Jacob Charles Moore was born
yesterday, nine pounds and one ounce. He and his parents, Michael
and Amanda, are doing well. We're thankful. Faith's sojourn. We have been in Sunday school
studying the Psalms, and we've been in the 90s, and in four
of those Psalms, Psalm 93, Psalm 96, Psalm 97, and Psalm 99, we
read the Lord reigneth. You know, religious people like
to, particularly reform people, like to talk about what is the
Christian worldview. The worldview with regard to
economics, politics, government, the culture. I know what the
Christian worldview is, the Lord reigneth. And here's something else in
our text. This world, is not my home. Every believer feels that acutely. This world is not my home. Now I think that pretty much
covers the Christian worldview. The Lord reigneth in everything.
He's the first cause of everything, he's in control of everybody,
everything and every event. He is sovereign. And this world
that the Lord reigns in, this world is not my home. Abraham exemplifies every believer. Now I love when Peter begins
his epistle. He identifies the people he's
writing to in that general epistle as to the strangers. Aliens. Strangers here. Foreigners. This world is not my home. And
then he goes on to say, with regard to these strangers, elect
according to the foreknowledge, the forelove of God. Strangers. Verse 9, speaking of Abraham, by faith he Sojourned, that word
means lived as a stranger, lived as an alien, lived as a foreigner,
lived as a pilgrim in this land. And he even sojourned in the
land of promise, the promised land. That's all it was, was
land. He lived in the promise land
as in a strange country, a foreign country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise."
Now, I love the way this verse begins. It begins most of these
verses in Hebrews chapter 11 by faith. It's only by faith
that someone is going to sojourn, live as a stranger, live as a
pilgrim in the land. By faith. Now when he's talking
about by faith, I love the way Paul identified it. Titus chapter
one, verse one, the faith of God's elect. The acknowledging,
the embracing, the full identification of the truth. The truth concerning
who God is, the truth concerning who we are, the truth concerning
how God saves sinners by His grace, the truth, the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. You see, it's only
godliness, the work of the Spirit of God in a man that produces
this. By faith, Abraham sojourned. in the land of promise as in
a strange country. He looked at this world as a
strange place. Now by that, I'm not talking
about the planet. I'm not talking about the beauty of God's creation. I'm talking about the world that
has no love for God. That's the world he's talking
about. The world that has no love for God, the world that
has no love for Jesus Christ, the world that has no appreciation
of salvation by grace. He lived among this world as
a stranger, as an alien. He did not fit in. And here's why, verse 10, he
looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker, the
architect and the maker, is God. Now you've no doubt heard the
term worldly. Worldly people. And generally
when we think of this term worldly people, we think of people who
are taken up with materialism, big houses, expensive cars, trying
to get more, trying to impress the flesh. And that indeed is
a part of worldliness. I wouldn't deny that in a way,
and I would want to say this. I always appreciate someone who
lives beneath their means. That's always a thing to be appreciated,
someone that lives beneath their means, not above their means,
not trying to impress the world, but someone who lives beneath
their means. But still, when we're talking
about worldliness, we're not really just talking about something
like that. Worldliness is thinking like
the world thinks. That's what worldliness is. It's
thinking like the world thinks. The world that John told us not
to love. Remember how he said, love not
the world? 1 John 2, verse 15, love not
the world. Neither the things that are in
the world For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father,
but of the world, and the world passes away in the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. And this is the world that we
are called upon to have no love for. and to pass through this
world as strangers and pilgrims. It's the religion of this world.
What's natural for man to believe? Free will. Salvation by works. That's the religion of the world. And that's what he tells us.
Don't think like this world. Paul called it this present evil
world, the no love for the God of the Bible world. Now the believer
is not at home here. And that's what he says with
regard to Abraham. He passed through as a alien,
a sojourner in a strange land. He's not comfortable here. He
feels out of place because he is out of place. Now why would
I say that? The Lord made this statement
with regard to all of the elect. He said they are not of the world. They don't find their origin
in the world. They're not from here. Where are you from? Nowhere from
this world if I'm one of his people. I was loved by God before
time began. My salvation comes from God,
not from anything I've done, but from God. Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world, because you're not
of the world. I love the way the Lord said regarding his people,
they're not of the world, even as I am not of this world. Now, by faith, he sojourned in
the land of promise as in a strange country. You see, He was looking
for a city, verse 10. He was looking for something
that's not of this world, that heavenly Jerusalem that came
down from heaven. He was looking for a city which
hath foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Now that is why every believer
is walking through this life as a stranger and a pilgrim.
