I sort of think that we have
lost something when we discontinued a custom, when we discontinued a custom
that used to be practiced regularly and most everywhere. It used
to be the custom to write an inscription on every tombstone
when someone died. In the early days of this country
and over in Europe, it was the custom to write on the tombstone
of a friend or departed loved one some word in memory of that
person's life or faith. I've always enjoyed walking through
old cemeteries and reading what they wrote on the tombstones. I've been in many of them, and
I've read many inscriptions. They don't do that much anymore.
The modern cemeteries just name and date they were born, the
date they died. But I was over in England on
my first visit several years ago, and I wanted to visit some
of the old churches and some of the old cemeteries and see
where Isaac Watts was buried. Some of the other men. And I
visited a cemetery where they buried Charles Spurgeon. It was
a very impressive monument erected in his memory. And on the tombstone
are these words, ever since my faith, I saw the stream. Thy
flowing wounds supply, redeeming love has been my theme and shall
be till I die. That's a fitting inscription,
epitaph, or whatever you call it. And then on one marker of
an old believer, I don't recall the name, but it had when he
was born and when he died, and then just three words in quotations. Till he comes. Till he comes. That tells me
an awful lot. That man was expecting and waiting
for the return of Christ, and when he was buried, he or someone
chose to put on that tombstone till he comes. There's an old
preacher buried down in Mississippi who preached way back in the
18th century, and on his tombstone are these words. Five words,
a bond slave of Jesus Christ. I like that. A bond slave of
Jesus Christ. Job has, in Job, if you want
to turn to Job 19, he has what he wanted on his tombstone recorded
here. In Job 19, Job said this. He said, you can put this on
my tombstone if you want to. That's what he said. Now, you
see, that's not what he says here. In Job 19, verse 23, he
says, Oh, that my words were now written. Oh, that they were
printed in a book, that they were graven, engraven with an
iron pin and laid in the rock forever. I believe that's what
he's saying. Just put it on the stone that's
over my grave. with a, with a, with a lead,
lead in the rock forever. Engrave it with an iron pin and
lay it in the rock forever. And here it is. For I know that
my Redeemer liveth. I know that my Redeemer liveth.
I have a living hope and a living Lord. I know He lives. And that
He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though
after my skin Worms and they eat from within not from without
Our corruption is from within You can pick out these steel
coffins with their beautiful linen lining And put them down
in a good old solid Concrete ball and put some tar around
there and say now the worms can't get to the body Oh, yeah from
within You see, you buried the corruption. It's not just out here, it's
in here. And that old body's going to rot and decay from within. I asked an undertaker one time,
I said, how long can you keep a body? He said, well, when you
put it in the ground, I can't keep it very long. But if you
let me keep it in my mortuary and every once in a while inject
some of this fluid in it, he said, I can keep it almost indefinitely.
But I'll have to doctor it up. I'll have to keep injecting this
fluid in it, something else. But if you leave it alone, it's
going to rot from within. And that's our problem. We carry
the rot around with us. And the worms are going to destroy
this body. The worms from within. Yet in
my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself. And mine
eyes shall behold, and not another though my reigns be consumed
within me. I was reading some time ago about
a devastating flood that occurred somewhere in Europe many, many
years ago. And a great host of people died. The flood just came and covered
the town and people, many people died. And they found the body
of a small boy after the floodwaters had receded. and he was never
claimed he was never identified this little boy no one ever probably
parents died in the flood everybody who knew about it we would never
claim never identified and so the town buried him and someone
wisely put just two words on his tombstone no name, no dates,
nothing just two words would you know what they are? the two
words on that little unidentified unclaimed boy's tombstone was
this God knows. God knows. We don't know who
he is. His parents don't know where
it happened to him. God knows. God knows. And he does. And that's what this message
is all about tonight. God knows. For God presides. I believe this. And I don't know
why I'm bringing this message tonight. For whom or for what?
