The Patriarchs: Faith for a City, Part 2 (Hebrews 11:13-16)

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Session 12: Q&A with Darrell Harrison and Virgil Walker, Part 3

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Hebrews chapter 11, let's bow in prayer before we begin.

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Our great God, we have summed to you our praise and our worship and we have expressed the adoration, the longings, the hope and also the despair of our weary hearts.

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We pray that as we focus now upon your word that you would speak to us clearly through your word that we may hear your voice in the only place where we should and can hear it and look for it and that is in your written word.

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So we pray that the meaning of this text and the hope that is presented here would become clear to us and that our hearts would be lifted in joy and adoration as a result of it.

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Encourage us together, rebuke us and reprove us where necessary and be honored and glorified through the meditation of our minds and our hearts together as we contemplate the great things that you have done and the great things that you will do for those who are yours in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

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Well, our God is infinitely good in the rewards that he gives to his people and I would also argue that he is infinitely creative in how he gives and when he gives those rewards.

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He has promised to withhold from us no good thing, to borrow Paul's language in Romans chapter eight, if God has given us his son, then how will he withhold from us anything that is good?

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Which means that anything that God has brought into our lives, whether we deem it as painful or ill or harmful or sinful or whatever it is has been intended by him for our good.

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And he sanctifies us through that and he encourages his people through that and he sustains his people through all of that and then when we endure those things for his sake, he rewards us and he gives to us all of the good things that he has promised to us in the end.

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God is creative and he is infinitely so when it comes to the rewards that he gives to his people for their faithfulness and their long suffering.

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God also is very creative with the times at which he rewards his people. Think of this, the rewards that we receive for our faithfulness and for our trust in Christ are not just given to us in this life and they're not just given to us in the life that is to come.

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In fact, God lavishes upon us rewards for our faithfulness in this life, not all of them obviously, but we do get to see some of the fruit of our obedience and our faithfulness.

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We say that obedience is its own reward so even in this life, having obeyed and the cleansing, the clean conscience that comes with that is a reward, but God also lavishes upon us rewards for our obedience in this life.

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He does so in the intermediate state as well so that when we die and we go to the present heaven, which is not the eternal heaven, it's not the final state, but when we go to the present heaven, there are rewards that await us there as well.

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But not all of the rewards that await us await us there because when we step into the age that is to come in the kingdom age of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, there will be rewards for his people in the kingdom as well. Rewards for our faithfulness, for our service, for our devotion, for our works, for our labor to him, but then the kingdom age is not the last and final state because when that kingdom age finally is translated into the new heavens and the new earth, then we will receive a whole host of rewards.

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Possibly rewards for things that we have done in this life and in the intermediate state and then in the kingdom age and then why should

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I think that 100 ,000 years from now that I will have used up and enjoyed and seen all of the rewards that God would plan to give to us?

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Why should I think that? Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that 100 ,000 years from now that the work and the labor that we do for the

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Lord in the new heavens and the new earth will also carry with it a reward? That just staggers the mind.

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That lavish blessing upon lavish blessing, reward upon reward is prepared for those who love him and trust in him.

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We believe in a God who rewards those who diligently seek him. And a million years from now in the new heavens and the new earth, he will have rewards prepared for us who diligently even then free from sin, seek his face.

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And then consider the nature of God's rewards. He is infinite in all of his perfections. So God is infinite in wisdom, which means he knows exactly the perfect gift to give to his people, the perfect reward.

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He is infinite in his creativity, which means that we're never going to be bored or tire of the gifts and rewards that God gives to us because just as God's ability to create is almost an untold, unimaginable, infinitive creative power and diversity, so will be the rewards that he gives to his people.

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And God is infinite in his graciousness, infinite in his kindness, infinite in his cleverness, infinite in his power and infinite in his glory.

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All of those attributes and so many more, God is infinite and perfect in all of them. And all of those attributes in their infinite and perfect perfection will be brought to bear upon the rewards that God gives to us, both now and for all the rest of eternity in all of the states between now and the new heavens and the new earth.

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So I wanna ask you to do a little bit of a mental experiment with me for a moment. I want you to imagine that you lack no resources, you lack no power and you lack no opportunity.

