You know, we're in the book of
Hebrews for our Bible study, right? Yeah, we're going to pick
up there again. And we've kind of, we've come
to this chapter 11 of Hebrews where the Lord shows us these
wonderful witnesses who have gone on before us. And we looked
a little bit at this verse 13 last week. And I want to read
verses 13 through 16 once again, if you would with me. It says
in verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the
promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of
them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. Strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly if they
had been mindful of the country which they came out of, they
might have had opportunity to have returned, but now they desire
a better country that is in heavenly, where God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for he hath prepared for them A city. They walk through this earth
just like you and I do. This valley of death to the world. Because isn't that what it is?
It's a valley of death. It's as a flower. How does the
prophet say this? We're going to look at this a
little. I'm going to bring this up a little bit in the next message. But listen to this. The prophet
Isaiah cries. He says, What shall I cry? In verse 6 of chapter 40 of Isaiah. You don't need to turn that.
I'll read it for you. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the
flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.
Surely the people is grass. Isn't that what this is? Isn't
that what the world that we live in is? The world that we walk
in, this valley? This valley of death, but only
a shadow of death to those who belong to Christ. We're strangers
in this world. We have a different home to look
to. You know, the world, they look to death as this. Well,
we're not really sure what's on the other side. God's people,
we know what's on the other side, don't we? The Lord says to you
and I, I go to prepare a mansion for you. Roger, you got a mansion
with your name on it somewhere in heaven. It's gonna put that
little house, little piece of property that you so much love
to shame. It's so much better than what
we got right here on the, than what we got in this earth. We're
strangers in their land. Who else walks around saying
God rules over everything? Nobody does. It's not natural
to natural men, is it? To natural men, it's, I rule
over, I set my, I set my destination. You know, what Adele's personally
saying, she's saying, I did it my way. Isn't that the way we
are in this world? I did it my way. These all died
in faith, not having received the promise. Roger and I took
a drive up to Tahoe yesterday, and we couldn't help but think
of, as we were passing by the Truckee River at the turnoff
that goes down, down the road into the trees over there, we
couldn't help but think of our sister and our brother who'd
gone on to be with the Lord, Mike and Juanita and Gotina. They died in faith. They were
strangers in this world and they were looking for that promise
of God, you shall be with me where I am. They were looking
for that promise of God, all that the Father giveth to me
shall come to me. They were looking for that promise
of God, believeth on me, and you shall. be saved. A.W. Pink wrote this, he said,
the figure of the stranger applied to the child of God here on earth
is very pertinent and full. That's what this picture is that
we just saw here, these strangers in their land. They were strangers. Remember what the Lord said to
Abraham? He said, come out of the land.
Remember what He said to Noah? Go into the ark and I'll take
you out of that area, that place where you live. They were strangers. Going on, he says, the analogies
between one who is in a foreign country and a Christian in this
world are marked and numerous. In other words, he means they're
all over the Bible. They're throughout the Bible,
showing the difference between us and the world that we live
in. In a strange land, he goes on to say, one is not appreciated
for his birth. Boy, isn't that true? We were
in Greece one time. And if you were from Italy, they
didn't think a whole lot of you. They were strangers. If you were
a stranger in the land of Greece, Grecian people didn't think much
of you. Because you weren't from their
land. That's what A.W. Pink is pointing out there. In
a strange land, one is not appreciated for his birth, but is avoided
as a matter of fact. Listen to these words of John
15, 19. If ye were of the world, this is talking about us. that
the, A.W. Pink, he's given us an example
here of how you and I fit that very same thing as strangers
in the land. Listen to these words. If ye
were of the world, the world would love his own, but because
ye are not of the world, this is talking about you and I, the
people of God, because ye are not of the world, but I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Don't they hate us? Don't the religious people just
absolutely hate the fact that we say there is no free will?