But God impressed me with it and laid it on my heart. God
knows. God presides. God presides. Not the preacher.
God presides over the life and death and burial and resurrection
of his people. God presides over it. God presides. Just as he did over the body
of Moses. He took Moses up on the mountain
and took him home. And I believe God presides over
the life and the death and the burial and the resurrection of
every believer because the scripture says precious, precious in the
sight of the Lord. I don't know where I'm going
to die or under what condition. I do not know the suffering that
I may have to, may be called upon to endure. I don't know
the loneliness. I don't know where it'll be or
when it'll be or how it'll occur or you either. But I know my
Lord will be there and preside over my home going. Because he
said precious in the sight of the Lord. is the death of his
son. It's precious to him. I don't know anybody to whom
death is precious but my God. And that's because he knows.
He knows. He seems to erect a giant mausoleum
in which all the bodies of his people rest, awaiting the coming
of his son. And he writes on every one of
them the words of my text found in Hebrews 11, verse 13. These
all died in faith. God, see, he presides over the
death of his children. And he seems to erect a giant
mausoleum in which all their bodies rest, awaiting the resurrection. And the Lord God writes on that
mausoleum, these all, without exception, died in faith. Now, we shall sleep. Somebody
said this. We shall sleep, but not forever. There will be a
glorious dawn. We shall meet to part never on
that resurrection morn. From the deepest caves of oceans,
from the desert and the plain, from the valleys and the mountains,
all his sheep will rise again. We shall sleep, but not forever.
In a lone and silent grave, blessed be the Lord who taketh and blessed
be the Lord who gaveth. In that bright, eternal city
where death shall never, never come, in his own good time he'll
take me from this world to my eternal home. You believe that? I do. And I'll tell you this,
and I I want to chasten all of us a little bit. The apostles
and prophets, the apostles and prophets, and writers of holy
scriptures, and men whom God has faithfully used down through
the years, never, never, never joked about eternal matters.
They never did. They never joked about death,
they never joked about heaven, they never joked about hell,
they never joked about these eternal matters because they
are so real. They are so final. They are so
final. Death is so real, my friends. Death is so final and death is
so certain. The scripture says it's appointed
unto men once to die. wants to die, and after that
the judgment. Death is near. Someone said death
is so certain. Judgment is so sure. Eternity
is so long. How can anyone joke about such
matters? There's no hope that any person
here is going to avoid death. No hope that anybody here is
going to avoid death. Now you can just forget it. Unless
our Lord Jesus Christ should come, every one of us can say
with Joe, when a few years are come, just a few years, then
I shall go the way whence I shall not return. We're going to die.
Alan, you're leaving us next, this week. We may never meet
again on this earth. We're both up in years. We may,
that's just so. And I'm not joking, I'm dead
serious. We may never meet again, only
we'll meet at his feet. But when we say goodbye, when
we say goodbye, we're going to say goodbye for the last time
one of these days. Every one of us. We're going to say goodbye
for the last time. We're going to meet here, preach
the gospel, sing our song, go home, and somebody's not coming
back. Do we realize that? There's no way to avoid this
matter. Every one of us are going to die. There's no bridge. Some authors said this, there's
no bridge across the river of death. Everybody here's got to
go through the flood. There's no bridge over it now.
