loved ones have written regarding
the person whom they loved. I think Job had this in mind
when he said this, Oh that my words were now written,
printed in a book, that they were engraved with an iron pen
and laid in the stone, the rock forever, in the stone that lies
above my body when I'm buried. And here are the words. I know
that my Redeemer liveth. That's how I want to be remembered.
Write it down. I know my Redeemer liveth. And that he shall stand at the
latter day on this earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh Shall I see God? Write that, he said. Engrave
it to stand through the years. I visited England one time and
we were going around to the different cemeteries where the old Puritans
were buried. I visited the graves of Isaac
Watts, several of these great hymn writers and preachers We
drove over to where a child Spurgeon is buried. And I don't know whether
it was by his own request or by someone who had heard him
preach often, often, often. But there's a verse of a hymn
engraved on his tombstone. You sang it a little while ago.
On Spurgeon's grave are these words, Ever since my faith I
saw the stream by flowing wound supply. Redeeming love has been
my theme and will be till I die. But I love an epitaph, and if
I were to choose one to be engraved on my tombstone, I'm pretty well
convinced this is it. I saw a tombstone one time that
had a name and the date of birth and the date of death. And below
that name and date of birth and date of death was three words.
Just three words. And how powerful. What an impact
they made on me. Three words. Till he comes. Till he comes. What does that
say to you? That he is the Son of God. That
he is the Redeemer, the Son of Man. That he is the one who came
to this earth in human flesh and died for our sins and redeemed
us. And he ascended to glory as our
great high priest. He entered into the Holy of Holies
and obtained redemption for us through his blood. And he who
went away, went away with these words on his lips, I'll come
again, I'll come again, and I'll receive you unto myself. For
I go to prepare a place for you, and I'll come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also." So this
person in this grave, body resting in the grave, trusting, waiting
for the coming of him. who prepared for us a place,
and he's as much as saving. This world of death and sin only
exists till he comes. My body is only going to remain
in this grave till he comes. Every promise of God for every
redeemed believer awaits till he comes. So that says it all. till he comes." Well, here in
our text this morning the Lord himself has written an epitaph
for all true believers. Select whatever one appeals to
you. Write it as Job spoke of his
and as Spurgeon probably selected his and as I feel like I love
that one, till he comes. M.T. Martin, the great preacher
in Mississippi, asked him to write on his tomb a bond-slave
of Jesus Christ. That's a good one. But here the
Lord says in verse 13, regarding all of these people, he tells
us about Abel and Noah and Abraham and Sabaoth. Then he says in
verse 13, these five words, one-syllable word, these are five in page. The whole story puts a difference
between them and the world. Between them and all the other
sons of Adam is this. These all died in faith. Now they're all God. That's the
common lot of all men. Preachers today seem to indicate
that with us it's different. These infirmities and afflictions
of the flesh. But it's not different, it's
the curse of sin. That's what it is. God said,
Adam, eat of the fruit and die. And he did, and he did. Blessed
thou art, the blessed thou shalt return. It's a party under me
that wants to die. It's the curse of sin. The sting
of sin is death. And we've been stung. Cain died,
but so did Abel. Pharaoh died, but so did Moses. Esau died, but so did Jacob. Judas died by his own hand, but
Peter died also. Faith will keep you from perishing
eternally, but faith will not keep you from dying. In all honesty and truth, faith
will not keep you from the infirmities and afflictions of this body
and of this world. This won't do it. Our Lord said
in this world you'll have tribulation, in this world you'll have trial,
in this world you'll have afflictions. Paul talked about epithetitis.
He said he was sick unto death. Sick unto death. And it broke
my heart, he said. But God was pleased to raise
him up and it brought me such joy. That's right. Job sums it up, he said, when
a few years are come, then I shall go the way from which I shall
not return. So these all died. But they died
in faith. And let me tell you this, they
never got beyond faith. They never got beyond faith.
What do you mean by that, Preacher? I mean this. They were born in
faith, they lived in faith, and they died in faith. And they
never got beyond faith. Abraham believed God. Let's look
over here in Genesis 15. This is way back in the very
beginning, when God called Abraham out of early calvaries, out of
idolatry, out of Paganism, God called him, and verse 5 of Genesis
15, God brought him forth abroad, and God said, Look now towards
the heavens, tell the number of stars, if you are able to
number them, so shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord,
and it was counted to him for righteousness. Right then, right
at that moment, Abraham believed God. He believed the promise,
he believed the word of God. He believed what God said. He
believed right then that God was able to do all that he promised.
