Let's turn in our Bibles to Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We're going to begin this morning
in verse 13. The title of the message is, A Better Heavenly
Country. Let's look at these verses. Verse
13, These all died in faith. Who are they all here that he's
talking about? Well, he's talking about Abel,
he's talking about Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. These are
the ones that he'd mentioned at the beginning of this chapter
on the Hall of Faith. Talking about Abel who died in
faith, Enoch, all of them. These all died in faith. Faith
will not keep you from death. That's one thing you need to
understand. Physical death is what he's talking
about. They died physically. The scripture
says that Christ, and this is who this is referring to when
it says faith, they died in Christ. That's a good way to put it.
They died in Christ. Yes, they believed by the power
of God. They were sinners saved by the
grace of God. And when they died, they did
not die in their sins. The scripture says this body,
Romans 8, 10, this body, if Christ be in you, this body is dead
because of sin. We know that it's true, first
of all, because God's word says it, and secondly, because we're
experiencing it. One old preacher said that he
always tries to take the attitude when he preaches to congregations,
he said that I'm a dying man preaching to dying people. And
that's what it is. But it also goes on to say there
in Romans 8.10 that if Christ be in you, this body is dead
because of sin, but the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is life because
of righteousness. And that brings us back to Christ.
who is the Lord our righteousness. That's what Abel believed. How
do you know he believed that? He brought the blood of the Lamb.
That was a type of Christ who died on the cross. As Abel saw
it in the future as a promise that one who is God in human
flesh would die for his sins, satisfy justice, and work out
a perfect righteousness whereby he could be accepted with God.
Enoch was the same way. We know very little about Enoch,
but we know that he pleased God. And we know that without faith,
without Christ, without, and without believing in him, it's
impossible to please God. We know that about Noah. He was
a preacher of righteousness, not his own, not human, but the
righteousness of God, which is the righteousness of faith. That's
Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. We know that about Abraham. He
looked forward. He saw the day of Christ and
he rejoiced. The Bible interprets it for us.
The Bible explains it to us in Romans chapter 4. That just like
David, Abraham saw himself blessed as the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. Can it get any plainer? And that
included Sarah, his wife, who had Isaac and will Look at him
in another message. But physical death is the consequence
of sin. The Bible says it's appointed
to men once to die, but after that the judgment. That's speaking
of physical death. Why? Because after that the judgment. And when we die, we either die
in Christ or we die in our sins. Plain enough. I think about when
the Lord spoke to Cain. Remember, after he was rejected
because he brought the works of his hands as his ground or
basis of reconciliation to God, of being saved, of being justified,
being blessed, being accepted. And Cain was angry, you remember.
And the Lord said, in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 7, He said,
why are you angry? If you do well, you'll be accepted. Well, what is it to do well?
It's to believe God. It's to come like Abel, bringing
the blood of the Lamb. That's the well that he's talking
about. But he told Cain, he says, if
you do not well, then sin lies at the door. Sin's right outside
your door. And unto thee shall be his desire.
He's desiring to defeat you, to overcome you. and you shall
rule over him." Now that doesn't mean that you're going to be
able to conquer sin. What that means in the original means that
you have a task to do which you cannot perform. Listen, if you don't have Christ
as your surety and substitute, If you're not washed in His blood
and clothed in His righteousness, you are faced with a task. The picture of that passage in
Genesis 4 is sin is like a wild animal, like a lion, a man-eating
lion outside your door ready to devour you. And you have a
task to do which you cannot perform. You cannot defeat sin. You can't
defeat it. Even as a believer today, you
can't defeat sin. Stop sinning. Just stop it. Can't do it, can you? But we
trust one who can and did defeat sin. In fact, Daniel said it
this way, he, Christ, made an end of sin. And therefore sin
cannot make an end of me. That's what Christ did. What
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And a believer will never forget that. Now sometimes we might
lose sight of it and get in our little pity parties and all that.
But the thing about it is we are always brought back to Christ
as our victory. Not ourselves. Not our prayers. Should we pray? Yes. But our
prayers do not defeat our sin. Baptism doesn't defeat it. Coming
to church doesn't. It sure comforts us, doesn't
it? It sure helps us to grow in grace and in knowledge. But
we're always driven to Christ. And that's what this means, they
died in the faith. Our only hope is to be found
in Him who was manifested to take away our sins. You know
sin is the problem, isn't it? That one little three-letter
word, that's the problem of mankind, sin. But the blood of Jesus Christ. Now he says in verse 13, these
all died in the 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
earth. What does it mean they didn't receive the promises,
having not received the promises? When I remember now, faith's
foundation, the whole issue here, faith's foundation is what? The
word of God. What God says is it, settles
it. Faith's object is what? The Lord Jesus Christ. God promised
Abel salvation based upon the Lord Jesus Christ who would come
in the future and die in Abel's place. Same with Enoch, same
with Noah, same with Abraham, same with Sarah. So they had
a promise from God. God gave them promises of grace,
of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the fulfillment in
time of all the conditions required to secure those promises for
Abel, for Enoch, for Noah, for Abraham, for Sarah, was future.