Everybody here is going through the flood. We must pass through
it. Some die young, some die old. But there's one thing that can
be said of every son of Adam, they all died. They all died. And the man who ignores death,
and the preacher who ignores it, and the people who continually
make plans only to live, only to live, only to live, my Lord
called them fools. Did you know that? Turn with
me to Luke chapter 12 and listen to the master. The person that
only makes plans to live and not to die is a fool. I read a poem years ago. I wish
I could quote the poem, but I can tell you the story. There was
a famous king, a monarch, a ruler, who had a jester. Nearly all kings back then had
entertainers. They called them jesters. And
they would come in dressed like clowns with funny hats and entertain
the king and get him laughing, you know. And this king had a
favorite jester. And he was so fond of him, and
he was such an excellent entertainer, that he had a man make a walking
stick with a gold head. And on that walking stick, he
had inscribed, to the world's greatest fool. And he called
his jester in one day, and he said, Sir Jester, he said, you've
served me well and long. And you've been a good entertainer,
and you're such a foolish person. I just want to commend you. You're
the biggest fool I've ever met. And I've had this cane made for
you, and it says on this golden head, to the world's greatest
fool. I said, I'm giving it to you,
and just about thanked him, you know, thanked him. He appreciated
it, and the king said before he left, he said, now if you
ever find a bigger fool, give it to him. Well, the years passed,
and the old jester, he got old, the king got old. And he served
him all these years, and he hadn't seen the king for several days,
and someone came to him and said, the king is dying, and he wants
to see you before he dies. And so the jester went in to
the king, and the king was lying there in the bed, you know, and
the jester said to him, your majesty, they tell me you're
going away and he said i i i fear that i am he said uh... you're taking a trip from which
you will never return and the king said i fear that's true well he said
your majesty he said uh... what preparation have you made
for this trip and it got real quiet And the king said, none, none
whatsoever. He said, your majesty, you mean
that you're leaving here and taking a trip and going to a
place from which you'll never return and you've made no preparation
for the journey? He said, none whatsoever. And
the old fool laid the cane on the bed. And he said, it's yours,
your majesty. You're a bigger fool than I am.
Read Luke 12. Listen to verse 16. And he spake
a parable, Luke 12, 16. He spake a parable unto them,
saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
He prospered. Oh, how he prospered. And he
thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? I've got so
much gold and silver, more money than I know what to do with.
What shall I do with it? I have no room where to bestow
my fruits. And he said, This will I do. I'll just pull down
my barns, and I'll build a greater barn. I'll build a bigger house.
greater bond, bigger bond. And there I'll bestow all my
fruits and all my goods. And I'll say to my soul, soul,
thou hast much good laid up for many years. You've got security. You've got everything you'll
need for old age. So take your ease. Plan for that
comfortable, comfortable years. Eat, drink, and be merry. but
god said to him you're a fool this night dot so shall be required
to be who shall be things be which
dot has provided so is he that lay at that pressure for himself
on this uh... i wish we could learn that and all these things about us,
we actually, Mike, don't own anything. We talk about my house,
my farm, my lands, my state, my car, my this, my help. You don't own anything. God owns
it. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and all they that dwell therein,
it's His. His brain is stamped on it. And he's done nothing
in the world but let you wear that suit for a little while
and breathe that air and eat that food and live in that house
and enjoy your family, and he's going to take you away. He's
going to take them away one at a time. That's right, it's his,
not yours. And he said, you're a fool. And the man that lays
up these treasures is a fool if he's not rich toward God.
In fact, the apostles said that the canker, you know what canker
is? It's rust. cankers rust and When things
are laid up for our service and our use and our own well-being
and welfare And are not shared and put in use for God's glory
The rust of that gold and the canker of that gold and the canker
and rust of that silver will come up against you in the judgment
he said You died and you left it and it'll meet you at the
judgment Because God put these talents in your hands and you
didn't use them. I hid them in a field, he said.
Take away from him what he's got and give it to the man that's
got most. A fool. The man who ignores death
and makes only plans to live is a fool. Now, watch this. The
fourth thing that I want you to see in the introduction is
there's no difference. Listen to me. I'm going head-on
in conflict with these television preachers. There's no difference in the
actual death of a believer and an unbeliever physically. Now,
there's no difference. There's no difference. Unbelievers
get cancer and believers get cancer. Unbelievers have heart
attacks and believers have heart attacks. Unbelievers get killed
in automobile wrecks and believers get killed in automobile wrecks.