And he got no further than that. He was born of God that way,
he lived that way, all the way through his life. When he took
Isaac up to the top of the mountain, that was the same thing. He believed
God. He believed God's promise, and Isaac shall by sin be called.
He believed if he killed Isaac, God would raise him from the
dead. But he believed God. That was who he was. And when
he came to die, it says he died in faith. He never got beyond. He was justified by faith, he
was sanctified by faith, he was declared righteous right then
by faith, he walked with God, obeyed God, he grew in grace,
but his standing, his acceptance and his hope was in faith. Believing
God. Not in anything he had done.
That's the reason that when Paul wrote the book of Romans he said
The scripture says that Abraham believed God and he was counted
to him for righteousness. When was Abraham justified? When
he was circumcised? When he offered Isaac? No sir,
he was circumcised before he believed God, before he was ever
circumcised, by faith. He was justified by faith. And
he never got beyond believing God. And when he died he believed
God. David said that when David was
75 years old, almost 77 or 75, somewhere in there. He lay on
his deathbed, and he summed up his hope. He said, God, it's
not so with my house, but God made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered that all things ensure, and this is all my salvation. All my salvation. and all my
hope. That's it. And I tell you, when
our Lord mentioned those people in Matthew 7 about many shall
say unto men that day, Lord, we preached in your name, we
cast out devils in your name, we did many wonderful works in
your name. But you know what's missing there? They never said
a word about his death, about believing in him, about salvation.
They talked about what they did. So what I'm declaring is this,
that these people died believing God just like they started the
journey of faith, believing God. Every road that God led them
down was still a road of faith. But look at the hymn, Believing
God. It never got beyond that. The hymn writer says, I'm not
scared to understand what God hath willed, what God hath planned.
I only know that his right hand is one who is my Savior. I took
him as his Word indeed. Christ died for sinners, that's
what I read. And in my heart I finally read,
just like I did 50 years ago, of him to be my Savior. It hadn't
changed one iota. I heard the gospel, I believed
God. And I'm coming to the end of
life, and I heard the gospel and I prayed to God. That's it.
These died in faith. Let's get some insight into this
faith in which they died. Look at the next line. It says,
These died in faith, believing God, not having received the
promises. Now what this is saying is this,
not having received the fulfillment of the promises. They heard God's
promise. They heard God speak. They heard
God's word. They believed it. But they didn't
receive the fulfillment. I mean by that this. Abel never
saw the Lamb of God, the seed of woman. He never saw the seed
of woman. He didn't come in his day. But
his faith and confidence was in that Lamb who would come.
He received the promise of the coming of Christ, the Lamb of
God, but he never Abraham did not see his seed
as the sands of the seashore. When Abraham died, there were
just a few of them, just a small handful. He never even possessed
the land that God promised. He dwelt in tents. He never owned
a foot of land. But he believed God. He didn't
see the fulfillment, he didn't see Israel as the greatest nation
on the face of the earth. He was seeing from Isaac. He
never lived to see that, but he believed him. He believed
it on the basis of what God said, I'll give you this land. He believed
him. Moses did not see nor hear that
prophet. He said, God will send a prophet
like to me, from the midst of the brethren. You'll give him
his message, his gospel. You'll hear it. But he never
did see it. But he wrote of it. Jacob didn't see Shiloh. He said
the scepter will not depart from Judah till Shiloh comes, the
king. He didn't see it. Not on the earth. Job didn't
see him stand on the earth. He seen him wail. He said he
wailed. He knew I'd tell all my troops
to stop. Because I blazed it. Why do you wait? I heard God
say. That's what he would do. But
now listen to the next line. They didn't receive the full
form of the promises, but they saw them. There's a sense in
which they saw them. By faith. They saw them in the
promise. They saw them in the word. They
were persuaded of these promises. They received the word of God.
It's seen by faith. I haven't seen Christ, but I
love him, don't you? I know he came, I know he died. I see it in the scriptures. I
believe God. It's like Abraham over here in
Romans 4. Turn over there a minute. Romans chapter 4. This is the
basis of this thing called faith. Having not received the fulfillment
of the promises, but having seen them afar off. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief. He was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised he
was able to perform and therefore was imputed to him for righteousness.