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And given that that is the case, what type of rewards or blessings or gifts would you lavish upon those whom you love?

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Your children, your grandchildren, your spouse, your loved ones, your family, your mother, your father, your brothers and sisters or your friends.

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What type of gifts and rewards, what type of blessings would you lavish upon them if you lacked no creativity, you lacked no resources, you did not lack any opportunity and you lacked no power?

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What would you do for them? Now I'd remind you of what Jesus said, if you being evil would do that, how much more your father who in heaven who is good.

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If you can think of all of these magnificent things that you would do for somebody, how much more your gracious father in heaven who promises to reward those who seek after him.

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Pressing into that reward, trusting it, anticipating it, expecting it, longing for it, hoping for it, serving for it, working for it, that is all what it means to be a men and women of faith.

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We are not intended to work and serve and labor and be obedient in this world without giving any thought to the world that is to come because at the heart of biblical saving faith is the desire for and the hope for the reward.

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The faith that pleases God is a faith that believes that he is, Hebrews 11 verse six, and what?

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That he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. That's biblical faith, believing that God is and believing that God rewards those who diligently seek him.

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And all of the heroes that we have in Hebrews chapter 11, they demonstrated just that kind of faith.

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Abel obeyed the command of God, offered the right sacrifice, and he was accepted by God. Enoch walked with a

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God whom he could not see and God took him and he did not suffer death. Noah, believing the word of God, built an ark and ended up delivering his family and becoming an heir of righteousness.

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Abraham believed God's promise and he left the Ur of the Chaldees, the land of his birth, and went to a land that he was promised and he received portions of that land and lived in that land and he received the benefit of the descendants and the physical blessings that God had promised.

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And even Moses, whom we're going to get to eventually in Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse 26. It says, Moses, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking for what?

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The reward. Why did Moses leave the treasures, the comforts, the conveniences, the ease, the reputation, all of the joys of having that position in Egypt, why did

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Moses turn his back on all of that and choose instead to be associated with the despised slave nation of the

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Hebrews, his own kinsmen, and to leave with them? Why would Moses leave all of that?

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He was looking for the reward. He believed that that which comes from embracing the reproach of Christ is a greater treasure than all that Egypt could offer him, all that that wealthy and powerful land could offer him.

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Moses considered the reproach of Christ better than that, the hope of the reward better than that. Abraham left a promised land to receive an inheritance and God promised him blessings in this life and God lavished upon Abraham blessings.

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God is continuing to lavish upon Abraham blessings and God will lavish blessings upon Abraham in the age that is to come and for all of eternity.

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We looked last week at verses 13 and 14 describing the faith of this exile,

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Abraham, who was a stranger. He considered himself or professed, verse 13 says, that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

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He saw the promises from a distance, the substance of them with the eye of faith. He welcomed those promises from a distance, embraced them, looking forward to the receiving of those promises eventually.

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Verse 14 says that those who say such things, that is to confess that they are strangers and exiles on the earth, make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

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This is the example of Abraham. His faith caused him to see with the eyes of faith, to embrace with arms of faith that which was still years from ever taking place, that which still has not been fulfilled to this day, but Abraham saw it from a distance and he embraced it, proclaiming that he did not belong in that land as it was in terms of him possessing it, but he did live in it and he was promised the land, but he never occupied it like he would occupy it if he possessed it, as if God had ever really given it to him in his life, but he lived all the way up until the end of his life like a stranger and a pilgrim and an exile, a sojourner, just a traveler, one passing through, never really staking down his claim.

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Why? Because though he knew the land was promised to him, he knew the land would be given to him, Abraham knew that he could not assume that it was his yet because God would give it to him yet in the future.

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Those who say those things make it clear that they are seeking, verse 14, a country or a fatherland of their own.

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Abraham was looking not for something else other than the land, Abraham was looking for that land that he would one day possess, but when he would possess it along with his people who worshiped his

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God in a heavenly state, that was Abraham's expectation. And so we see there the faithful living of Abraham that even at the end of his life, he regarded himself as a sojourner and an exile.