That people are bound by their nature? And if God left you up
to your free will, you would go to hell exactly where you
deserve? I'm so thankful for the will
of God that overrules anything of John Reeves. He goes on to
say, he says, the habits, now we're talking about, he's talking
about strangers in their land. The habits, the ways, and the
language are strange to those in their countries. And then
he gives us an example of this in 1 Peter 4, verse 4, wherein
they think it strange that you run not with them to the same
excess riot, speaking evil of you. They speak evil of you,
isn't that what they do? They don't run with us? They
speak of, no, those folks up there at rescue, and this is,
I've heard people from the church down the street, that big one
down there by the freeway. Those people up at rescue, you
gotta watch out for them. Those are predestinated people.
They're what we call the frozen chosen. They don't like when
we talk. A.W. Pink goes on and he says
he has to be content with a stranger's fare. We have to be content with
the people of this world, don't we? We have to put up with them.
We can't go chase them off. We have to put up with them.
We're in their land. We have to put up with whoever
God puts into the government in front of us because we're
in their land. We're not in our own. Listen to 1 Timothy 6, verse
8. Speaking of those who are in
a strange land, he needs to be careful not to give offense to
the government. We have to be careful about not
being offensive to those around us, don't we? Oh, we got to be
bold. We got to stand our ground, but
we want to be doing it lovingly. Lovingly. Knowing that the Lord
is the one who changes the hearts. Walk in wisdom. toward them that
are without, it says, redeeming the time. That's in Colossians
4 verse 5. We have to be continually inquiring
His way. We have to be continually inquiring
the way of the land that we live in. And it says in Psalms 5 verse
8, lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness, because of mine enemies, make
Thy way straight before my face. Isn't that what we do? We walk
through this strange place. And then lastly, unless he conforms
to the ways of that foreign country, he is easily identified. Thy speech betrayeth thee is
what we read in Matthew 26, verse 73. He is often assailed with
homesickness, isn't that you and I? For his heart is not where
his body is. No, we sound the words of Paul
in Philippians 1 verse 23, For I am in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
better. Folks, we're a lot more like these people than we know.
We're seeking a country, we're seeking a city built not with
the hands of men, but built of God. The Holy Spirit draws His
own to this conclusion, to this confession, for they that say
such things declare plainly that they seek a country. Hebrews
11 verse 14. Brother Don Fortner wrote this,
he said, the words translated country would be better translated
fatherland. Heaven is our fatherland, the
land where our Father dwells. The land He possesses as His
own and for His children. The fatherland is the land where
the children want to live and have a right to live and seek
to live. That's the country that we seek.
We seek the fatherland. So there's a choice to be made.
Because we are strangers and pilgrims in this land, in this
earth, we chose not to go back to Chaldea. Isn't that what Abraham
did? Did he not choose not to go back
to Chaldea? When he sent his servant to to
his homeland to get a bride for his wife because it was against
the word of God for him to marry outside of the family, outside
of the people of his own people. So he sent the servant back to
Chaldea. He said, now be sure you don't stay there. Make sure
that you come out as well. Don't do anything that would
take my son back to Chaldea. In the land of Chaldea from which
they had come, it was never very far away. It was just down the
road from Sodom and Gomorrah, from the lands, from the land
that Abraham wandered through. Abraham made a servant take an
oath, swearing that he would do nothing to induce Isaac to
return to that pagan land. And though Jacob did once sojourn
there, he did not and could not stay there, for God would not
allow it. Why? Because they looked for
their happiness and their satisfaction somewhere else. Oh, folks, I
pray that we look to our Heavenly Father for our happiness. Now,
what is this application to you and I? What do these things tell
us about God's people in this world? How do they apply to us?
Spiritually, believers today are precisely like these ones
that we've just read about. Many who profess faith in Christ
do depart from Him. But when the Lord Jesus asked
His disciples, He said, Will you also go away? Peter answered,
For all of them. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Is that not the echo of our words?