Now that's so. Unbelievers have sugar diabetes
and asthma and pneumonia and all different ailments just like
anybody. We're in their flesh. Do you
understand that? That's so. And a person's relationship with
God cannot be determined by when he dies or how he dies. Now you
put that down. A person's relationship with
God cannot be determined by when he dies. One of the greatest
preachers who ever lived was Robert Murray McShane. Would
you boys agree with that? Robert Murray, he died when he
was 29 years old. God used him mightily, but he
was two years younger than Paul when he died. David Brainerd
is another. If you want to read how God used
a man preaching to the Indians in the northeast part of this
country, and even, you know, these preachers always quoting
Isaiah 53, by his stripes we're healed, healing and atonement,
you don't need to be sick. Strange that David Brainerd didn't
know that. Isn't that unusual? Here's a man who was preaching
to the Indians in New York and in the northeast. Riding in the
snow, rode a horse. This was years and seventeen
hundred and something. And they could follow his trail.
Now this sounds a little gross, but they could follow his trail.
He had tuberculosis. They could follow his trail by
the blood in the snow, spitting blood in the snow. That's the
truth, isn't that true? He's God's servant. And he died
when he was twenty-nine. Augustus M. Toplady wrote Rock
of Ages, Cleft for Me. God took him home when he was
35. Charles Spurgeon, pastor of one of the greatest churches
in the world. He had an orphanage that housed hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of children. Coal portage work. His books
went all over the world. And when he was, to me, a very
young man, 58 years old, God killed him and took him home. So a person's relationship with
God is never determined by how he dies or when he dies or, let
me say this, or even how he may face that hour. I read the story of a man one
time who had unsaved children. Many of his children were not
converted. Now the ways of the Lord are mysterious. Don't you
try to put God in a mold. That's what these fools on television
are trying to do, put God in a mold. Trying to put God in
a box. Their idea of God. God will work
as he pleases, when he pleases, with whom he pleases, and many
times absolutely contrary to what you think. How he ought
to work. But this old man had children
who didn't know God. Grown children. And he tried
to witness to them and talk to them and urge them to hear the
gospel, but they wouldn't hear the gospel. This was his plan. He had this all planned out.
When he came to his deathbed, he was going to witness to them
a good confession. He just had this in his mind.
And don't tell me you older people haven't thought about this, how
you maybe lie there in the bed and You'll be singing, Amazing
Grace, how sweet the sound, and the angels of God hovering over
you know, and you look into the skies and see the arms of the
Lord waiting to receive you home, and a triumphant entrance, and
all your children will be around and you'll be singing, how sweet
the name of Jesus sounds, and the believers here and all of
them will be impressed by the smile on your face, and the joy
in your heart, and the glory of God on your face, and you'll
just witness a great confession. That's what this old man's playing. but when he got sick he had one of the most devastating
cases of bone cancer and he agonized and agonized and agonized and
lying on his bed everybody had to leave the room because he
was screaming in agony crying for God to please kill him that's God's way that's not my
way But that's God's way. And what we can't get through
our heads, this is what we can't get through our heads, that God's
not a man. And we are. And what seems right
to us is not right to Him. What seems wisdom to us is not
wisdom to Him. Many times I've seen different
people come into a meeting, a Bible conference or a meeting of some
sort, and a man was going to preach, and I'd sit there, This
is such an opportune time for you to speak to this matter.
Now give this fellow the message that I think he ought to hear,
and the preacher will get up and plumb strike out. Yes, plumb. Have you ever seen that happen?
And you go on thinking, why, Lord? Just why? Why is it this
way? Why? Because he'll not share
his glory. It's not by might, and it's not
by power. It's by my Spirit, says the Lord.
And he'll convert and call his sheep when he pleases and the
way he pleases so he'll get all the glory. Now put that down.
So don't plan any farewell dinners. And just don't sit around planning.