And right now I say to you that our foundation is the same as
theirs. Here's the word, here's the gospel of Christ. That's
what Abraham had, that's what Moses had, that's what Job had.
For David, that was the promise, the word of God. And they believed. You and I have the promise that
in Christ our redemption is complete. In Christ, by his obedience,
we have a perfect standing. In Christ, by his death, we have
justification, our sins are put away. And while we haven't seen him
with these eyes, we've seen him in the word, in the promise of
God. And look at this next line, and
they were persuaded of them. They were persuaded of them.
And look at the next word, they embraced them. That word embrace
here in the scripture, embrace, it means this, it means to welcome.
When someone comes to your home, some dear, beloved friend, some
person of whom you think highly and love, you embrace them. And it means you welcome them.
And you enfold them in your arms. That's to embrace somebody. It's
to welcome them and enfold them in your arms next to your heart.
And these people had the promise of God, redemption, of eternal
life, of the city. And while they didn't see the
fulfillment, they were persuaded of it. And
they embraced it. They embraced him. Moses just
didn't give mental assent to the coming of his Redeemer. He
embraced him. He embraced him. He welcomed
him. And I have the proof of that back here, over here in
chapter 11, just a page over. Turn a page over. Moses. Moses
had the promise of redemption. He embraced Christ. He welcomed
him. And now here's the proof of it,
Hebrews 11. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid, verse 23,
was hid three months of his past because they saw he was a proper
child. They weren't afraid of the king's commandments. By faith
Moses, when he was come to years, he refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,
esteeming the reproach of Christ. of Christ, of the promised Christ,
of the coming Christ, of whom he heard, whose promise God gave
him. He esteemed the reproach of Christ's
greater riches and the treasures of Egypt. He had respect under
the recompense of the Lord, and he forsook Egypt, not fearing
the wrath of the king, for he endured seeing him who was invisible
and embraced him. And he left where he was, esteeming
even the reproach of Christ to be great, and riches, and all
these treasures. These people were persuaded of the promises
and embraced them. Abraham did not look on the Lamb
of God as a creed or a statement of faith. or a catechism, he
embraced a person. And he was willing to offer up
the life of his son on the word of that person and the promise
of that person. He embraced him. And not only did they embrace
him, but what's this next line? They confessed they were strangers.
And pilgrims on this earth, you don't want Ruth. Naomi said to
Ruth and her sister, Ophrah, she said, I'm going back to my
people. I'm going back to Bethlehem. I'm going back to worship my
God. I'm leaving Moab. Now you girls
go on home and find your husband and so forth. And Ophrah did
that. She kissed Naomi and departed. But Ruth said, don't ask me to
leave you. entreat me not to leave you, or to cease to follow after you. For where you go I'll go, and
where you lodge I'll lodge, and your people be my people, and
your God my God." And she did that having heard
of God's mercies and grace in Christ. And they confessed that
they were strangers in their own country, pilgrims going to
They always come to you. Now we can save this religious
world because we've heard him, we've seen him by faith, we've
received his promise. We can save this religious world
by the opposite of what Ruth said. Permit me to leave thee. Permit me to refuse to follow
after you, the world. I will not go where you go. I
will not lodge where you lodge. Your people are not my people.
Your God is not my God. My God is the God of glory. And
like Abraham left his home, wandered in the desert, Moses left Egypt
to the Romans. The promise of God. Great God. They received the promises. They
embraced the promises. They confessed they were strangers
in this world and pilgrims in this world. And they declared,
verse 14, that they were seeking a country. We have no settlement
here. We have no satisfaction here. David said, I'll be satisfied
only when I wake with thy likeness. We have a temporary dwelling
here. We have no settlement, no satisfaction.
We set loose to the things of this world. One writer said we
seek a country and a kingdom far away. We have some knowledge
of it. We've never seen it, but we have
some knowledge of that kingdom, of that city. And we know the
way. And the way to that city and
the way to that kingdom is not by human birth or privileges. It's not by silver or gold. It's
not by works or merits. It's not by legal morality, it's
not even by professional religion, but the way to that country and
that city is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the way. It is his righteousness
which gives us the title of the glory. It is by his precious
blood that the fire has been paid. And He has already gone
there to prepare for us a place, and He will return for us. And
we declare that clearly and plainly. We declare plainly, we're seeking
that country. So what is this faith? It's faith
in the Word of God. The promise of God. And the effect
of it, they embraced Him. They confessed that they were
pilgrims. They declared plainly that they seek a country. And
then they refused to go back. Look at verse 15. And truly,
if they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, if their hearts had still been
in that world from which they departed. It's like Abraham,
if his heart had still been in the old country, early Calvary,
he had every opportunity to go back. He lived out there in the wilderness
with his son Isaac, his wife Sarah, a few servants, went from
place to place. But if his heart had still been
back there, he could have gone back. That's what it says here.