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He didn't feel at home because he didn't possess the land. And he never settled down in that land, even though it was promised to him and said, now this is my home,

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I can finally call that home. Do you remember even after Sarah died, what Abraham did? He went and he bought a piece of land and he said,

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I'm a stranger and exile among you. I'm just a traveler, just passing through, but just allow me to buy this piece of land,

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I can bury my dead on it. Even at the end of his life, Abraham regarded himself as not really home in that land.

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Now if Abraham, this is the transition to verse 14, or sorry, verse 15 and 16. If Abraham never regarded himself in terms of being an occupant or that being his fatherland, then what would

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Abraham have considered his fatherland? If you're traveling somewhere and people can pick up from your accent or your skin color or your dress or the

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American flag you have on your T -shirt or something, and maybe not the American flag, it doesn't work with this illustration, but something else physical or audible from you or maybe your smell that you don't belong to this region.

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And then they ask you, what do you call home? Where do you call home? See, if you're an alien somewhere, it kind of implies that you are what?

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A resident somewhere else. That you have some land that you can claim as your home, that you have some country that you would say, this is mine, this is where I am at home.

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Well, the author is making the case in verses 13 through 16 that Abraham never regarded the land of his promise as his home, but what did he regard as his home?

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Did he regard his old place where he came from as home? The answer to that is no, he never regarded that as home.

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And you're gonna see that in the text, verse 15. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, that is

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Ur of the Chaldees, if Abraham had been thinking of that country, he would have had opportunity to return, and he did.

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But when Abraham says, I am a stranger in an exile on the earth, and he commits himself to live in terms of one who is just passing through, waiting for the promise to be fulfilled.

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If you were in the land of Canaan, and you said to Abraham, what land has God promised you? He would have said from Ur of the

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Chaldees or from the River Euphrates all the way to the River of Egypt, this whole thing is supposed to be mine. Well, do you regard it as your own?

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No, I do not. So this is not your home? No, this is not my home. This was promised to me, but I don't possess this now.

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Then what is your home country? Where are you from? What land, what place do you regard as home? Verse 15 says, if Abraham, and it's they,

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Isaac and Jacob, the patriarchs, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, namely

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Ur of the Chaldees, they would have had opportunity to return, but they never did. He never went back.

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He never considered even where he came from as his home. So Abraham was, in every sense, a traveler, a sojourner, and an exile.

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There was no place that he could call home. He was a foreigner wherever he went, and even if he went back to the land from which he came, he would have been a foreigner there.

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That wasn't his homeland. Abraham was looking for a homeland. He was waiting for God to give him that fatherland, that homeland, but it wasn't the land that was promised in his lifetime, it will be in the resurrection, but it wasn't in his lifetime, and it wasn't

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Ur of the Chaldees from which he had come. He could not call the promised land his homeland, listen, not because it would not be given to him, it will be, and he couldn't call it his promised land not because the real fulfillment of it is heaven, it's not, but he couldn't call it his homeland yet because it will not be given to him until the resurrection.

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Then it will be Abraham's homeland, and he did have opportunity to return, which verse 15 mentions.

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If he'd been thinking of Ur of the Chaldees when he was longing for a homeland, looking for a fatherland, if his heart and his mind had gone to that, oh,

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I remember life in Ur. Life in Ur was so much better. It was beautiful, it was green,

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I knew the people back there. That's really where I feel like I belong is back in Ur of the Chaldeans. If he had been thinking of that, the author says in verse 15, he would have had opportunity to return, and he didn't have opportunity to return.

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One of the most notable examples of that opportunity is when Abraham's servant was commissioned to go fetch a bride for Isaac, his son.

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Do you remember the details of that? Genesis chapter 24. Now, what is significant about Genesis 24, when

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Abraham gives the instructions that I'm about ready to read to you, is that in Genesis 15, Abraham had already been told, you are gonna die at a ripe old age, and you're gonna be buried.

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So you're not going to possess this land. And if you think Isaac is gonna possess this land, no, not

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Isaac and not Jacob and not Jacob's sons, but the people, the descendants who come from you, that line of promise is gonna go into another nation.

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There, they're going to be oppressed, they're gonna become slaves, but eventually, four generations from now, they will come out of that land, and I will allow them to come in and to possess this land.

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So Abraham knew by Genesis 24 that he was gonna die having never seen the literal fulfillment of that promise.

