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.

He walks with me and talks with me.

A long life's never a wait.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart.

You ask me how I know He lives.
He lives within my heart.

In all the world around me I see His loving care,
And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair.
I know that He is leading through all the stormy blasts,
The day of His appearing will come at last.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to Him comes.
You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King
The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find
None other is so loving, so good and kind.

He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me. A long life's never a way.
He lives, he lives, salvation lives.

Be seated and we'll sing hymn number 126.

126. Rock of ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in thee
Let the water and the blood
From the wounded side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no languor know?
Peace for sin could not atone.
Thou my Saviour, Thou alone.

In my hand, O Christ, I bring
Simply to thy cross I cling
While I draw this fleeting thread
When my eyes shall close in death
When I rise and behold thee on the throne.

Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.

Galatians chapter 2. Excuse me, chapter three, I don't know why I keep saying Galatians two. Galatians three, I'm sorry. Started verse five and read down to verse 10.

He, therefore, that ministereth to you the Spirit, worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Our blessed Savior, our glorious Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Master, our Savior, our Lord, our friend. You said, you know, you told friends things you would do, and you called us friends one time. Lord, to be called by you in any way, to be called from sin to righteousness, from death to life, from darkness to light, from flesh to spirit, all these wonderful things that you've done for us by your grace.

And Lord, I thank you, oh God, our Father, that you sent your son. Oh, I'm so thankful you sent him. And you sent him to my heart, sent him to my soul, sent him to put away my sin by the sacrifice of himself, sent him to stand as the only mediator between me and you to thank you, Lord, that he brought a righteousness and, O Lord, gave it to us who believe.

Please bring glory to yourself tonight through the word of God as we study it again. And, Lord, bless these dear saints that's gathered out. They've gathered out here, O Lord Jesus, to hear and, like me, to learn. Lord, we want to learn. We want to learn what your word says, not our opinion of the word, not what we think it says, but what it actually says.

So, Lord, forgive us of everything that's unlike you. Bring glory to yourself tonight. Please be merciful, merciful, merciful to our families, our children and grandchildren. And Lord, we still again pray for Debbie as she deals with Jim and Jim and his pitiful condition. Pray for Rick and Helen again. Lord, they need you. They acknowledge you. And we thank you for them.

In our Lord Jesus' name, amen.

M number 303. 303. Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life's tempestuous sea. Unknown waves before me roll, hiding rocks and treacherous shoal. Chard and compass come from thee, Jesus, Savior, pilot me, As a mother steals her child, Thou canst touch the ocean while Ostrous waves, obey thy will, When thou say'st to them, be still. Lord, you're sovereign of the sea, Jesus, Saviour, byleth be. When at last I near the shore, And the fearful breakers roar, Twixt me and the peaceful rest, And while leaning on thy breast, may I hear thee say to me, fear not, I will either be.

I want to talk tonight about the children of Abraham, God's children, children of Abraham. That's what he says down there in verse six. Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Know you therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham and the scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen, that's us, through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham. In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Now the apostle had asked all these questions. The first question, that's why I call them foolish Galatians. First question had to do with the truth, that they should not obey the truth. And then the second one had to do with works of the law or the hearing of faith. And all they are opposed to one another. Law, works of law, has nothing to do with faith, has nothing to do with grace, has nothing to do with justification. That's why grace and law, grace and works can never mix. And that's what he kept telling these folks, you foolish Galatians. Don't you understand how you received the Spirit? Don't you understand that you started out in the Spirit? Don't you understand that it was by the hearing of faith that you became a believer? And now you're going to go back to Moses, going to go back to the law, going to go back to works? And it never worked for anybody. Nobody's ever been justified by works. Nobody's ever been justified by anything that they do.

And so now, he talked about the hearing of faith. The hearing of faith. You know, that's how faith comes to us. It comes by hearing. It comes by hearing, by us listening. Hearing to what God says. And that's what's so wonderful about the Word of God. It brings faith with it. You know, when... Paul said, when our gospel came unto you, it came with not just in the word of man, it come in power, it come in the Holy Ghost. And with it came much assurance that what you was hearing, what God said, what God said. And there's not very many people know anything about the hearing of faith. You know, they've never heard of Christ. They use his name. They use words that we use, but they don't have the same meaning. They don't have the same meaning.