This world isn't our home. Now that is how every believer
feels. This world is not our home. I'm
looking for a city, the city of God, where God is the architect,
God is the builder of this city. Now, those who love the world,
feel uncomfortable with us as well. They don't fit in with
us. I know you're talking about us
and them. I know I am. There's us and there's them.
Those who God has saved, those who have no love for God. They
do not feel comfortable with us either. Turn with me to Galatians
chapter 6. I want you to look at this scripture. Verse 12, as many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. Now that's religion, a fair show
in the flesh. Try to demonstrate how godly
we are and how much God is blessing us and how tight we are with
God, which is not real, but it's a fair show in the flesh. What do they do? They constrain
you to be circumcised. They give you something to do,
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. Now, even though they're telling you to keep the law,
neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but
they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
Look how I've influenced this person. Look how I've influenced
for good. They wanna glory in your flesh.
Look how God is using me now. Look what Paul says now. but
God forbid that I should glory. Take comfort in, have hope in. God forbid that I should glory,
have confidence in. God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me say
this about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's whole
counsel. This is how God saves sinners. The cross of Jesus Christ. When
Christ was nailed to that cross, He was nailed because the sins
of His people were placed on Him, in Him. He bore them in
His own body on the tree. my salvation as this one reason,
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Do you believe that? The
only reason I'm saved is because of the death of Jesus Christ.
And once again, I reckon I say this almost every time I preach,
but somebody says that Jesus Christ died for everybody. And
some of those people he died for will end up in hell because
they didn't do what they were supposed to do. That disannulls
the cross, the message of the cross. There's no gospel in that
message. The gospel is that when Jesus Christ died, my sins were
paid for. I was justified. I stand before
God without guilt. Now that's what Paul's talking
about when he said, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I haven't finished the verse.
Let's go on reading. By whom? I'm glad Paul said by whom, because
we come up with just thinking about a cross, people's jewelry
and stuff, and the cross is in play. I hope nobody's wearing a cross
right now, so just close your ears if I am. If you are, why
would we want to wear the execution? The cross is not something to,
it's by whom, not by that, well, I got me a cross. I remember
the first time somebody sent me a cross, and I thought, boy,
this is good, I got this cross, I can show, and the Lord made
it clear to me, that ain't, that's no witness, a cross. He said, by whom, not by what,
not by the cross, but by whom, what the world What Paul called
this present evil world is crucified unto me. All the values of the
world, the maxims of the world, the religion of the world, I
see it as a crucified, worthless, dead, powerless thing. Now, do you see the world in
that light, in light of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? And
he said, not only is the world crucified to me, this is how
the world views me. as worthless as someone nailed
to a cross, as powerless and significant as someone nailed
to a cross with no power at all. Now that's what the cross does
in our attitude toward the world. Peter said in 1 Peter 1 17, pass
the time. You wanna know how to pass your
time? Here it is. Past the time of your sojourning here with
fear. The fear of God. That's the beginning
of wisdom. Now, Abraham is a representative
of every believer. He sojourned here in this world. This world was not his home and
here is what he was looking for, turn back to our text in Hebrews
chapter 11. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Look in verse 13 of the same
chapter. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them, embraced them, and confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. For they that say
such things declare plainly that they seek a country. A different
place than this place. And truly, if they'd been mindful
of that country from whence they came out, they might've had opportunity
to have returned, but now they desire a better country, that
is in heavenly, where for God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for he has prepared for them a city. The city of God. Look in Hebrews chapter 12. Verse 22, but you are coming
to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly, and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.
That's talking about the Lamb's Book of Life. This city has a membership
role. Everybody written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. And to the General Assembly and
Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven, to God,
the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men, made perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. Now that's the city we're looking
for. And that's what makes this world
so unattractive to us. The builder and maker of this
city is God. He's the architect and he's the
builder. Now I think this is an interesting thought. When Cain was rejected
by God, what did he do? Scripture says he went out and
built a city. He wanted to make this world
a better place for him to live in. He went out and built a city,
trying to make this world a better place without God. He went out
and built a city. And that's a city that we see
all around us. People are still building cities,
aren't they? Building kingdoms, cities, and so on. But God's
not in it. Abraham was looking for a city
that was builded by God. Now, Abraham and every other
believer has something the world does not have. It's called faith. The gift of God's grace. By grace, you say through faith,
and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Every believer possesses this
thing that isn't natural to them. It's what God gave them when
he birthed them into the kingdom of heaven. And they now have
this thing called faith. It is faith that causes us to
live in this world as a transitory, temporary place. seeing something
of its vanity and looking for that city whose builder and maker
is God. And this city has foundations. Foundations, immovable foundations. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter six. I'm going to ask you to turn to several scriptures,
Luke chapter six. Verse 46. And why call ye me Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.