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He knew he wasn't gonna see it. But in Genesis 24, listen to what Abraham says. Now, Abraham was old, advanced in age, and the

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Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, please, place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the

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Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife from my son from the daughters of the

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Canaanites among whom I live. He was in the land of promise at the time. And Abraham looked around and said, there's no woman in this entire promised land that I want my son to marry, not from among these people.

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Go back, he says, verse four, you will go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife from my son

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Isaac. And by my country, he's not talking about his homeland, he's describing there the country of his origin, the country he was from originally.

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The servant said to him, suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land, which you would assume that most women would not be willing to follow you to that land, right?

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Some guy shows up at your house and he sees one of your daughters and he says, look, I've got a guy about 1 ,000 miles away, you've never seen him, you've never met him, you have no idea of his character, what he looks like, nothing, but he needs a wife, and I think that she would be a good fit for him.

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What would you say? I don't need to ask you what you would say. I'd say go pound sand, there's no way.

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Now if you're really desperate to get rid of your daughter, you might wanna see a photograph, make sure that there's some way to FaceTime her occasionally, but you're not just gonna give that up in Abraham's day, but that's what

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Abraham's servant did. He went back to Ur the Chaldees and of course he knew the family there and he said,

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I'm Abraham's servant. Abraham has a son now, Isaac, how about Rebecca?

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Come back, I mean, and add to this, I wasn't planning to say this, but this

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I think, this is worth stopping for a second. Add to this the fact that the servant says, look, I was asking

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God for a sign, right? I just said, Lord, whichever woman offers me a drink for my camels, let that be the woman, and she offered me a drink for my camels, this must be a sign from God.

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I mean, add that to the little imaginary scenario that you have going on in your mind. You wouldn't give up your daughter for that, would you?

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Or what would Rebecca have said? Does that seem like a reasonable offer to Rebecca? Yeah, I'll go 1 ,000 miles away and marry somebody

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I've never seen in a land that I've never seen. The assumption, the working assumption of Abraham's servant would be that this woman would think that this is a crazy offer and that she would not be willing to go back, to leave to go where Abraham and Isaac were at in the land of promise.

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So the servant said to him, suppose a woman is not willing to follow me to this land. Should I take your son back to the land where you came from?

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And Abraham said, beware that you do not take my son back there, exclamation point.

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There's an exclamation point there in the text. I don't know, I don't think it's an original Hebrew that didn't have exclamation points, but you can hear the passion in Abraham's voice.

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Beware that you do not take my son back there. The Lord God of heaven who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth and who spoke to me and who swore to me saying, to your descendants,

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I give this land, he will send his angel before you and you will take a wife for my son from there.

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But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from my oath, only do not take my son back there.

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Now there was an opportunity for Abraham to leave the land of promise and go back to where he had come from.

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He could have gone back with his servant to get the wife for Isaac. In fact, he could have gone back and it would have made finding

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Isaac a wife among his people a whole lot more likely if he was willing to go back and stay there with Isaac and see the marriage through and spend some time there, but Abraham did not go back there.

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In fact, Abraham said, do not take my son from this land and if that woman will not come here, whatever you do, do not take my son back there.

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Abraham could have gone back, he had opportunity to return. In fact, Abraham had a lot of reasons to return. His family was there, everything he was familiar with was there, his former business associates were there, relatives, people he knew.

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Back when he lived in Ur of the Chaldees, he had buildings with foundations, he didn't live in a tent, he didn't live like a nomad.

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He was not a stranger, he was a native to that land. He had every reason to go back there, every desire could have been present for him to go back there.

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He's familiar with the civilization and the culture. That had been his home for 75 years. He had lived there before God called him out.

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And he didn't lack the resources to return. He didn't lack the strength to return. He didn't lack any reasons to return.

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He knew the way back, his servant went back there. He had not only opportunity, but he had things that he could desire back there.

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He had reasons to return back there, and he would have received a warm welcome to go back there.

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But Abraham did not return, why? Even though Abraham knew he would die in the land before receiving the promise,

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Abraham was willing to wait and die there, even though he didn't receive it in his life.

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And he knew that his son would not receive it, and his son's son would not receive it. Although Abraham had every chance to go back, he did not turn back.