You know, I've often thought I'd love to preach my message
and go ahead and sit down and fall on the floor and y'all say,
oh, Henry's gone. But did he preach a good sermon? He might. There ain't no telling.
That's right. But one thing I know, let's look
at Hebrews 11, 13 here a minute. Hebrews 11, 13. This I know about
the death of believers. It says here, these all died.
Now, Abel died as well as Cain. Moses died as well as Pharaoh.
David died just like Goliath. Goliath breathed his last breath
and died. Jacob died, so did Esau. Peter
died just like Judas. Saints die as well as unbelievers.
Faith's not going to keep you from illness or death. These
all died. You see that? These all died.
They all died. Talk about Abel and Enoch and
Abraham and Sarah and Moses. They all died. Every one of them. And faith's not going to keep
you from death. It's not going to keep you from illness. Paul left
trophy must behind because he was sick. You ever read that?
Paul left his sidekick at home because he's sick. He said on another occasion,
Epaphroditus, that's another minister of the gospel, Paul
said he was sick now unto death. And I was greatly grieved. It
hurt me to see my friend now unto death. Paul said that. And
the Lord loved Lazarus, but he died, in fact he died twice. God, he died, the Lord raised
him, he died again. But watch, this is what, this
is the key phrase. These all died in faith. In faith. Now please listen,
I want to get this point across right here. They died in faith. In faith. This doesn't mean that
they exercised faith on one occasion. This doesn't mean they exercised
faith on one occasion and made a commitment to God. This doesn't
mean that they made a decision, had an experience, made a profession,
joined the church, was baptized, and looked back at that as their
salvation experiences. No, they died in faith. See what I'm saying here? They
died in faith. In faith. This means that they
believed God in reference to all things, and they walked with
God in an attitude of faith, and they died believing God. They died believing God. There's
one faith. And that's not an isolated act
that takes place under the pressure of an evangelistic altar call. That is a state of being. That
is a state of being. I have believed, I am believing,
by God's grace I shall believe. I have believed, I am believing,
if I'm God's child, I'll die in faith. And I'm talking about
it's the foundation and fundamental faith. a while ago in the study,
we were talking about this matter that I'm on right here. And I
know many of you say the same thing that one of our men said
in the study a moment ago. This false gospel is so subtle. Like I said this morning, this
gospel of this day, of modern day, is so subtle, they use a
Bible and they use the words and terms that we use, but not
the definition. They talk about the Bible, talk
about sin, talk about salvation, talk about the blood, talk about
the church, talk about the cross, talk about heaven, talk about
Jesus, talk about the Holy Spirit, talk about all these things.
And let me tell you something. There's a foundation upon which
these people can be tested by this word. And you put this foundation,
these six questions, directed to another six foundational truths. I believe some of you men in
business here, if there's a doctor here, or a nurse, or a historian,
or a carpenter, or a winderman, or a mechanic, and someone comes
in and starts talking, or an art dealer comes in and starts
talking, uh... that business i believe some
of you could ask him some questions find out these a pony and i couldn't
i couldn't tell but you could because you know your business
and i believe that these preachers that i can ask them about six
questions and expose the phonies and here's the first one the
god of the bible the god of the bible the god in whom we trust
and believe to whom we look is essentially, infinitely, eternally,
100% sovereign in everything he does. Is he or isn't he? Is
he? And I mean in creation, in providence,
and salvation. Now is he? A true believer and
preacher will say, I bow to the absolute sovereignty of God in
everything that he does. If the Lord does it, it's right.
He doesn't do it because it's right. It's right because he
does it. He'll be merciful to whom he will. He'll save whom
he will. He'll be gracious to whom he will. Only a true believer
can bow to God's indisputable, unchangeable sovereignty in all
things, over life, over death, over salvation. Huh? You get
a false preacher to say, yes, he won't do it. He can't do it.
You say, God wants to do this, but you'll have to let him. God's
hands are tied. Second thing, you ask them this.