And you know why people don't know what the hearing of faith is? You can't know who Jesus Christ is until you tell people who he is. He is God manifest in the flesh. It was God who died on the cross. And it was a man who died on the cross, the God man.

And I tell you what, what did he do? Well, listen, he lived an obedient life, a life that I could not live. He rendered obedience to God that I could not render obedience to. He did. And he stood between me and God. That's why God said he'll not no means clear the guilty. Well, he will not. Sin must be punished. Where'd he punish it at? He punished it in the Lord Jesus Christ for his elect, for Abraham even. And then God raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand.

And I'll tell you what, we gotta, you know, oh, I wished I had an opportunity to preach to a lot of people sometimes. And now he comes and he talked about, was the person who done miracles among you, how did he do it? Did he do it by the works of the law or did he do it by hearing of faith? Well, ain't nobody ever done a miracle by works. But I tell you, you know how a miracle comes? By hearing, by hearing. And how many times in the Gospels did it say, when they heard of him, they came to him. When they heard of him, they said, wilt thou have mercy on me? When they heard of him, they got down at his feet. And you got to hear the right information.

And so he talks about now coming to Abraham. And he continues this argument between works and law and justification by faith. And he continues this argument, and he says right here in verse 6, he said, works of law, the hearing of faith, even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. How was Abraham justified before God? How was Abraham blessed in the presence of God? He believed him. Did not do one thing. to get God to do something for him. You cannot find anywhere where he, you can find where he sinned, but you can't find where God, only God justified him. You know, God reckoned him, ain't that what it says, accounted him or reckoned him to be righteous. In the margin it says imputed to him.

And I'll tell you what, to the Jews, to the Jews, Abraham was everything. Abraham was held in the highest esteem. Now you keep Galatians, look over in John chapter eight. Look in John chapter eight. These Jews, I mean, they, you talking about, in fact, you know what, last week, a couple of weeks ago, our priest only said, God said, John the Baptist says, think not within yourselves that you're the children of Abraham. God's able to these stones. to raise up children to Abraham.

Look what he said down here in verse 33. Our Lord said, you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. They answered him, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you shall be made free? What freedom are you talking about? We never was in bondage.

Jesus answered them, verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin is the servant of sin. If you commit sin, sin is your master, sin belongs to you, then you're the servant of sin, and you're not free at all. You're bound by sin. You're bound by law. You're bound by the curse. And look what he goes on to say.

And the servant abideth not in the house forever, talking about Christ, but the Son abideth forever. And I tell you, he's talking about us. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And listen to this now, I know that you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me. And the reason you seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in your mind, in your heart, in your thoughts, in your obedience. My word has nothing in you. You don't believe anything I say.

And he said, I speak that which my father, I seem with my father, and you did that which you seem with your father. And they answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Our Lord said unto him, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. What was the works that Abraham did? He believed God. That's all he did. He believed God.

And let me tell you something about that. Two things you got to understand. Anybody that was converted in the Old Testament, they had to first and all be regenerated. You cannot believe unless God gives you a new heart. You cannot believe unless God regenerates you and gives you the new birth. And then with that new birth and that hearing and that believing comes faith.

Abraham had to be regenerated. He couldn't believe God in his flesh. He couldn't believe God just as a man. He believed God as a new creature. He believed God as somebody that God had already done something for. God said, Abraham, I want you to go out. He wanted me to go. Just go. But what happened? He got up and went. And that's exactly how he was converted. God spoke to him. And oh my, and I tell you what,

And that's why he was telling these Galatians, in order for you to be the children of Abraham, you got to be like Abraham. You got to believe God. You got to believe God. And you got to be heirs of the promise. You know, certainly, you know, heirs of the promise was not to be circumcised and obey the law, but it was to believe God. You know, Abraham, Abraham was He was 430-something years before the law was ever given.

And I want you to see this with me too. This is what happened to these poor old Galatians and what people did. Acts 15. Acts 15. You know, you fellas, Here you are, you're trying to do something that Abraham did, and you're trying to do it by doing something that Abraham never tried to do. Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God. You know what he's called? He's called the friend of God.