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Now, I do not want you to miss the application for the original audience of Hebrews, don't miss it.

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What situation were they in? They had left the old covenant, the sacrifices, the feasts, the festivals, all the stuff that was familiar to them, and though they had not left any physical locale, they still lived in the same place and still lived among the same people and still lived in the same culture and still spoke the same language and still saw the same people and still maybe dwelt in the same city, they had been called out of darkness and into light, they had been called out of the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of God, they had been transferred, spiritually speaking, from one location to another, and now they had, in the language of chapter 10, verses 32 and following, all the way through verse 39, they had endured a great conflict of sufferings, they had been reproached and slandered for the name of Christ, and some of them had had their possessions possessed and stolen, all for their profession of faith in Christ.

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They had left the old and embraced the new, which was better in every way, a better covenant, a better high priest, a better sacrifice, a better salvation, all of that, and they had been promised eternal life and salvation ultimately, but in the meantime, in this world, they had been promised trials and tribulations, temptations, and persecutions, that's what the

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Lord had promised to them, and they could make all of that go away just like that if they just renounced

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Christ. All they had to do was stop with the worship of Jesus as Yahweh, and the proclamation of his resurrection and the embracing of the new covenant, if they could just stop that and go back to the old covenant, just step from one realm into the other and return back to what was familiar, what they were comfortable with, what they had enjoyed, what promised them ease and comfort and convenience, all they had to do was go back, and all of the suffering would stop for them.

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They had been ostracized from their family, ostracized from their community, ostracized from the business community, and they had suffered very real losses in terms of the reproach and the conflict of sufferings and the seizure of their possessions, but they embraced all of that with joy.

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They could make it stop if they just went back, and here's the author's appeal to this audience.

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Abraham left all of that, and though he had opportunity to return, he never did. What is the implication of that?

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You, likewise, do not return. What is the faith that pleases

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God? It is the faith that is willing to fully and finally and completely turn its back on this world, all of its comforts, all of its conveniences, all of its ease, all of its treasures, all of the promises that this world gives, and to embrace fully and finally new life in Jesus Christ and even embrace the reproaches of Christ.

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Jesus said, if you are not willing to take up your cross and follow me, you're not worthy of me. Biblical faith is a faith that leaves the old and never returns back.

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It doesn't shrink back to destruction in the language of chapter 10, verse 39. Remember the warning? We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

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There's a contrast between the faith that does not shrink back, it does not go back, and the faith that preserves the soul.

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The faith that preserves the soul, that endures and saves the soul, is not a faith that goes back.

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It's not a faith that recedes. It's not a faith that retreats. It's a faith that stands and says, I am willing in this world, even if I should live 100 years, to live as an exile and a stranger and a foreigner, even amongst my own people.

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Even amongst people who I once loved and once loved me, I'm willing to embrace the reproach of Christ, and I'm willing to endure the great conflict of sufferings, and I'm willing to take that shame and embrace that shame and even claim that shame as my own and gladly proclaim,

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I am a stranger here, I am an alien, I am not welcome, and you can view me with suspicion, and that is fine.

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Because the biblical faith, like Abraham had, says, I'm not living for this world and all of its conveniences.

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I'm willing to embrace the reproach of Christ because the treasures of that are worth more than anything this world can offer.

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So this is why the example of Abraham would be so poignant for these early Jewish Christians.

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They revered Abraham, and here's the author saying, Abraham left and he never went back. He knew that ultimately he would be rewarded with something that is beyond this life, and for that reason,

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Abraham endured in the land even knowing he would die as an alien and a stranger. But God will reward those who take him seriously and embrace the reproach of Christ.

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Verse 16, but as it is, see, they did not go back even though they had opportunity, verse 15, but as it is, they desired a better country.

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That is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them. There are two rewards that are mentioned there.

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First is the fact that God is their God and he is not ashamed to call himself their God, and the second is this country that is mentioned in verse 16, a better country described as a heavenly one and a city at the end of verse 16.

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This hearkens back to the theme that we saw in chapter, verse 10, I should say, 11, verse 10, that Abraham was looking for a city with foundations whose architect and builder was

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God. That is the same city that is mentioned here in verse 16. It is part of the same country that is described in verse 16, this heavenly country or better country.