Man, in the same sense that God is infinitely, unchangeably,
sovereign and holy, man goes completely the other way. He's
infinitely, unchangeably corrupt. Totally. There's no life, there's
no God in him, there's no spirituality in him, there's no truth in him,
there's no beauty in him. He's dead, dead, dead in trespasses
and sins. Is that right? Corrupt and defiled.
No man can come to me except my father John. You will not
come to me that you might have life. Dead, lifeless, without
hope, without Christ, without God in this world. Is that true?
But this book teaches us. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. God looked down from heaven
and saw that every imagination of man's heart continually is
evil. They won't buy it. The false
preacher won't buy it. I'm in that faith. And thirdly,
this being the case, God unapproachably, incomprehensibly, unchangeably
holy, Separate and apart from sinners dwelling in a life to
which no man can approach and man so infinitely far from God
so corrupt so impossible to come to God God Reasons known only
to himself and found only in himself from all eternity Decreed
and purpose to have a people out of that mess of humanity. And He chose them in Christ.
They didn't choose Him, He chose them. They didn't love Him, He
loved them. They didn't purpose to come to
Him, He purposed to come to them. That's what this book teaches.
And He chose them out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue,
and heaven. And He gave them to His Son and made His Son,
who is God Himself, to be their surety to be their mediator,
to be their redeemer, to be their righteousness, to be their atonement,
to be their reconciler, to be their redeemer. Now he elected
a people. I'm not going to back up, not
one 64th of an inch. That's the faith of Christ Jesus.
That's the faith of God. And fourthly, back them up now,
get them to say yes to these things. They won't do it. Jesus
Christ, in his charitieship, in his covenant relationship,
in his divine person and incarnation, and in his visitation to this
world, and in his righteousness and obedience, and in his precious
blood, deliberately on purpose, redeemed those people. He fulfilled
all that God required of them, all that God demanded of them,
all that God commanded of them, all that God expected of them.
He fulfilled it totally, completely in his life and in his death
and for nobody else. And for nobody else. That's so,
Alan. It's either so or it ain't so.
And if it's not so, you're a goner. If it is so, you've got a hope.
One man went out, Bill went out this morning to the door, and
he said, well, I'm glad for that hope. That's all I got. Are you? That's all I got. Christ loved
me and gave himself up. It's not Christ died and I did
this. It's not Christ suffered and
I did this. It's not Christ obeyed and I did this. He did all that
before I did anything. And what I did, I only did by
his grace. Now, they won't buy that, John.
These preachers in this town won't have it. They despise it
like they despise timber rattlesnakes. Maybe more. I believe they'd
rather have a meeting with a rattlesnake than a man who preaches grace
of God. It'd be a brotherhood. Fifthly, the Holy Ghost. The
Holy Ghost. The powerful, immutable, irresistible,
invincible Holy Ghost. in perfect union with the Father
and the Son. There's no division in the Godhead.
What the Father will, the Son purchased, and the Holy Spirit
applies. The Holy Spirit in time comes and brings this gospel,
and He'll send that gospel through a faithful witness. Who will
go for me? Isaiah said, Here am I, send
me. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up laborers.
It's His harvest, His field, He's the One who gives the hardness
is going to love the hardness. It's his vineyard. And he sends
his Holy Spirit to call out his elect. Do you believe that? Well,
the Word teaches that. The Word teaches that. The Holy
Ghost effectually, invincibly, successfully calls out God's
people. And in the sixth place, they
ever want Guess what this says right here? We'll die in the
faith. They'll die in that faith. In
that faith, there's just one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,
and they'll die in that faith. They believe it, and it's not
in a head knowledge, it's not a... Like I said on television
this morning, I believe doctrine, but my creed is Christ. And they
believe Christ. They believe the sovereign Christ.
They believe the incarnate Christ. They believe the creating Christ.
They believe the effectual Christ. They believe the triumphant Christ.
