God, having provided us some
better thing, God having provided some better thing for us, that
without us should not be perfect. Paul is talking here about the
saints that he mentioned in Hebrews 11, that God had something better
for us. that they without us should not
be there. So the saints that he mentions
here, God had something better for us, that when he made us
all perfect, we'd all be made perfect at the same time. We'd
all be made perfect together. And that's what I want to talk
about. There's seven better things in the book of Hebrews, better
things, better things. You know, these Hebrew believers,
And that's why it's called Hebrews. He's writing to believers who
were Hebrews, who were Jews. And these Jews were considered
that had accepted Christ, believed Christ, trusted Christ, left
the shadows for the substance, left the pictures and the types
for the person. And they'd given up Moses, they'd
given up the law, they'd given up the angels, the priesthood,
the tabernacles, the old covenant. And they were ridiculed for that.
They were ridiculed for that. But here God blessed the Apostle
Paul to write some things to encourage them, to show them
how much better how much better what they had now than everything
they ever had before. Abraham and Moses and them, they
were not made perfect until Christ came. And everything they had
looked to Christ, and everything we have looks back to Christ.
And so that's why God provides us better things. You know, in
Christ, because of our Lord Jesus, all things are better than under
the law or in religion. That's why he says, God having
provided us, provided some better things for us. God did. We didn't
have anything good, much less better. But that they without us should
not be made perfect. Now, we're going to have to use
your Bibles today. Stay with me. And let's look
at these better things. Let's look at Hebrews chapter
1. Look at some of these better things that God provided us.
And it's all right here in the book of Hebrews. We're going
to see these better things. You know, the Old Testament was
concealed in the Old. It was hidden back there, everything
you read in the New Testament. Back there was pictures and types
and shadows. And they were good things. They
all pointed to Christ. But now, when you read the New
Testament, it's the Old Testament revealed where we can understand
clearly what the New Testament was saying. And so the first
thing we see here in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 4, talking
about God having brought us better things, it says here, being so
much better, talking about Christ, being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by an inheritance attained a more excellent
name than they. Now let me tell you something
about angels. The Jews highly regarded angels. You know, God often manifested
himself to them through angels. You remember, Gabriel's the one
that came and told Mary she's going to have a child. He was
the one that told Joseph, you know, don't you be afraid to
take Mary to be your wife. Michael was the one who came
to Daniel and made Daniel understand all the things that were going
to take place in the last days. And then there's the angel of
the covenant in Malachi. And it was an angel. The Lord
Jesus, as the angel of the covenant, wrestled with Jacob. And there
was an angel that appeared unto Abraham. And there was the Lord
Jesus, of course, in Genesis 18. And so you have angels. It was an angel that was before
them. Now, I said, it's in His angels before Him when they come
out of Egypt. And that was an angel that went
before Him and prepared the way. So they had high regard for angels. But it says here that he is better
than angels, being made so much better than angels. How come
he's better than angels? Well, first of all, he has an
inheritance. No angel ever had an inheritance. There was no reason for an angel
to have an inheritance. And he's no much better than
the angels that he has. Not only does he have an inheritance,
but look what it says. He has a more excellent name
there in verse four than they do. They're called angels. He's called the Creator of the
angels. He's the Lord of the angels. And He obtained this...a
legal right to this name of being the Saviour and the Redeemer.
And I'll tell you another reason why He's moved so much better
than angels. Look there in verse 1. God, who at some good times and
at others bad, has passed under the fathers by the prophets.
Now listen to this. Happened the last day, spoken
unto us by a son. You know, he's the son, and God
speaks to us by the son. There is a son of God. Not only is he the son of God,
but he's the heir whom God has appointed heir of all things. That's where he got his inheritance.