Where are we going to go? Who else has the words of life? None. Oh, they have words of
what men can do. They don't have the words of
life, the words of Christ, according to scriptures. Will you also
go away, he said, and Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life, and we desire a better country. All who know God, all who live
by faith, desire, yearn for a better country. a heavenly country. We long for a country where everything
is better. Isn't that what we do when we
think to ourselves, if we could just get this person in office,
maybe God would turn our country back to him? Don't tell me you
haven't thought of that once or twice. OK, maybe you haven't,
but I have. If we could just get somebody
who knew the Lord to rule for us, maybe the country would be
saved and be brought back to God. Don't you yearn? For a godly
country? Don't you yearn for a godly land
where people seek the Lord in all things? I yearn for that
in this flesh, in this body of flesh, this body of death. We long for a country where everything
is better, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed
to be called our God, for He has prepared for us a city. Here
is the greatness and the glory of our Fatherland, and it is
a land prepared specifically for us. I go to prepare a mansion
for you. It was prepared especially for
us, the people of God, in His peculiar love. In preparing this
land for us and bringing us home to it, the Lord God fully answers
all the hopes expectations, desires that are aroused in our hearts
by Him and minds by Him calling Himself our God and us His people. Isn't that, has that ever, has
that ever just grabbed a hold of you and shook you like something?
He actually, He actually gives me the right to say He is my
God. When we, when we look, when we
look at what we were before and how we ourselves were gods in
our own minds, what love God has that would draw us to call
Him our God. That's the love of His people,
a love that He had to establish in us. When we are last brought
home to glory, we'll be holding that which we now see afar off
as our brothers and sisters who have died and gone on. saying,
now I understand what he meant when he said, I will be their
God and they shall be my people. Whenever you leave this country
that we live in and cross into another, there are three things
required. You must have a birth certificate to prove your citizenship. You must have a visa from the
country traveling, receiving you, and you must have a clean
record. In other words, no criminal activity
in your previous life. Soon we will leave this land
of sorrow and sin, and I hope to enter into the bliss of glory
of heaven. I hope to stand forever accepted as a citizen of the
new Jerusalem. And here is the basis for my
hope, and I hope it's yours as well. I have a birth certificate. The Lord has given me a new nature,
2 Corinthians 5.17. There is a new me, a new man,
created of God in righteousness and truth. Turn over there if
you would, 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 17 we read, Therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed
away, behold, all things are become new. We have a birth certificate. This is in me, there is in me
a new man, created of God in righteousness and truth and holiness. I have a visa. I have a visa
to go to this new country. I have a right to enter into
heaven itself. By how? By the blood of Christ. That's our visa. Right there,
the blood of Christ. Because I am washed in His blood
and robed in His righteousness. Turn over to Colossians chapter
1, look at verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
The saints in light. There's our visa through the
blood of Christ. God says it must be perfect to be accepted
and in Christ I am perfect. He has made me perfectly righteous
before God and I have a clear record. I have a clear record. The Lord Jesus has purged away
all my sins as we read in Hebrews chapter one with his own precious
blood. Therefore, God will never charge
me with any sin. Look over at Romans 4, verse
8. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute sin. See how we have a perfect record?
We have a birth certificate. The new nature in us. A new nature
that only God can give His people. We have a visa. We have the right
to travel there because of the blood of our Savior. And we have
a clear record. Purged of God. Blessed is the
man. to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. When I stand before God and He searches the books for
iniquity and sin under my name, He's gonna find none. You know
why? Turn over to Jeremiah 50, verse 20. In those days, and
in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah,
and they shall not be found. For I, I saith the Lord, will
pardon them whom I reserve." Isn't that good news, folks? Do you see the relationship we
have with these who died in faith? I know we struggle a great deal
with the sin that's in this flesh, and we're going to look a little
bit at that. Paul wrote about that. He said, O wretched man,
that I am. Not that I was, but that I am.
You and I say the same thing, don't we? We say the same thing. We struggle with sin where we
never did before. I know we struggle with that,
but folks, there's good news. Far off, our Lord sits on His
throne right now. Look at that. Close your eyes
and look into the heavens and see our Lord on His throne right
now. Death could not hold Him. He's
the Master of all things, including death. And He's put it away for
you and I. That's the land that we're heading
to. If we can keep that, and Lord help us to, Lord give us
the strength to turn away from the things that sparkle and attract
us in this world. Turn away from those things and
turn to our favor. Lord help us, if we can do that.
All this stuff that we see going on in the world around us, including
what's inside of this flesh, it's just... That's exactly what
it is. It's nothing. It's just a puff
of air. I close with this question. Do
you have what God requires to travel to that land? Christ in
us, the hope of glory. Amen.