There's two people that God called friends in the scriptures. Well, he called us friends. He said, I don't tell nobody. I don't tell somebody. I tell my friends what I'm going to do. And he called us friends. But he called, he said, he spoke to Moses as a friend to friend. And he said, Abraham is my friend. God said, Abraham is my friend. How would you like to be the friend of God? Well, Abraham was God's friend. He was a friend of God. You know,

And in fact, there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Who is that friend? The Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, look what he said here in Acts 15, 1. This is what happened to these people. And certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren. Now, these are brothers, people that converted and said, except you be circumcised after the banner of Moses, you cannot be saved.

Abraham was not circumcised when he believed God. He didn't know anything about circumcision when he believed God. Look down here in verse, I believe it's verse 5. But there rose up certain of the sect of Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. That's what happened here to these people.

But Abraham believed God. He didn't have any works. And Abraham was counted righteous. Why? Because he believed. And he believed God. Now let me tell you something. His faith had no merit. It was a gift of God, just the same way it's a gift of God to us. There's never been anybody that got faith that God didn't give it to them. Abraham had faith because God gave it to him. Abraham believed God because God gave him the faith and gave him a new heart and he believed God

And faith is not a work faith is not a work

We surely and I was talking coming over the world how many there's You know how many God's people worship that's in in churches and things. There's people that worship their own faith There's people that worship the works There's people that worship the church attendance. There's people that worship the things that they do. There's people that worship because they, you know, at this time of year, they feel so good about what they're doing for Jesus.

But Abraham did not do anything. God told him to do something. Abraham said, I believe that. I believe what you're saying. And that's all we do. God says it. We believe it.

Look at Genesis 15. I'm going to have you all over the place tonight. Look at Genesis 15. Oh, this is something right here. Everybody's looking for rewards, but look what God says to Abraham in chapter 15.

After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, or mine doth go hurt you, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childish, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abraham said to me, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, no one born in my house is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came again. You notice how it says the word of the Lord came unto him saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth.

Now watch this. He brought him forth abroad. God took him out. from where he was and said let's go out here let's go out here and you know the only way in the world God could take Abraham anywhere the Lord Jesus Christ had to be the one because he is the word and look what else he goes on to say now he brought him forth and said look now toward heaven and tell the stars count them if you can if you be able to number them he said unto them so shall thy seed be

wait a minute We got a handful in here. How in the world can have that many of the stars of the heavens? There's nothing impossible with God. And look what he said. And he believed in the Lord and he counted it unto him for righteousness. He said, Abram, you believe. You believe something that's absolutely impossible for a man to believe. Look up to the stars, and how many children you gonna have? As many as there are in them stars in the heavens.

Now, I tell you what, if God took me out and told me that, I said, ah. But Abraham wasn't that way. No, no. Abraham wasn't that way. You know, he was the object of his faith. And God made Abraham a promise. And the object of his faith was God who promised. God who said. God who said, this is what I'm going to do. And that's exactly what we do. God tells us what he has done. And he's going to tell Abraham what he's going to do. And he tells us what we have done. He's going to do this for Abraham. But he's already done something for us.

And oh my, and oh my, so shall thy seed be. And you know, Abraham wasn't justified, not by circumcision, but by his faith. It was not Abraham the circumcised, but Abraham the believer that was justified.

I want you to, I want you to look at something else again. Romans chapter four, you know, talking about Abraham and we're the children of Abraham. Look what God said here, right here, right now. Henry Mahan's got a message on this. the righteousness of God out of these first six verses. As good a message I ever heard in my life, and I've listened to it, I couldn't tell you at times.

But look what he says then. What are we going to say about Abraham? He's talking about the law justified through the law that we establish faith. We establish the law by believing. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh hath found." Abraham, what's he found? Has he found salvation in works? Has he found salvation in obedience? Has he found salvation in doing what he thinks he ought to do? How did he find salvation? How did he find the righteousness? Where did it come from? How did he get it?