And the Scriptures tells us that a child is given to us, a child
is born to us, a son is given to us. And the angels are a service. Look down here in verse 14 of
Hebrews, chapter 12, in verse 14. Talk about Christ being better
than the angels. He says in verse 13, He be a
servant of the angels. He said at any time, sit at my
right hand until you make enemies of your footstool. But he said
here in verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits? That's
what the angels are. All ministering spirits do want
to minister to them. And all they are is He's ministering
to them who shall be heirs of salvation. So angels are just
servants. And oh, beloved, and I tell you,
He's better than the angels, back over here in verse 3. He's
better than the angels, Hebrews 1, 3. He's better than the angels
because of His position, or His person. It says in verse three,
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person. Who's? God. That's why he's so
much better than the angels, because of his person. He's the
brightness of God's glory, the very express image of God's person.
And then he's so much better than the angels because look
at his position. of the verse there, he says,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on heaven. Oh, his person, he's the express
image of God's glory, and then he's sitting at God's right hand,
and he'd look there by his power, it says, and upholds all things
by the word of his power, and there's not an angel nowhere.
That way. So they had high regard for angels,
but we have a better thing than angels. Would you rather have
Christ or an angel? Paul said if an angel came, preaching
another gospel, don't receive him. That's what he said. If an angel comes, and Satan
himself transforms himself into an angel, and an angel come in
here in brightness and in glory, don't believe him. Don't receive
Him. If He, I'll tell you, that's
why He says Christ is better than the angels. And let me show
you another better hope. Not only is Christ better than
the angels, but look over at Hebrews 7, 19. We have a better hope. Not only
we have Christ better, but Christ is better. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw
nigh unto God." We have a better hope than the law could ever
do. It says the law made nothing
perfect. Why didn't it make nothing perfect?
Because it says in verse 18 it's going to be disenough. Then why,
because of the weakness of it, and the weakness being in ourselves. We couldn't keep the law. We
could not make ourselves perfect by the law, and nothing under
the law was ever made perfect. All it does is shows our weakness. If it was perfect, you'd never
have to offer another sacrifice. If it was perfect, you'd never
have to do it ever again. If it was perfect, you'd always
stand perfect before it. But every time we offered a sacrifice,
and they offered a sacrifice, it says, not perfect, not perfect. If it was perfect, you wouldn't
have to do it. So it's going to be disallowed.
And all beloved, it pleased the Lord God that then the Lord Jesus
Christ should all things have the preeminence. So it wasn't
nothing made perfect, but now watch what it says here. So the
Lord made nothing perfect, but the bringing in, and God brought it in, bringing in
a better hope did. Oh, the bringing in of a better
hope did. What did it do? We're just talking about making
things perfect. The bringing in of this better
hope made us perfect. That's what he's talking about,
perfection. He made things perfect. He has perfected forever. Under the law, there was no hope.
By it was the knowledge of sin. Under the law, there was no mercy
when you broke it. Under the law, there was no perfection. Under the law, there was no cleansing.
Under the law, there was no justification. But our Lord Jesus Christ brought
in a better hope, for He made all things and all those who
looked to Him and trusted Him perfect. Not going to be perfect,
perfect now. Look at Hebrews 10.14. We're
not sure what I'm talking about. Hebrews 10.14. Oh my. I know in our flesh we're not
perfect. I know that in ourselves we have no perfection, but I'm
not looking to be. I'm looking outside myself. I'm
not looking to anything I think, say, or do. I'm looking outside
myself, and outside myself there's perfection, and my perfection. And if there's any perfection,
what do you need to do to perfection? And look what he said in Hebrews
10, 14. For by one offering, he hath perfected. Forever? The law couldn't do that. And
that's why it's so ridiculous, so ridiculous to put people under
the law in any way. We're just talking about them
out of time. I mention this and I could tell
you the preacher's name. And he used to pastor a reformed
church up there close to where Paul Mayhead's at in Rocky Mountain,
Virginia. And this fella said one time,
and he told Todd this, he says, you know, I believe that my rewards
in heaven will be in direct proportion to my obedience on this earth. Todd said, if I believed that,
I'd have a nervous breakdown. And Paul told him later, he said,
that's exactly what happened to him. He had a nervous breakdown.
And now he's out of the ministry. He's working at something else.