He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and
laid the foundation on a rock And when the flood arose, the
streams bit vehemently upon the house and could not shake it,
for it was founded upon a rock, the rock Christ Jesus. Upon this
rock will I build my church. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. What a foundation. What a foundation. But he that heareth and doeth
not, is like a man without a foundation built in house upon the earth.
Against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately
it fell and the ruin of that house was great. What's the most
important part of a house? You know the answer to that,
the foundation. It's something you can't even see, the foundation. He was looking for a city whose
foundation was God. Now, Jesus Christ, according
to 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10 and 11, his person is the foundation. Now, what all does that mean?
He is the foundation of who God is. Isaiah 9, 6, unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
Are you saying that Jesus Christ is those things? No, God is saying
it. I've heard people try to dance around that. Well, He's
not the Father. Here's what He meant. Just take
it as it says. Don't try to explain the scripture
away. The Lord said, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. God is Spirit. He's not material. He's Spirit. That's how He's
omnipresent. That's how He's All that he is. And all we will ever see of God
is the man Christ Jesus. He is God. He's not like God. He is God. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men. The man Christ Jesus in Colossians
2.9 says, in him dwelleth. resides all the fullness of the
Godhead in a body. Jesus Christ is the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of His person, the image
of the invisible God. Jesus Christ is the foundation
of creation. He's the foundation of God. He's
the foundation of creation. Listen to the scripture. All
things were made by him and for him. And he is before all things. And by him all things consist. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made. that was made. You know, when God said, let
us make man in our own image, you know whose image he was talking
about? The image of Jesus Christ. He is the foundation of creation. The reason for creation is his
glory, for him to do what he came to do, to put away the sins
of his people. He's called the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the earth. And I love thinking about this.
Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior who had already
been slain. And my standing before God has
always been in Him. He's the foundation of all of
God's providence. Scripture says He's before all things. You take that as far as you want.
He's before all things. I'll tell you something that
I've grown to really hate is when people say, well, God permitted
that to happen. That makes it sound like there
it was, and he saw what was going to happen, therefore he permitted
no. God is the first cause of all things. Everything. And somebody says, are you saying
God is the author of evil? I am saying that God is the first
cause of all things. And God brings good out of evil
all the time. All the time. Only he can do
that. He's the foundation of salvation.
He's the foundation of God's purpose. I love the way the parable,
the marriage feast begins. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son. It's
what everything's about, the glory of Jesus Christ. That's
why God does what he does, the glory and the honor of his son. He is the foundation of election.
You're chosen in Him. He's the foundation of redemption.
You're redeemed by Him. He's the foundation of justification.
You're justified by His righteousness. He's the foundation of the new
birth. You know why you're born again?
It's not because you accepted Him as your personal Savior.
It's because God elected you and Christ died for you. That's
why you're born again. Of His own will begat He us through
the word of truth. He is the foundation of forgiveness. Ephesians 4.32 says, even as
God has forgiven you for Christ's sake. He didn't forgive you because
you asked Him to forgive you. He didn't ask to forgive you
because you were sorry. He did it for Christ's sake. And He is the foundation of us
doing what we're supposed to do. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
has forgiven you. That's the only reason we need.
For Christ's sake. He's the foundation of our preservation. We're preserved in Christ Jesus. He is the author. He's the object.
He's the subject of faith. I like this. He's the cause of
repentance. exalted him as a prince and a
savior for to give repentance to Israel, the forgiveness of
sins. He changes your mind. Jesus Christ himself is the foundation
upon which the city of God is built. He's the rock that the
Lord is talking about when he said upon this rock, this confession
of me, will I build my church? Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Verse. 17, And their word, the word of shun profane and vain babblings,
false doctrine, their word will eat as doth a canker a cancer,
of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, Paul named them, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already, and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless,
The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Now there's the foundation of
God. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Well, who are these people? Same
people the Lord spoke of in Matthew chapter one, verse 21, when it
says, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. The Lord knows them that are
his. Now my foundation is that the Lord knows me. I'm depending on his knowledge
of me. Not my knowledge of him, but
his knowledge of me. I love that passage in Galatians
chapter four, verse nine, where Paul said, now that you've known
God, and then he stopped himself. Or rather, are known of God. Oh, I want him to know me. Whom
he did foreknow. them he also did predestinate
by his knowledge by the knowledge of Jesus Christ by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their
iniquities he is the uh well turn with me to hebrews
chapter six Hebrews chapter 6. This is a
passage of scripture that we ought to go to very often. Hebrews
chapter 6, verse 1. Therefore, leaving the principles,
the ABCs, the foundational elements of the doctrine of Christ. Let us go on unto perfection,
not laying again the foundation. Now what happens if you have
to lay again the foundation? The superstructure never comes
up. And he says, with regard to what
he's getting ready to say, this is the foundation that ought
not have to be laid over and over again. This is an automatic.