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Remember, better is the theme all the way through the book of Hebrews. So if you're keeping track of all the things that we have that are better, we have a better priest, have a better intercessor, a better mediator, a better sacrifice, a better covenant, better rewards, and now a better country.

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So everything in Hebrews is better. Everything from the old covenant that was promised and all the forms and features which had passed away, what we get in Christ is even better than that.

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What Abraham lived and dwelt in was not his permanent home. He didn't regard that as homeland. What he ultimately is going to possess and inherit is even better than that.

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Now the question becomes, something that we addressed, I addressed some weeks ago in verse 10, is this describing heaven or a spiritual inheritance?

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And back in verse 10, and I'm not gonna rehash all of this because I don't wanna just retread this ground over and over again. Some of you are just absolutely sick of retreading this ground already.

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And if I do it again, you've endured enough. I offered those seven arguments as to why this is not describing heaven.

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It is not describing a spiritual inheritance in heaven. It's not describing a country or a city in heaven to which we go.

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It is describing the arrival of a country or city from heaven into the promised land.

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And I'm not gonna rehash all seven of those arguments, but what I said back then in verse 10 would apply to all of these descriptions in verse 16.

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The better country, a heavenly one, and the city that God has prepared, as well as the description of the new

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Zion or the heavenly Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem in chapter 12. A Jew would have understood this to be a description of the kingdom that they were promised under the old covenant in the

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Old Testament. Even after they had entered into the promised land, there was the promise that there would be a king and a kingdom from David's line who would establish the throne in the kingdom of David.

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And that from Jerusalem, that would be the center of worldwide worship. It would be the center of the universe because on David's throne would sit and judge and rule a holy, righteous judge, a holy and righteous king.

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And that that city, that kingdom would be inhabited by joyful people, by protected people, that that nation, that kingdom would be prosperous and productive and peaceful and protected and all the other

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P words that would describe that kingdom. It'd be a glorious entity, a heavenly Jerusalem, a heavenly city, a heavenly country.

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These are heavenly characteristics. So this is what the Jews had anticipated given all that was described of that kingdom and what

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God was going to do in that land, something that they never saw fulfilled in their lives or under the old covenant.

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And yet the Jews expected that and anticipated that. So when the author of Hebrews then comes and says that Abraham, what he was really waiting for, what really is going to fulfill that promise is the possession of that heavenly country, a better country, this heavenly city.

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What all of the Jews who would have read this would have understood was that the ultimate fulfillment of this was not Abraham going to heaven, but heaven coming to the promised land,

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Abraham being resurrected and dwelling and possessing that land just as God had promised under the old covenant. Abraham would never have thought that what he was really striving after and longing for was heaven.

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Abraham would have never thought that that's what the land promises meant. There's a reason why

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Abraham never would have thought that, because God never mentioned that anywhere in the Old Testament. So neither

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Abraham nor any of his descendants, none of the Jewish nation would have ever thought that really the land promises about heaven.

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They would have said really the land promise will be fulfilled when it has these heavenly characteristics. Something will be true of that land in the future.

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That land will be changed, radically changed in the kingdom age when Christ rules and reigns over the nations in fulfillment of the

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Davidic covenant in the land that was promised in fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and Israel is saved in fulfillment of the new covenant, then all the

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Old Testament and New Testament saints, all of God's people will enter into that kingdom and Abraham will receive the full land.

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It will be a country with heavenly qualities and heavenly people because it will have a heavenly king and a heavenly government and it will be like heaven come to earth.

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That's the kingdom that was promised. That's what Abraham was longing for. Abraham knew,

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I'm gonna die in this land. I'm not gonna possess this land. My descendants right now are not gonna possess this land.

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Not my son, not my grandson, not my great -grandson, not my great -great -grandchildren. But sometime in the future, in the resurrection, this country will be better.

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This country will be heavenly. This land will have a city in it that has a heavenly king and a heavenly city with heavenly qualities because the king of heaven will dwell and live and rule in it.

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That is what described that city, the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God and that is contrasted with the land in which

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Abraham dwelt. You remember back in verse 10, the contrast was with living in tents. Abraham got upgraded not from living in tents to living in a heavenly city.