Hallelujah. If my rewards from God in heaven
was in direct proportion to my obedience, I would not have anything
to hope for or give. I wouldn't expect nothing. But
now here, it says, bringing in of a better hope, what did it
do? It made us perfect. Not gonna be, not hope to be,
it says it did. You see, he was the one that
was hoped for himself. Abraham rejoiced to see my day
and he saw it and was glad. He was looking to Christ. And
they said, you're not even yet 50 years old, and you say that
Abraham saw you? He said, Abraham before he was. Who do you think Abraham was
looking to? Who do you think Abraham's hope
was in? Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And all of a sudden, he himself
was the thing's hope for. And he himself was the better
hope that was brought in. And not only that, but he's our
blessed hope right now. What hope do we have? The Christ. I'm a priest and I don't say
by hope that God's willing. Listen, beloved, looking for
the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says there in that
verse 19 of Hebrews 7, It's by this hope, by this hope which
is Christ himself, Christ who is our hope. It is by this hope
by which we draw nigh unto God. Why do you draw nigh unto God?
Because this hope, Christ himself, has made me perfect. You've got
to have a perfect sacrifice. I've got it. You've got to have
righteousness. I've got it. It must be perfect. Scott Richardson quoted this. It must be perfect to be accepted. Well, I'm perfect. So I'm accepted. Where'd you
get your perfection? This better hope that Christ,
Christ himself, who brought in this better hope. Let me show you something. You
keep Hebrews, but look over here in 1 Peter chapter 1. 2 with
me, just a moment, 1 Peter chapter 2. I want you to see this, 1
Peter chapter 2. And you know when it talks about,
we draw nigh to God, he's talking about the priest who would draw
nigh to God and then bring sacrifices. And it never may have been perfect,
but this better hope by which we draw nigh unto God, by which
we draw and worship God, it makes us, we are perfect, we can come.
And that's what he said here in 1 Peter 2 and verse 5. Ye
also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, and holy
priesthood, now watch this, to offer up spiritual sacrifice
by which we draw nigh, acceptable God hath by Jesus Christ. Oh, bless his holy name. Now
back over here to Hebrews chapter 7, let me show you another matter.
Jesus Christ is better than angels. I don't need an angel. God made
angels ministers to me. They're my servants, and they're
Christ's servants. But Christ, oh, I don't need
an angel. I want Christ. People say all
the time, an angel appeared under me. An angel appeared under that.
But listen, I want Christ. And then he brought a better
hope, and made us a better people. 22 Hebrews chapter 7. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament or a better covenant. We just got through
talking about that other one being disallowed. And it's a
better testament or a better covenant, why is it? Better than
the Old Covenant, better than the Old Testament, better than
the law, better than the priesthood, better than the sacrifice, better
than the prophets. Why is it better? Because of
its surety. Because of its surety. And what
is its surety? Well, who is the surety? That's
the first thing. And what is its surety? What is a surety? You know what
a surety does? He's a bondman. He's one who
comes and pledges his name, pledges his power, pledges his influence,
that a certain thing shall be done. Now, there are some people
that cannot get anything on their name. But I award Jesus Christ
by His name. Not only do we get some things,
but we get others. Oh, he placed his name, he placed
his property, he placed his influence, there's something to be done.
What should be done? The law will be delivered. And let me tell you something
else. You know the only people that need a pledge of surety,
a bondsman, somebody to stand good for them? Only people who
have defects, something wrong with them. That's only people. What's your name going to get
you before God? Huh? What do you have to offer to
God to get God to accept you, to be a surety for you? Look
over in Genesis 43. Genesis 43. Only people who have
defects need a surety. You know, that's why Paul, he
told Philemon, when Onesimus, or Philemon ran away, and he,
Onesimus ran away, and he told Philemon, he says, whatsoever
he owes you, whatever he owes you, in whatever way he's wronged
you, I'll stand good for whatever he's done against you. You charge
it to me. And that's what I award Jesus
Christ is. He says, you charge it to me. You charge their defects
to my account. Charge their sin to my account. Charge everything they are to
my account. And look what it says here in
Genesis 43, 8, 9. This is when, you remember, Joseph kept Benjamin
down in, or he said, don't come back down here unless you bring
your baby brother with you. Benjamin. And so, bring your
brother down, and Judah said in verse 8, said unto Israel
his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go,
that we may live, and not die. You and also our little ones.