This is something that you're so familiar with, that you believe
so thoroughly, that you don't have to have it laid again. You're laying on
this foundation. He's not saying, let's leave
this and go on to something better. He's saying we should not always
have to be laying this again. You'll never reach maturity if
this is always laid again. And look at the six things he
gives us. Not laying again the foundation
of repentance from dead works. Now that is so important. If I don't have this laid, if
I'm not laid down on this, I don't have a foundation. All my works
are dead works. Salvation does not begin with
me. It is not caused by anything
I do. If I think that there's anything
I do that is involved in me being saved, God can't save me unless
I fill in the blank. Dead works. Dead works. Second, not laying again the foundation
of faith toward God. Faith toward Jesus Christ, the
God-man, he's God, and that's why we trust him. We couldn't
trust him if he wasn't God. We couldn't trust him because
we don't even know if what he could do is successful. But because
he is God, what he does must be successful. Now, if my foundation
is not the God, Jesus Christ being the God of the Bible, having
every attribute of God, I have no foundation. The third thing
he mentions, not laying again the foundation of the doctrine,
verse two, of baptisms. The doctrine of baptisms. Now,
somebody says, is this talking about baptism by immersion? Yes. Is this talking about the
baptism of the Holy Spirit? Yes. Is this talking about the
baptism of fire that Jesus Christ experienced when the wrath of
God immersed him? Yes. The point of the doctrine
of baptisms is union with Jesus Christ. When he lived, I lived
because I'm united to him. When he died, I died. I really did. Paul said, I'm
crucified with Christ. He didn't say it's as if I were
crucified with Christ. He says, I am crucified with
Christ. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. The union that the believer has
with Christ. If I don't have that, I don't
have any foundation. None at all. Then he speaks of
the doctrine of the laying on of hands. Now let me read a scripture. You don't have to turn to it.
I've already got it marked so you'll understand what he's talking
about. He's not talking about a preacher laying his hands on
somebody. That's not what he's talking
about. Leviticus chapter 16 verse 20 says, And when he hath made
an end of reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle of the
congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat And
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat,
and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited. What's the laying on of the hands?
When that priest laid his hands on the goat, the scripture says
the sins, they were just representatively, the sins of Israel were transferred
to that goat, and that goat bore them. My sins were not figuratively
transferred to Christ. They were literally became his. And just as truly as my sin became
his, his righteousness is transferred to me and becomes mine. Now,
if you don't have that, you don't have any foundation. And then
he speaks of the resurrection of the dead. Christ's bodily resurrection
from the dead. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. My spiritual resurrection, the
final resurrection when we're raised incorruptible. If I don't
have that, I don't have a foundation. My foundation is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. And I love the way he ends it
up, eternal judgment. Eternal judgment. Now, if my
salvation was not accomplished in eternity, and it's gonna take
me all the way into eternity. I've got no foundation. It's
eternal judgment. Everything God does is eternal.
He's God. He's not bound by time. With
God, everything is in the present. He doesn't see yesterday or tomorrow. It's all in the eternal present
and all of God's people. have eternal judgment, eternal
justification. And if my salvation is not an
eternal salvation, it ain't no good. There's no foundation to
it. One last scripture, Isaiah 28. Abraham was looking for a city.
God was the maker and the builder of, that had foundations. Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16. Therefore thus saith
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone. A precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Now, what does that mean? Well, this is quoted twice in
the New Testament. The first time in Romans chapter
10, he that believeth shall not be ashamed. I'm ashamed of myself on so many
levels, but I'm not ashamed of the gospel
I just preached. It's the power of God into salvation.
I'm not ashamed. And when Peter quotes it in first
Peter chapter two, the same scripture, he says, he that believeth on
him shall not be confounded, shall not be put to shame. You see, when I'm standing before
God in judgment, I'm gonna be sinless. There will be nothing
for me to be ashamed of because Jesus Christ put away my sins. Now that is a sure foundation,
isn't it? That's a precious cornerstone. Abraham, sojourn in this land as a stranger,
an alien. This world's not his home. And
the reason was not just because he was one of these real discontent people who always
find fault with every condition they see. That didn't have anything
to do with it. He was a stranger in a strange land because he
was looking for a city. whose builder and maker is God,
which have foundations. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
that name that's above every name, that we might be just like
Abraham, living in this world as a stranger
in a strange place. Looking for that city of which
you are the builder, you are the architect, you're the maker,
and has the foundation of your son that you laid. Bless this
message for your glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray,
amen.