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Abraham got upgraded, gets upgraded from living in tents in the land to living in a city in the land.

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That's the upgrade that Abraham gets and that's what Abraham was anticipating. Now look at the second reward and this is the ultimate reward really and that is for God to call us his children or his own and for us to call

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God our God. God is not ashamed, verse 16, therefore God is not ashamed to be called their

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God. You and I can say that the same thing is true of us. God is not ashamed to be called our God because in Hebrews chapter two it says, both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

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That's speaking of Christ. Christ is not ashamed to call us his brethren. God is not ashamed to call us his God and this language that is used here that God is not ashamed to be called their

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God, that there is reference to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs that he's been describing in this passage, but God is not ashamed to be called their

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God because he had made a covenant with them and entered into a covenant with those patriarchs, that line of promise.

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Genesis 17, verse seven, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant.

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Listen, this is part of the covenant, not just land and blessing and promise and seed and descendants and all of that.

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It's not just that, but here's the key part of this promise. To be a God to you and your descendants after you,

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I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their

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God. The fact that God enters into a relationship with Abraham and thus to all those who like Abraham place their faith in Christ and in God and believe his word, and all the descendants of Abraham who will likewise do the same thing, the fact that God is not ashamed to be called their

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God is one of the most glorious rewards that we could have. It's not just that we get a kingdom and it's not just that we get heaven, but we get

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Christ and we get God. We get to dwell with him, which is the whole point and purpose of all of God's redemptive plan.

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It's not to save a people and put them off in some place called heaven and for him to go dwell somewhere else, but it is for God to live with his people in relationship with them without sin present with a glorified and redeemed people who will worship and serve him forever and ever.

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That is the whole point and purpose and direction of all Old Testament redemptive intention, that we would be the people of God, that we could call him our

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God and that he would call us his people. Exodus chapter three, verse six, God said to Abraham, I am the

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God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Exodus 3 .15, go furthermore.

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Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, the Lord your God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.

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This is my name forever and this is my memorial name to all generations. God says my name is the

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God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is so unashamed to call these men his own and to be called by them their

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God that he makes his memorial name, his covenant name, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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That is how he wants to be known. I am the God of these people. And likewise, God is not ashamed to call us his own because he has pledged and covenanted with us in the new covenant in Christ to call us his people.

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God redeems sinners and he makes sinners his own so that he may dwell with them. You see this theme all the way through the

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Old Testament, all the way into the New Testament, actually, all the way from Genesis to Revelation. God was with Adam and Eve in the garden, dwelling with them.

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Sin separated that so that Adam and Eve hid from God. So how did

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God remedy that? Through sacrifices, he atoned for the sins of his people. They could have a relationship with him by grace.

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But ultimately, God would call Abraham to create a nation amongst whom he could dwell. And when he called them out of Egypt, they set up a tabernacle where the glory of God was to dwell with his people, his covenant people.

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So in the tabernacle, that tabernacle followed them all the way into the promised land, into the city of Jerusalem. Solomon built a temple there and all the furniture of that tabernacle was put in the temple.

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Why? So that God could dwell amongst his people, that people could come to God and God could dwell in their midst.

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Then in the New Testament, we have God in Christ tabernacling, dwelling amongst us. And now in this age,

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God is building his church with living stones to be a people for his own possession and for his dwelling so that he, according to Ephesians 2 and 3, dwells in us both individually and corporately.

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So the church now becomes a dwelling place or a habitation of God in the spirit. And ultimately, in the kingdom age,

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Christ is going to dwell in the city of Jerusalem and rule and reign there and he will dwell there with his people and amongst his people.

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And then in the new heavens and the new earth, there is a heavenly city of Jerusalem which comes down to that new creation.

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And what do we read at the end of Revelation? God dwells with his people and he is there with us and we are there with him.

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So that what was lost in Genesis is recovered in Revelation at the end. And all the way through this, you see symbols of God's intention and his purpose in dwelling with his people, in living with his people because he is not ashamed to be called our

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God. We are the ones who are ashamed without any justification whatsoever.

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God is not ashamed and he has every reason to be ashamed of us. Because even though that is the intention of God to dwell with people, there's one thing that stands as a massive hurdle to God doing that.