Now watch what he says, I will be surety for him, of my hand
shall not require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame. And that's what Christ said.
He said, I'll bear the blame for error, for whatever's wrong.
If I don't bring every one of these children, if I don't bring
the son of love, that's what God's going to do. And it means
the son of the right hand, the son of love. And he said, if
I don't bring all of my people, If I don't bring them and set
them before you without fault, without blemish, without spot,
then you require that I... Do you reckon our Lord's not
going to present us faultless before His own presence at His
covenant? Oh, He'll do it. And I tell you, I tell you, He's
a better covenant because the surety fulfilled all the things
that was necessary. And I tell you what makes it
a better testament than the Old Testament, the better covenant.
Not only because of the surety of it, that He compensates for
everything wrong with us. I'll guarantee that I'll bring
them to you. How I will that they be with
me. Of all that you've given me,
I've lost nothing. But I've not only done that,
but I'll raise them up again at the last day, when it's all
said and done, when it's all go to their graves, when they're
all turned to dust. But I'll go wherever one of them
is, and I'll bring every single one of them, raise them up at
the last day, and bring them every one before you, and say,
here they are, I and the children which thou hast given me. To
go like many sons unto glory. And I'll tell you it's better
because it's better than the old one because it's permanent.
Never pass away. And it's eternal. And then look
over here in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6. Christ better
than the angels. Christ our better hope. Christ
the surety of a better testament, better covenant because of our
surety. Look what it says there in Hebrews verse 6. But now,
hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant, now watch this, we just mentioned
the covenant, the mediator of it, which was established upon
better promises. We have a better covenant established
upon better promises. Now look at what it says in verse
7, for if that first covenant had been faultless, Then why
in the world would you need another? And what does he mean, established
upon better promises? A better covenant with a better
promises? You see, the Old Testament covenant, the covenant of the
law, the priesthood, the sacrifices, was temporary. It was all typical. And not only that, but it was
also for the Jews. Now it's for Jew and Gentile.
That's why it's a better covenant with better promises. And the
old covenant, was a conditional. It was conditioned on obedience. If you do, if you didn't do,
you were cursed. And O Beloved, the covenant that
we're talking about, established to fulfill better promises, is
the covenant of grace, and it's by grace through faith, and it's
unchanging in our Lord Jesus Christ. And O Beloved, in this
manifestation, Oh my, our Lord is a full, clear revelation of
our Lord Jesus, of God's mercy and grace in Christ, that all
those things were hidden, and mysteries, and they're all original
ordinances. But so is a better covenant.
It's not conditioned. It's conditioned on what Christ
did, and we have Him who is unchangeable. And then talk about the better
promises. The promises of the old covenant. Now listen to this,
and I'm going to bring a message on this real soon, because there's
a fella on Sermon Audio who brought a message that says, why all
Calvinists have to be pre-Millennials. Well, I'm going to bring a message
on why Christians cannot be pre-Millennials. And I know they can't be pre-Millennials,
but I'm going to bring a message on that. But I'll tell you why,
because of the promises. The promises of the Old Testament.
cover it, consisting mainly of earthly things. Earthly things. They had an earthly tabernacle,
an earthly priesthood, earthly sacrifices, earthly ceremonies,
everything. And not only that, but they were
temporal. When a fellow entered the priesthood when he was 30
years old, they had to put him out. And then, not only that,
but then he would die, and he wasn't allowed to continue because
of reason of death. So everything was temporal. Everything
was earthly. And they would take that tabernacle
and take it down and move it from place to place. But our Lord Jesus Christ's tabernacle,
it ain't never gonna move. There's nothing temporary about
it. Oh my, you know, and even their prosperity, they was looking
for a land here. Land of peace and prosperity. But oh beloved, I'll tell you
what the Lord didn't you know, and this is the thing about it.