In time, it was future. But they were sure and certain.
There was no doubt that it would be fulfilled. Else God could
not have blessed them in any way in their lifetime. Abel was
a justified sinner. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, they were
justified sinners. Upon what ground did God justify
them? What ground did God look at a
man like Abel and say, not guilty? What ground did God look at a
man like Noah and say, righteous? It was upon the ground of a promise
that he made that was sure and certain of the coming of Christ.
The same ground upon which he justifies me and you. The imputed
righteousness of Christ. And again, Romans 4 explains
that so plainly. All the Old Testament saints
were justified in their lifetime based upon what Christ would
come and do in the future. So they died in faith not having
received the promises in the sense that it hadn't happened
yet in time. Christ had not yet come in time
to redeem them. He had not yet become incarnate. He had not yet gone to the cross.
But they were persuaded of them. Why? Because a promise of God
is a sure thing. And all the promises of God in
Christ are sure, and in Him, amen. And because they were persuaded
on it, here's faith's evidence, they embraced them. They believed
them. And they not only embraced them,
that's faith, God-given faith, embracing Christ, looking unto
Jesus. Randy read it in Hebrews chapter
12, did you ever? Look at that, look over in Hebrews
12, verse 1. Now what we're going to see is
this whole thing is the language of faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. That's the language here over
in Hebrews 11. But look at Hebrews 12. He says,
wherefore seem we also our compass surrounded about with a great
cloud of witnesses. Who's the great cloud? He's talking
about these that he mentioned in Hebrews 11. Men like Abel,
Noah, Enoch, Abraham, women like Sarah, and he mentions Rahab
later on. They were witnesses to us of
how God saves sinners, of how God justifies the ungodly, witnesses
for Christ. He says, seeing that we have
such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which does so easily beset us. Now I've heard preachers
go to this and they say, what particular sin so easily beset
you? That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about unbelief. The sin that so easily besets
us. Doubt. And we all have to deal
with it. We have to fight it. My old pastor,
he used to say that a sinner saved by grace is not in unbelief,
but he still has unbelief in him. And it's a warfare. If you don't believe that's true,
just go to one of the most extreme examples in scripture, and that's
the book of Job. Job had his struggles, didn't
he? Incidentally, whenever you're going through a trial, don't
say you feel like Job, because you don't. I don't think any
of us have ever gone what Job, there may be somebody, a believer,
I don't know, but I've never met one who'd gone through what
Job went through. But here's the key, God kept him. That right? And he'll keep us. So he says,
let's lay aside the weight, the sin which does so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience. The word patience means endurance,
perseverance. The race that is set before us.
Now what race is set before us? Well, if I don't do my part,
God's going to send me to hell. Is that the race God set before
you? If it is, you're doomed. Me too. Here's the race, it's
the race of grace. Look at verse two. How do you
run the race? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Christ begun it, Christ finished
it, he established it. He says, who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross. It's all based upon what
Christ accomplished, you see, on the cross. It's not based
on what you do for God. Listen, believer, if you say,
well, I'm going to try to do this for God, do that for God,
you'll never do enough. And you'll never feel like you've
done enough. Our enough is in Christ. Our righteousness is
in Christ. Our forgiveness is in Christ.
And it says, despising the shame and to sit down at the right
hand of the throne of God. That's what Abel believed. That's
what Enoch and Noah, Abraham, Sarah believed. So they hadn't
received these promises. Messiah had not yet come during
their lifetimes, but they saw these things far off into the
future. They were all justified in their
lifetime. And they believed, they embraced
them, they believed the gospel. That's what, that's what the
Bible tells us. And it says, they confessed that
they were strangers. Now, a stranger is a foreigner. That's what it is. And pilgrims
on the earth. What does that mean? Well, it
means that they didn't look upon this world as their home. It's saying, what does that mean?
Well, look at verse 14. It says, for they that say such, Those
who died in the faith, those who received the promises, and
looked for them in the future, embraced them, and confessed
that they were not citizens of this world, they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. Now, we're seeking
a country, they said. But look at verse 15. And truly,
if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, the one they left, They might have had opportunity to
have returned, but now they desire a better country that is unheavenly. That's the title of the message,
a better heavenly country. For this reason, God is not ashamed
to be called their God. That's covenant language. I'll
be their God, they'll be my people. For he has prepared for them
a city. There's the foundation of it, the preparation of God.
the work of God in Christ. Now all that's the language of
faith and repentance. See, even though they were in
the world, they were not of the world. Turn to John chapter 15
with me. You know, somebody said that
the problem of the church today is that there's too much of the
world in the church and not enough of the church in the world. Well, listen to what Christ said
in John 15, 18, speaking to his disciples. He says in verse 18,
if the world hate you, now, I want you to understand
something. That's not talking about just
those incidents in life where You tell somebody the gospel
and then they pull out a gun and want to shoot you in the
head. Now we know that's happened. We know in the history of Christianity
that many believers have suffered violent deaths because of their
testimony of Christ. And that certainly is hatred.