For if Abraham were justified by works, he'll glory in it. He'll brag about it. but not before God. Not before God. Then he says, what does the scripture say? That's the touchstone to anything we believe. What does the scripture say? And look what he says. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Now, now he goes on to say, but now, to him that works, His reward has nothing, not reckoned of grace, not accounted as grace, but a debt. If you go to work, God's going to pay you. And oh my, but to him that worketh not, listen to this now, but believeth on him, listen, that justifies the ungodly. Oh my, that's us. Christ died for us when we were yet without strength. Christ died for us when we was ungodly.

And oh, listen to what he goes on to say. His faith even justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also, he goes on to the scriptures, describes the blessed of the man whom God imputed righteousness without works. Saying, blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Instead, impute righteousness. Oh my, how blessed is a man. Abraham was blessed. Oh my.

It wasn't Abraham the circumcised. It was Abraham the believer. And when was Abraham, it tells us over in Romans, that he was a believer. but long, long before God ever told him to be circumcised. And oh, Abraham was accounted reckoned by God to be a believer, to be a believer, to have faith. And he was reckoned that way. You know why? Because he was a believer. He believed things it's impossible to believe. I mean, you think about it. You look at the stars. And then one time he took him out and showed him all the sand of the shore, seashore. He said, count all them. He said, that's going to be how many children you're going to have. That's how many children you're going to have. And oh, my.

Look in Romans 4 again. I'm sorry. I should have had to stay over there when I was over there. But look what he says about Abraham believing God. Look down in verse 20. Oh, my. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Didn't stagger at it because of unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what God had promised he is able also to perform Therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Now listen to it. Now it's not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also. For us. To whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him, on Christ, on God that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Oh my. And God always, always reckoned men as they are, not like they think they are. Now, what I mean by that, I don't feel righteous and I don't act righteous, but God says I'm righteous. I have my faith sometimes, feel like I ain't got none, but God says I got faith. I believe him. I have so much flesh to contend with, but God said I'm not in the flesh but in the spirit if the spirit of Christ dwells in me.

We don't believe what God says about us or what we say about ourselves. You know, we'll say this about ourselves and this about that, but we're not saved by our feelings. We're saved by Christ. Christ didn't die for our faith. He died to give us faith. He died to save us. Our faith never saved us. Christ did. Our works has nothing to do with it. Christ did it all.

Oh, my. And as a believer, Abraham believed he was justified before God. Abraham was reckoned righteous, not by works, but by faith, not obeying the law, but believing the promise. Not as a worker, but as a believer, a believer. And all now, look what he says now in verse seven, back over here in our text.

Know, this is something we know. I love when you find those words, know. That's something we know. John said, we know. Simon Peter says, knowing. that we're not redeemed with such corruptible things, all filthy things. You couldn't have enough money to pay for one sin, much less to pay for the blood of Christ. And, oh, look what he says here now. He said, no, we know these things. This is something that we don't have a doubt about.

Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, them which believe, You're a believer, you're the same like Abraham. Just like Abraham. Just like Abraham. Whatever Abraham believed, I believed. Whatever justified Abraham, justified me. Whatever made me acceptable to Abraham, Abraham to God, I'm acceptable the same way. Oh my, children of Abraham.

And oh, he starts out with facts, I know. No, these are facts. No, he starts out with facts, guilt or truth. Paul said, I know, I know whom I have believed. Most people say, I know in whom I have believed. You don't want a preposition to come between you and your relationship with Christ. I know who I have believed. Not what, but who. And that's why he says here, we know, we know these things.

Oh, maybe. Abraham's heirs are not of blood but of faith. Not of blood but of faith. We just read that. You're not Abraham's children. You're not Abraham's children. Abraham's heirs are not of blood but of faith. In God's eyes, in God's purpose of faith, it's not a genetic thing. You know, it'd be wonderful if it was. If we could, you know, we give our children our fallen nature when they're born, conceived in sin, we pass on our nature to our children. But wouldn't it be wonderful if we could pass on, God put it in our genes, if he put righteousness in our genes, put faith in our genes, and we could pass it on to our children? But you can't do that. Can't do that. Or ethnic. You know, by whatever race you are. No, but it's a spiritual. We descend from a spiritual father. We have a spiritual life. Abraham's children are not there who show his cherished genes or of a particular race, but them that believe God. Ain't that what he says? Know ye therefore they which are of faith. The same are the children of Abraham.