God said if you, if you, if you obey me, you'll be prosperous. If you don't obey me, I'll destroy
you. And boy, you go and find out that those Jews, I mean,
beloved, they, God sent them to Nebuchadnezzar down to Babylon
for 70 long years. The ones he left up there left
them to starve to death and get slain with the sword. Because
they worshipped other gods. He'd raise up prophets and send
to them. So they, beloved, their whole
life was based on what they were to do. But we have this covenant
based on better promises. The promises of Christ are eternal. They got forgiveness when they
offered a sacrifice for a certain sin. We have eternal forgiveness
for all of our sins. And they had a glory. We have an eternal glory and
eternal life. When Israel obeyed, they were
blessed. When they didn't, God's wisdom and wrath and judgment.
But in Christ, we're reconciled. He's our engagement. He makes us sons of God, dwells
in us by Spirit, makes us priests of God. And our promises and
blessings have to do with the spiritual kingdom, an eternal
kingdom, not an earthly kingdom or on earthly planets. Our blessings
are in Christ. Let me show you another in Hebrews
9.23. Better promises, better covenant, better testament, better
hope, better sacrifice. Hebrews 9.23. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves were better sacrifices
than these. Now, what is he talking about,
better sacrifices? Well, back up there in verse
18, look what it says. Whereupon neither the first testament,
that's the law, Moses had the law, had the first five book
of Moses, and it was dedicated with blood. And when Moses has
spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,
I mean, he stood before and read all of them. He took the blood
of calves and goats with water, and stalled it with wool and
hyssop, and sprinkled the book. And all the people went among
them and sprinkled the people. And he said, this is the blood
of the testament which I have charged to you and joined to
you. And he even sprinkled the blood with the tabernacle and
all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things by the
law are purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood
there's no remission. And so you see, everything had
blood applied to it, but now watch it. If the things on earth
were purged with blood, how much more should heavenly things with
better sacrifices than these? It was necessary by the nature
of God and will of God that all those things have blood on them
to make them acceptable. And if the earthly tabernacle,
the earthly mercy seat, The written law, the priesthood, the nation
of Israel, are all patterns of what's in heaven. And that's
all they are, just patterns of what's in heaven. There's going
to be a holy nation in heaven. There's going to be a tabernacle
in heaven. There's going to be a throne in heaven. Christ, our
great high priest, is passed into the heavens. And so if it
took the blood of sacrifices to purge space down here, how
great a sacrifice will it take? to purge, to make everything
acceptable in glory. That's why He says, you know,
in Hebrew, in Revelations, that He is the only way and put His
blood on the altar and obtained eternal redemption for us. And
oh, beloved, how great a sacrifice will it take to purify the things
in heaven? And oh, the things in heaven
are the everlasting covenant. The things in heaven are the
church. There's people that's going on. What lays a mid-sentimental
up there? The blood of Christ. And the better sacrifices, why
did he say plural? The better sacrifices. The heavenly
fangs themselves with better sacrifices than these. Why did
he say better sacrifices? Why plural? Well, the plural
here is put for the singular to emphasize the greatness of
the sacrifices. Those are the things in heaven. There were five chief offerings
under the law. There was the burnt offering,
there was the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering,
and the trespass offering. And I worked out every single
one of those in one sacrifice. And He fulfilled them all. His
one sacrifice is the substance of all the other shabbos. That's
all He was. Let me show you another one.
Here's M34. Better things. Oh, my. When we get to glory, there's
a tabernacle. It comes down from God out of
heaven. Tells us about an altar up there.
Tells us about a covenant, the Ark of the Covenant up there.