If they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they would have had an opportunity to go back. If Moses, all the
human glory, the human The comforts that Moses had in Egypt are indescribable. The servants, the power, the
influence, the human glory, the riches. The treasures of Egypt
were at his feet, on his back, on his crown, on his head. People bowed and scraped. He
walked down the street. He was notable, powerful. His word could condemn men to
death or put men in riches. He picked up a shepherd's staff
and walked out of that place into the desert where he's kept
sheep for 40 years. He came to a place where he said
to God, I'm no archer, he used to be. I'm not a talker, he used
to be. I'm not a leader, send somebody
else to get those people out of Egypt. I'm not a leader, he
used to be. He's somebody in Egypt. Be a great God. Count the cost. Gain the world, lose your soul.
Gain the Lord, lose the world. You can't be both. But these men believe that faith
does this. Reason doesn't think this way. Common sense doesn't think this
way. This is not the way to go, but faith says it is, the way
of God. The way of God. These men believed God. Our Lord
turned to a disciple one day. When all these folks had left
him, he turned to a disciple and said, will you go away? Are
you still mindful of that country? Peter said, to whom shall we
go? Thou hast the words of life, eternal life. I believe, and
I'm sure there's a crisis on the top. And they're in closing. And they
desire a better country. They believed God spoke and they
heard, they believed, they persuaded of his promises. Persuaded. They embraced him, took him to
heart. And they confessed that there were strangers and pilgrims
here. And they're seeking that city. That city. Over here, I
read in verse 10, he looked for a city. Looked for a better country. A high country, high in the heavens.
No smog, no fog, no pollution, no storms, no tempests, no floods,
no cold winds. It's full of light and glory.
having the breezes of divine love and the comfortable presence
of God. There's no heat of persecution
or hatred. There's no cold chills of anger,
misunderstanding, or hunger or thirst. That city is rich in
delicious fruits. It's rich in freedom, and knowledge,
and privileges, and most of all, peace. Its people are free. The Son of Man has set them free.
They're free from a body of sin and death. They're free from
diseases and discomfort. They're free from tears and trials
and temptations. They're free from fear and doubt
and unbelief. They're free from sorrow and
affliction. And they're free from goodbyes.
It's the eternal home of God and of Christ our Lord and of
angels and of just men made perfect. It's a home and place of perfect
holiness, and perfect love, and perfect knowledge, and perfect
bodies. It's our heavenly country. And
we seek that. And we just can't be satisfied
with tinker toys, and play pretties, and temporary dust. We seek in our heavenly country.
And that being the case, God is not ashamed to be called their
God. He's not ashamed to be called
their God. These people who have embraced him, believed him, confessed
as strangers and pilgrims who long and pant and yearn and desire
for his presence in that country. He's not ashamed to be called
their God. He says that here in Hebrews
2. He's not ashamed to call them his brethren. Look at Hebrews
2, verse 10. It became him, by whom are all things, this
is God, by whom are all things, in bringing his sons to glory,
to make the captain, Christ, the captain of their salvation,
perfect through suffering. For both he who is sanctified
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he's
not ashamed to call them his brothers." Brothers. They're one, Christ. He's not
ashamed of Christ and he's not ashamed of us who are in Christ.
And he's not ashamed to be called our God. Describe our God. He's in the
heavens, he has done whatsoever he pleases. So the Lord pleads
that duty in heaven, earth, and seas and all deep places. He's
not ashamed of that name. That is his name. If I lower
that name and lower that power and lower that majesty and lower
that glory, he's not going to own that. He's ashamed of that. I'd be ashamed of that. Lesser
God. Moses said, What's your name? He said, I am that I am.
I am that I am. There was a time when time wasn't
here. There was a time when the world wasn't here. There was
a time when men weren't here. There was a time when heaven
wasn't here. There was a time when time wasn't
here. But there was I Am. I Am and I Am. And God, look at this, verse
16. They desire a better country,
that is a heavenly country, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. Let's read about
it. Revelation 21. He hath prepared
for them a city. I'm fully expectant and persuaded
and convinced and embraced this promise. Revelation 21. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, a new and glorious kingdom. For the first heaven, all of
it, and the first earth, all of it, It was passed away. There's
an end to everything as we know it now in regard to this world
and the heavens. There's an end to all of it.