Now when he talks about the children of Abraham, but those who have the same faith, Paul told the Romans, he says, you know, we walk in the footsteps, the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham. And he's talking to Romans, pagans. We walk in the footsteps of our father Abraham. When Abraham walked with God, we walked with God. Abraham believed God, we believed God. And whatever steps Abraham did, we do with him.

And oh my, our Lord said it this way. He said, to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, Not of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Oh, my.

And that, you know, to be the children of a person is in a sense to be the same as to resemble them. Resemble them. You know, it's a, you know, children resemble their parents. Some resemble their mother, some resemble their dad. I resemble my dad. Not my mother very much, but my dad. I look just like him. And I tell you, to be children of a person is to resemble him. It's to resemble him. Well, we resemble Abraham. We're his children. And we resemble him. How? We believe God. And God justified us.

Oh, and to be resembling them is to be involved in their life. We is involved in the life of Christ. We was Christ's seed through Abraham, who was Christ was Abraham's seed. And oh my. To be the children of a person, to be involved in someone's life, whether it's good or bad. We was involved in Adam's life. We was involved in Adam's sin. And we had inherited Adam's nature. And now that's a bad, bad, bad relationship. I don't want to resemble Adam. I don't want to resemble him at all. But then we're in Christ. I want to resemble him. I want to be identified with him. I want to have his life. Don't want nothing to do with Adam. Don't want to resemble him at all. I want to resemble Christ. I want to resemble people that believe in him. Oh, my. That's good. That's really good.

And then look what he said here back in verse 8. Oh, we're back over in our text. And he says, and the scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen, now that's us, Gentiles, through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. And what he said is that the gospel, the gospel is for every nation under heaven, every out of kindred, nation, tongue, tribe, and people. In thee shall all nations be blessed.

Now, Abraham, Abraham cannot bless all people. Isaac, in his life, could not bless all people. Jacob could not bless all people. But there's one person that comes through Abraham to bless all nations. That's Abraham's seed. Huh? Oh, my. Look, Dad, it said down in verse 16 down here in Galatians 3. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, and he said, not to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. That's the only way God can bless all nations, is through Christ, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, God preached the gospel. to Abraham, and he preached the gospel of promise, the gospel of sure, the gospel of blessedness. Justify the heathen through faith, without law, without works, without circumcision. Now there's two types of children of Abraham. Promises made to Abraham fall in two categories.

There is the physical descendants of Abraham. Do you know Muslims think they're the children of Abraham? They claim to be the children of Abraham. But the Jew says we're Abraham's seed, and that's the physical seed. That's the people who direct descendants of him. And God made this promise to him. He said, Abraham, he said, you go out and look this way, look that way, look that way, and look this way, and I'm going to give you all this land. I'm going to give everything to you and to your children after you. And I tell you what, they wallowed through the wilderness and finally they got into the promised land, promised land. And oh, they gave him a homeland and gave him a country.

And then there's the spiritual children of Abraham. That's who we are. And the spiritual promises of Abraham concern his seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming of Christ. Abraham, Our Lord said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Rejoiced to see my day. He said, you're not even 50 years old, man. What are you talking about, Abraham saw my day? He rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and he's glad.

How did Abraham, how did Christ see Abraham's day? First of all, he was the one who gave the promise to Abraham. He's the one who gave him a new nature. He's the one that the promise was made to. And secondly, he saw Abraham take his own son. You're talking about faith. Abraham took his son, his only son, Isaac, and whom the promise had to come through, said, take him up on that mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham never backed up a bit. never backed up saying now wait a minute lord i don't know if i can do that or not no he said i took that went out three days journey and said i'm the lad will go up yonder and worship and i'll come again and he put that boy on an altar he was a he was a young man put him on that altar and he was fixing to stab him and god stayed his hand and took a ram out of a thicket, put him in.