There's an Ark up there, which God's covenant is. neverlasting
covenant. And the real reason we go there
and everything's acceptable is because Christ entered there
first and put his blood before God. And every single soul that
goes there, you know how they go there? And how their sins
are gone? The blood of Christ cleansed
them and make them every one acceptable in the presence of
God. And then look at Hebrews 10.34. My bonds, it took joyfully the
spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves, knowing in yourselves
that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Let's expound here and get down
to where we want to go. Look in verse 31. Now, these folks here, everybody's
telling them, you know, you've left Moses, you've left the law,
you've left the sacrifices, you've left the God of our Father. When they come to Christ, when
they trusted Christ, and so Paul says this to them, he said, it's
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
God's a God of the living, not a God of the dead. But you remember,
in your former days, And which after God illuminated you, and
turned the light on you, and made you to see Christ, and bow
to Christ, and put all your hope in Christ. You endured a great
fight of afflictions. You had afflictions. And you
had a fight in all those afflictions. And then not only that, but remember
this, that you were made a gazing stock. And both by your reproaches and
your afflictions. Your mothers and daddies reproached
you. Your brothers and sisters reproached you. The church wouldn't
let you back in. That's the reality. And then
you had them reproaches and afflictions, and partly, you became companions
of them that were so used. When you seen other people like
that, you said, they're my brothers and sisters, and I'm going to
be identified with them. I don't care what happened. And not only did you do that,
but you had compassion on me. Me, with all the things that
was going on with you, you had compassion on me and my mom.
And you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods. They come in and
took what you had away from you. Took what you had away from you.
Huh? I was reading something in this
paper, what they called the Great Ejection, back in the 1600s,
when a multitude, a multitude of preachers, faithful preachers,
King James, or King Charles, said, you're going to accept
the religion that I put on you, or you're going to have to leave
your churches. Thomas Watson got up and faced
his congregation. He says, I got up this morning,
and I had a flock, and you had a shepherd. Now, I have no flock,
and you have no shepherd. I got up this morning, I had
a house. Now I don't have a house. I got up this morning and I had
a living. Now I have no living. I got up this morning with lots
and lots of friends, now I have none. And they took his house,
they took his living, they took everything he had, and he had
to walk out of the house he lived in, took all of his money. That happened to hundreds of
men on the same day. joy. And you know what he said? You know what he says? God has
been my help hitherto, and he'll be my help... He didn't bother
with him. He and Paul went to see a preacher.
His name was Hubert Davis. Herbert Davis. Herbert Davis.
And Paul had preached with him a lot of times. He didn't have
any use for the gospel. And here's a preacher, pastor
of a little church. And they had a child that was born with
an affliction. And somebody had to stay with him all the time.
Stay with him all the time. Take care of him all the time. Well, this old preacher got sick.
Got really bad sick. Got really bad afflicted and
started drawing up. He checked himself in to a nursing
home. This old man did. This preacher
did. And you know why he did? Because he didn't want his wife
to have to take care of him and that boy both. It was too much
for him. And he checked himself into a
nursing home, and he got to where he couldn't even hold his head
up, like he's bent over like this. All that's left now is
to visit him one day. And he walked in, and Brother
Paul said, How are you, Brother Herbert? Are you by yourself? He said, Didn't he couldn't even
look up, couldn't tell who was behind him or nothing. He said, the Lord is here with
me. That's why he's here. Joyfully taken the spoils of
the goods of himself. Now, knowing in yourselves. Knowing in yourself. You know
this. How do you know this? By the
Holy Spirit in you. Knowing in yourselves. that you
have in heaven, a bare and an endearing substance. Everything here is temporary.
That old man's affliction was temporary. His time in the nursing
home was temporary. Everything's temporary but in
heaven. It's got some substance to it,
some reality to it. A better and an enduring substance. One old fella, you know, they
come to, I believe it's Matthew Henry, said, give me your money
or give me your life. He said, I have no money and
you can't take my life for it's here with God in Christ. Oh my, you haven't had a better
and an enduring substance. Everything here is a shadow.
It really is. It's just a shadow. But look
with me, let me show you something in 2 Corinthians 5. You need
to see this. This will be a blessing for you.
2 Corinthians chapter 4. Everything here is a shadow. And here people can come in and
take your living away from you, take your home away from you.