It's gone. It passeth away, Peter said, it passeth away. But the first heaven and first
earth were passed away. No memory, no more see of it. And our John saw the holy city. Abraham looked for a city whose
builder and maker is God. God had prepared for them a city.
John said, I saw it. The holy city. The new Jerusalem. The whole, who is this? I'll
tell you who it is and what it is. It's the whole assembly of
God's elect. It is the people of God. His
city, his kingdom, his temple, his elect, his church are one
and the same. It's not a material walls and
steeples and glass and silver and gold. It's an assembly. It's
coming down out of heaven. You want a symbol down here on
earth. His people are gathered. He hath gathered together in
one all things which are in Christ which were in heaven and the
earth. He hath gathered them together in his presence and
they come down out of heaven with him to inhabit this new
earth. That's that holy city. What need I for a house? I got a house over which I live,
but it's insulated so I won't get cold. It's got air conditioning
so I won't get hot. It's got a bed where I can sleep,
but there's no night there. There's no night, there's no
cold, there's no heat, there's no night. The Lamb is the light.
What need I for these ostentatious The palaces, the mansions are
dwelling places. It's building, not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. That's what we have here. We
have that holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride, a person, a bride adorned for a husband.
They're coming down to occupy the new earth. They're all robed
in the wedding garment of righteousness and glory and beauty, adorned
for Christ. That's right. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God. This is
the perfect church, the perfect temple, the pure tabernacle.
The tabernacle of God's with me and he'll dwell with them,
his people and God himself shall be with them, be their God. And
God will wipe away all tears from their eyes, there'll be
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither any more
pain, the former things are passed away. And he said, He just sat
on the throne and said, Behold, I make all things new. You're
right. These things are true and faithful. And he said, It's
done. This time of life is finished.
This city is finished. This church is finished. The
kingdom is complete. It's there. The world is finished. Its enemies are put away, annihilated,
done away with. I am Alpha and Omega. I'm the
beginning and I'm the end. Go back to the beginning. I purposed,
I made an everlasting covenant right before the foundations
of the world, of the first earth. I'm Alpha and Omega, I'm the
beginning and the end. God said, I make all things new. I created the world for my will
and purpose to be accomplished. I created nature and the heavens
and the earth. I fulfilled my promises through
the person that came to this earth, and indeed the people
from this earth. And now by my will and purpose
from all eternity I put this old earth away. I made it, I
destroyed it. I made it for purpose, I finished
my purpose, it is finished. I destroyed it. Everything about it. Every memory
of it. Every jot and tittle of it. And
the old heavens and the old earth exist no more. Nihilated. Done
away with. And everybody connected with
it. But I had a people. I have a
church, I have a kingdom, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And every
one of my sons and daughters will be conformed to the image
of my Son. And there will be no more death, no more sorrow,
no more pain. The former things are no more. There is a new heaven and a new
earth, a perfect earth. And these believers, when God
gets rid of that old heavens, you see, he doesn't do away with
his kingdom where he dwells. Get away with the heavens and
the earth. All of these things that sin
has touched, get away with it. There's a new earth, and this
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, like a bride of one good husband,
comes down to this new earth. And now I'm telling you, I'm
looking for a country and a city and a kingdom. and a glory that's
absolutely... Paul saw those things up there
and he said, I can't even tell you. I'm not even going to try.
Unspeakable words. But that's what we're looking
for. That's what we're looking for. And there's one basis for
it, and that is the same basis on which Abraham and Moses and
all these men we read about, if they'd gone. People said, I want it, prove
it to me. I can't prove it to you, except by God's second.
Abraham didn't say, Lord prove it to me. He said, I believe
you. Moses didn't say when he left Egypt, prove now to me that
I'm making the right choice, the right step. You do it by
faith. Believe God. Forty years that old boy suffered,
but he never lost one thing that kept him going. He believed God. He says, I believe God. Paul said it shall be exactly
as he said. And that's the faith that saves. You never get beyond that now. The day you receive Christ, believe
Christ, that's by faith, and you abide by that same faith.
These all died in faith. Not in advancement, not in knowledge,
not in accomplishment, I believe God.