The world hates them. But don't limit it to that. The
word hate is applied to just like godly hatred. It's a rejection. It's not necessarily somebody
losing their temper or somebody that wants to kill you physically. It's talking about rejection.
We reject you. We don't want your gospel. We
don't want your salvation and we don't want you. That's what
it is. It's just like every one of the
disciples except one suffered a martyr's death and John was
just as hated because he was rejected, they put him out on
the Isle of Patmos. So whenever your family rejects
you as far as your testimony of Christ, that is a hatred now. Now I'm not saying they don't
love you as a person, you know, like children loving their father
or their mother and vice versa and all of that. That's not the
kind of love I'm talking. I'm talking about that love which
is of the brethren. You see, we're together in the
gospel. And we're to support each other
in the gospel. And if we don't, we reject each other. So understand
that now. You remember in Luke, you know
the famous passage where he says that, he that loveth father and
mother more than me cannot be my disciple. And the book of
Luke puts it this way. He that hateth not his mother
and his father. Somebody says, well, are we supposed
to hate our mothers? No. But that's not what that's
talking about. We're to love and to respect
and regard and help and support our mothers and our fathers in
this life as children and vice versa. But when it comes to the
gospel, when it comes to God's way of salvation, we reject them
if they go the way of Cain or the way of the unbeliever. We
reject them. That's what that's talking about.
So he says in verse 18, if the world hates you, if the world
rejects you, He says, know that it rejected, it hated me before
it hated you. And I'm not trying to soften
the word hated now, understand, because it is a hatred in God's
eyes. He that is not with me is what? Against me. There's no neutral ground here.
There's no fence riding here. He says in verse 19 of John 15,
if you were of the world, The world would love his own. If
you would receive there, you know, what's the watch religion
of the day? Everybody's okay. I'm okay, you're
okay. We're all right. You're judging if you say somebody's
wrong. It's that kind of pluralism,
you see, inclusive, ecumenical, you know. We believe different
things, even about the ground of salvation, but we're all going
to the same God. Well, that's offensive to God. And that's what he means. If
you were of the world, the world would love his own. They'd embrace
you, you know. But because you're not of the
world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. Now go back to Hebrews 11. That's
the implication of what's being said here. They
confessed, listen, this world is not my home. Boy, I'll tell
you what, you know that popular book written
by that false preacher called Your Best Life Now? I don't think
that fits with scripture. They confess that they were having
their best life. No, they confess we're foreigners,
we're pilgrims, we're just traveling through. This is just a temporary
journey, like going through the wilderness. And that's all I
can say about it, you know. This is not my home. Christ said,
in the world you'll have what? Tribulation, that's trouble.
But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. That's what he told
his disciples. We're citizens of a heavenly
country if we're in Christ. Our citizenship is in heaven.
That doesn't mean we're so heavenly-minded that we're no earthly good. We're
still witnesses in this earth. We're pilgrims. We're traveling
through this world. We're not to act like we're walking on
air or that we're holier than thou. That's not what we're to
do. We're to be witnesses of Christ
in this cursed, God-forsaken world. And so what he's describing
here, look at verse 15 again, and truly, now listen to this,
if they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they might have had opportunity to return, to have returned.
That's language of repentance, it indicates repentance. In other
words, when they left what they were in, they left it, not just
physically, but in heart also. And that describes a believer's
true repentance. Let me give you an example of
it. Turn to Philippians chapter three. I think it's one of the
best examples in scripture describing the experience of faith in Christ
and true repentance. You see, it's one thing for a
person to say, I believe in Christ. But it's another thing to reject
everything else. Just like the guy who Stood up
before the AA meeting, he said, I'm an alcoholic, but now I'm
a reformed drunk. And everybody applauds. Then
the next night you see him in the liquor store, coming out
falling down. Something's wrong, isn't there?