They believe the interceding Christ. They believe the victorious
coming Christ. They believe Christ. And they're
not going to quit believing it. And I don't hold out any hope
at all for anyone, and I don't see any hope in the Scripture,
for anyone who does not continue in the faith of Christ Jesus.
You turn to Hebrews 3. Let me show you that. Hebrews
chapter 3. Look at verse 6 and verse 14.
But Christ, and I'll quit, as a son over his own house, whose
house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing
of the hope, firm unto the end. Verse 14, we are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to
the end. Now, people run in a race, but
the only one who's crowned is the one who finishes. That's
what Paul said. Let me show you something here
in Hebrews 11. I'll bring it to a close. It says these all
died in faith. In faith. Not professing faith
only, but in faith. Not having received the promises. Adam didn't see the seed of woman,
but he believed. Abel didn't see the seed of woman,
but he believed. Abraham did not see his seed
as the stars in the sky, but he believed. Jacob did not see
Shiloh, of whom he spoke, but he believed. Moses did not see
the one of whom he wrote. Isaiah did not see the one wounded
for his transgressions. They didn't receive the promises. They didn't receive the fulfillment
of the promises, but they believed. And I'll tell you this, one of
the men said this in a study, actually, he said, look at here,
it says, having seen them afar off, and think how far off it
was. Think how far off it was. Do
you know, my friends, that we have more proof, and I hate to
use that word, more evidence, of God's saving grace than Abraham
had? We have more information than
Abraham had, but he believed. Oh, how far off. God, he said,
the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. Where's
the lamb? The Lord will provide. That was
so far off. I have so much more to go on
than he did. He believed God. He believed
God. But you know, somebody said in
there a moment ago, and I want you to turn to 2 Peter 1. Do
you know, and I hear these preachers on television talking about signs
and wonders and seeing the Lord, and God said to them, Do you
know something that's better than a vision? Something that's
better than a vision? Let me show you this. In 2 Peter
1, verse 16. Now listen to this.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus. We were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. He's talking about in the in
that mountain when Christ was glorified, his garments glistened.
Eyewitnesses, Peter, James, and John, for he received from God
the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory saying, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. He said, I was an eyewitness
of that. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when
we were with him in the holy mountain. But brethren, we have
also a more sure word of prophecy, something better than a voice
from heaven, something better. Whereunto you do well that you
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
that day dawn and the day star rise in your heart. What is it? Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of God, But holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Here is something better
than a vision or a voice, the Word of God. Believe it. Believe it. These all died in
faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off. And I'll tell you where they saw them, they saw them
in the Word of God. Now here's the last thing. They
saw them afar off and they embraced them. They embraced them. And they confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims. Now watch verse 15. Hebrews 11,
15. And truly, if they had been mindful,
or taken up with, or still in love with that country like Lot's
wife from which they came, they might have had opportunity
to go back. What does that suggest to you? What does that suggest
to you? In other words, when he says
able, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, all these men, if they had been
mindful of that country from which they came out, I sure miss
that way of life. I sure miss those things that
I had there. I sure miss this, that, and the
other. Well, they could have gone back. Yes, sir, they could
have gone back. What does that suggest to you?
One day our Lord was preaching. Many people were there. And when
he finished preaching, the multitude walked away. They said, this
is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And after they walked away,
there was no one left but the 12 disciples. He turned to them
and said, will you also go away? If that's where your heart is,
go ahead. If that's where you'd rather be, go ahead. And that's
when Peter said, to whom shall we go? We've found what we're
looking for. Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And that's exactly what he's saying here. Even Abraham,
and Moses, and Enoch, If they had still, like Lot's wife, she
couldn't leave. She had to look back. That's
where her heart was. That's where her heart was. She was with them
only in body. You recognize folks like that
in our services, only in body? But he said, you can go back.
But verse 16 says, but now 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.
Now go back to verse 10. And here's Abraham, he looked
for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.