People are losing their homes, losing their cars, losing their
health. I mean, it's just a common thing now. But no one there can
come in and spoil your goods. No one can take you home. No
one can take your life. Here it's called the valley of
the shadow of death. Me and Ronnie was out walking
the road the other day and the sun was behind us and the shadows
was real long. And she had put her hands up
and waved, and she chased her shadow. The way up the road she
went, just chasing her shadow. She was chasing her hair. She
was just going on and on and on, chasing that shadow like
it never got her to turn around and go back that way. And that's what people are
doing in this world, chasing shadows. This is shadow here. This is
temporary here. But in glory, there's no shadows.
We have substance there. Nothing temporary. Everything
is temporary. There's nothing temporary there. That's why when
we look at something, our hearts get beat with joy and say, bless
God, their day is gone. Their pot of affliction is over. Look here at 2 Corinthians 4.17. Joy in yourselves. Oh, you have
a pot of afflictions here. Paul says, for our lot of friction,
which is but for a moment. Some people say, well, my friction
ain't light. Well, light compared to what
it deserves is really light. Light compared to what we actually
deserve is really light. Light compared to what eternity
is going to be. But I tell you, these lot of
frictions ain't worth it. They're working for our good,
working for our betterment. What are they doing? They're
working out an exceeding and eternal rate of glory. Why? Because
we're not looking at what we're seeing right now. We're not looking
at it, but we're looking at things that are not seen. For the things
that we're looking at, they're just temporal. But the things
which are not seen, what are they? They're forever. They're
eternal. And look what he says in verse
1 in chapter 5, for we know that if this earthly
tabernacle were dissolved, this earthly house, we have a villain
of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Oh, my. Nobody's going to break
through and steal them. Huh? Oh, my. What we have in heaven outlives
time and lasts for eternity. We can't never spend it all.
Our enemies can't take it away. And everything that we'll have
there will make up for all we lose here and suffer here. In
glory we're going to have a better life. In glory we're going to
have a better estate. In glory we're going to have
a better liberty. In glory we're going to have a better society.
In glory, and I love this, we're going to have better hearts. A better work to do, better everything. And then last of all, look at
Hebrews 11, 16. This is the capstone here. This is the, they say, well boy,
the kicker. Let me give you, look what it says here in Hebrews
11, 16. But now, they desire a better,
a heavenly country. We're for God. It's not a shame
to be called their God. Watch it now. For He hath prepared
for them to see. We've got a better picture. Oh
my. Look back down there with me
in verse 13. Let's go through these real quick.
I've taken way too long this morning. Hebrews 11, 13. These all died in faith. Oh my. To die believing, to die
trusting, to die looking to Christ. And they died not having received
the promises. We have the promises, better
promises. They saw the world. They saw
what God provided for me. They were persuaded by Him. And
they embraced Him. And by doing that, they said,
I'm a stranger in pilgrim on this earth. And listen, for they
that say such things declare plainly that they're sick in
a country. If they had been mindful of that
country from which they came out, if they was concerned, and
their mind went back, and they said, oh, I had such a better
time, I had such a better job, I had a better life, everything
was better in that other country. They had the means to go back,
they had the money to go back, they had the help to go back,
they had the time to go back. They had had opportunities to
return, but no, they didn't go back. They didn't go back. I'll just say, but they're desiring
a better country. Do you desire a better country?
Do you? Do you desire a better country?
And I'll tell you, those who are mindful of it will return.
The Gadareans rather have their halt instead of Christ. These
people didn't burn fire. But these people didn't. They
knew the way, they had the funds, they had plenty of time. But
all their old friends would have welcomed them back. But why didn't
they go back? Abraham looked for a country
whose builder and maker was God. And this is why they're looking
for it. First of all, because God prepared it. He had prepared
for them a city there in verse 6. And not only that, just because
they're looking for this country in desire. God's not ashamed
to be called their God. I'm not ashamed to be their God.
Huh? I'm not ashamed. Not ashamed. Not ashamed. That's why I'm looking for a
better country. You're looking for a better country. America's the,
you know, this, America's the greatest country it's ever been.
And I'm certainly grateful to be here.