Well, look here. Here's the Apostle Paul talking
about his experience being brought to faith and repentance. And
listen to what he says in verse three of Philippians three. For
we are the circumcision, and that means spiritually born again. Circumcision of the heart is
what he's talking about. Which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice or have confidence in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Verse four, he says, though I
might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. In
other words, it's kind of like he's saying this, if you have
confidence in your flesh, I can go you one better. Well, what were you, Paul? Verse
five, circumcise the eighth day. That's the day that the Lord
commanded under the Abrahamic covenant. of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law
of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Paul was
a moral, sincere, dedicated religionist. Now you have to understand that
Paul said that back then, I had confidence in these things. I
believe those things recommended me unto God, he would say. I
believe those things contributed to my acceptance with God, that
they were part of the righteousness by which God accepted me. Those
religious things. His morality, His sincerity,
His zeal. But look what happened, verse
7. But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for
Christ. I don't look back on them with
fondness now. I don't look back on those things
with pride, thinking that they contributed some part of my acceptance
before God. I count them but loss. Why? For Christ. You see it? Verse eight, he explains
it more. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things, look at the language and do count them but dung that
I may win Christ. Some translations translate that
word dung as rubbish, and that's rubbish. It means exactly what
you think it means. In other words, everything that
I thought recommended me unto God, that evident salvation and
contributed to my righteousness before God that I used to think
so highly of and was so proud of, now because of what I see
and find of Christ and what I see and find in myself as a sinner
and that the only righteousness I have before God is Christ,
now I put him in the lost column. I even count him but dumb that
I may win Christ and be found in him. That's faith and repentance. That's what's happening here. Abraham was in error of the Chaldees,
a religious man, but an idolater. God said, get out! And he got out. And he didn't
look back. He went past the point of no
return. I can't go back to that false religion. And I recognize God's providence
that brought me through some of that. But it was to bring
me to a point where I would, like Paul, see Christ in the
Gospel and believe in Him by God-given faith and turn away
from all of that. And I'll tell you something,
if you think about it, you know, the Lord made a three-word statement that I think
depicts this Perfectly. You know what he said in Luke
17 and verse 32? Remember Lot's wife, who physically
came out of Sodom, but she turned back, revealing
what? Her heart was still there. In that profound, just three
words, remember Lot's wife. See, she didn't repent. She still loved that which she
came out of. I thank God that he brought me
through some of the experiences that he brought me through before
I was converted. He's sovereign. But I'll tell
you what, I can tell you this much, he saved this old bird
up here in spite of himself. That's true. And even though God meant it
for good, I meant it for evil and didn't even know it. And that's what he's saying here.
If they had truly been mindful of that country from which they
came out, they might have had opportunity to return. What that's
talking about in the opportunity there is just simply saying that
they never really left in heart, like Lot's wife, this look, as
her look back, looking back, revealed the state of her heart.
If they look fondly back upon that which they came out of in
that false religion, They've never repented. Many claim to
believe in Christ, the true gospel, but have never repented of the
old rags of false religion. But it's God's will that all
his people come to repentance. That's what 2 Peter 3, 9 means. God's not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come. He's talking about his elect.
He's going to bring them to repentance. You know what repentance is in
the Bible? It's a change of mind. Now that doesn't mean it's just
a mental thing with no heart. The mind is part of the heart
in the Bible. The heart, the affections, the
will. If you can go back, you've never been brought to repentance. And so he comes down. He says
they desire a better country, verse 16. That isn't heavenly.
That's the heavenly Jerusalem. That's what Randy read about
in Hebrews 12. Look over there in verse 22. I'll hurry here. He says, you're not coming to
Mount Sinai. He's talking about you have not
come to Mount Sinai. You've come to Mount Sion. Sion
is the church. Under the city of the living
God. What city? He's not talking about Palestine.
He's not talking about real estate, geography. He's talking about
a heavenly. He says, the heavenly Jerusalem. That's it. It's described
in Revelation 21. You can read all about it. This is the tabernacle of God,
Revelation tells us. It's the holy city, the city
of God, the celestial city, the city four square. That means
perfect. The heavenly Jerusalem, literally
heaven on earth, it's the perfect, glorified church of God where
there's no vacancies. It's all in Christ. It's all
things brought to their final conclusion, that's what Abel,
Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah were looking for. And now comes the
new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells.
And then God reveals the new Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven in Revelation 21, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband,
that's the church married to Christ, clothed in his righteousness
imputed. That's what it is. That's the
city that Abraham and all who died in the faith looked for.
And it's described in symbolic language here and elsewhere indicating
the absolute perfection of it because of Christ, the surety
of it, and the stability of it, and it cannot be destroyed. He's
the light thereof. Complete and perfect blessing.
Now here's the question that I want to conclude with. Who
dwells in that city? Spiritually speaking, God's elect,
whom He redeemed by the blood of His Son, justified based on
His righteousness imputed, and who've been brought to faith
in Christ in true repentance by the power of the Holy Spirit
in the new birth. That's who dwells there. Do you dwell in
that city? Well, if you believe in Christ
like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, You're a citizen of
that city, that holy, heavenly city. And that's what we're enjoying. And we're looking for the glory
of it to come in the second coming of Christ. All right.