Abraham saw. Christ saw him being that lamb that God said, I'll provide myself a lamb. Christ was that lamb of God put in our place. Oh my, we was caught. We was on that mountain. But the scripture says that Abraham believed that God, if he slew that child, that God would raise him back up from the dead. You know why? because the promise was in him. God wasn't going to let him stay dead. And that's another thing about Christ. God wasn't going to let him stay dead. Oh, my.

And not only that, but, beloved, the physical promise was made literally. It is literally fulfilled. But they're just spiritual pictures of spiritual blessings for us. That's all they are. You know, we're in the wilderness now, but we got a promised land, a promised home, a promised place to go, a place that God's promised us that he'll come and take us where he is. That's a promise. Is he able to perform that promise? Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. And I'll tell you what, now we, have spiritual blessings in Christ. And we're looking, looking, looking for Christ to come and get us again.

Now let me close with this, this right here. Verse nine. So then they which be of faith are blessed with spiritual Abraham. Abraham was blessed of God. Guess what? We're blessed of God. Blessed in that seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed with faith like Abraham was. But now I want you to see something in Hebrews 11, and I'll be done. Hebrews 11. Look down at verse 9. Abraham and all his children at the same time was looking for something by faith. He soldiered in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise." Now look what he was doing. He looked for a city, which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And that's exactly what we're looking for. We've already got it. God has done built it and made it for us.

And oh my, look what else he says down here in verse 14. Verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, having seen them afar off. They were persuaded of them promises and embraced them. said, this is my hope, this is what I can die in faith of, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they're seeking a country. And truly, truly, if they had been mindful from that country from which they came out, they'd have turned around and went back. But now, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly country, where for God, bless his name, is not ashamed to be called their God. That's where we're going. For he hath prepared for them a city. God done that.

Oh, my. Oh, blessed, faithful I gave, truly blessed, blessed to believe, blessed to have a promise, blessed to have a heavenly home already made for us. You know, Revelation says this, there was a multitude that no man could number out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue on all the earth. That's Abraham's children. That's the seed that Christ purchased. Lord Jesus, thank you. Oh, bless you, holy name. How precious you are. Oh, how precious you are to us who believe. Thank you for giving us faith. Thank you for enabling us to believe you, not believe our opinions, not believe in our feelings, not to believe in how much faith we got. The Lord is the object of the faith. It's you, Lord Jesus, that we look to. It's you we believe. It's you, Lord, that one of these days, you'll let all of us die in faith, and we'll enter that city, into that heavenly city, that precious place you've already prepared for us. We thank you and bless you for letting us meet here tonight. For Christ's sake, amen.

Where's that little old chorus at, Living by Faith? Is that in there? How much? Bottom of page 30. All right. All right. Let's stand and sing a little bit of this. Not much of it. We'll just 30, 30, 30. I'll get there. Yeah. All right. I care not today what the morrow may bring, if shadow or sunshine or rain. The Lord I know ruleth o'er everything, and all of my worry is vain.

Living by faith, yes, living by faith,
In Jesus above, trusting, confiding in His great love.
Safe from all harm, in His sheltering arm,
I'm living by faith, and I feel no alarm.

Go down to that, I know it'll safely carry me through. I know that he safely will carry me through, no matter what evils be tied. Why then I should care, though the tempest may blow, if Jesus walks close to my side?

Living by faith in Jesus above,
trusting, confiding in his great love.
Safe from all harm in his sheltering arm,
I'm living by faith and I feel no alarm.

Our Lord will return to this earth some sweet day. Our troubles will then all be o'er. The Master so gently will lead us away beyond that heavenly, blessedly shore.

Living by faith in Jesus above.
Trusting, confiding in his great love.
Safe from all harm in his sheltering arm.
I'm living by faith and I feel no alarm.

Let me give you a couple of announcements before you go. I'll be gone the next two Wednesday nights. I'll be back the 1st of January, be here the 4th. Rex Bartley from Grace Baptist Church, oldest member up there, been there 50-something years, I think, when it first started. Rex Bartley will be here Sunday to preach for you. You've never heard him before. He's a sweet, sweet, sweet man. And then the next Sunday, it'll be Luke Coffey. It's the Lord's blessing that young man, blessing him very much. Lord willing, I'll see you first of January, or next year, matter of fact.