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That is our sin because we are wicked and sinful and fallen and depraved and lost and hopeless and helpless without Christ in this world.

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We have violated God's law, we have stolen, we have lied, we blaspheme God's name, we have worshiped idols, taken his name in vain, we've harmed our fellow man, we deserve the justice of God.

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We deserve his judgment, we violated all of his law. We without Christ are reprobate sinners, unable and unwilling to change our condition.

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But God does something and has done something in Christ by his sacrifice on the cross to remedy that.

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It's not just that he has overcome that, but he has redeemed those who were once his enemies. So now by his grace, he calls us to himself and through the gift of repentance and the gift of faith,

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God grants salvation to those who believe and trust in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to pay the full sin penalty for any and all who will trust in him and embrace his gracious offer of salvation.

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So that all of our sins can be taken out of the way and we can actually be seen and made righteous in God's sight not because we are righteous, but because somebody else who was righteous did nothing but righteousness on our behalf.

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So that in the death of Christ, he takes all of our sin out of the way and he gives to us instead his perfect and unblemished righteousness so that being in him by virtue of repentance and faith, we can have eternal life.

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And the goal and the design of all of that was so that God could call us his children and that we could call him our

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God. That we could be redeemed and saved and forgiven for all of our sin, past, present, and future, every last evil thought, every last evil deed, every last evil motive, purged and taken away in Jesus Christ.

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God will dwell with his people, but only with those who have repented and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation.

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We are going to observe the Lord's Supper here in a couple of moments. This is a reminder to us of the cost that was paid so that God could dwell with us.

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Remember in the tabernacle and in the temple and in Jesus Christ, when

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God dwelt among his people, all of those things involved sacrifices. The tabernacle, the temple, the sacrifice of Christ, everywhere that God meets with his people, it is over the sacrifice that is atoned for their sin.

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Christ is our sacrifice. And if we are in him, then his sacrifice is sufficient for us.

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And God calls you this day, if you've never trusted Christ for salvation, and you are lost today, you've never been born again, you've never turned from your sin, repented and believed upon Christ, God commands you this day to repent and to trust his son, because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.

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He has promised that there is a judgment to come. All sin will be judged. It will either be judged on and in the person of Christ by his atoning sacrifice, or it will be judged on your head if you will not repent and believe the gospel of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is what is symbolized by the bread and the juice that we partake of.

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There's nothing salvific about it. So this is not the way to salvation. This doesn't take away your sin.

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It doesn't take away some of your sin. It doesn't atone for a little bit of your punishment in hell later on. It doesn't do any of that.

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It is a symbol that represents the price that was fully paid for your salvation. God commands you this day to repent if you are not a believer, and God warns you this day not to partake of this if you are not a believer.

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We ought to eat and drink in a worthy manner, which means as Christians, we come repentant and humble before the Lord, confessing our sin, acknowledging that this sacrifice was necessary to pay the cost for our sin and to atone for our sin and to make us whole in the sight of God so that we can dwell with Him, so that we will dwell with Him.

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But if you are not a believer, you eat and drink the cup, you're eating and drinking judgment to yourself.

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So I would just sternly warn you of that. This is not for you. This is for believers. God commands you this day to repent, not to partake of communion, but to repent and to believe upon the

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Lord Jesus Christ and be born again. So I'll ask the ushers to come forward and help serve the elements at this time.

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And then we will bow together in prayer quietly and then I'll lead us in confession.

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Let's bow our heads. Our Father, it is at great cost to you that you have purchased our salvation and we are mindful of that, that our sin kept us out of your presence and made us hideous and odious in your sight, that you must punish all sin because you are a just and righteous

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God. You would be vindicated and called righteous because of your just judgments and yet we thank you that you loved us enough to send your son to die on a cross in our stead and in our place so that we could have eternal life to atone for, to take out of the way our sin and to remove it from us fully so that we could be righteous in your sight because of what

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Christ has done and that we could be welcomed into the gates of eternal splendor and glory and to stand in your kingdom someday, righteous, glorified, seeing you face to face.

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We are grateful for that great sacrifice and we thank you that though it was costly that Christ saw that through and did purchase the redemption of his people, a bride for his own possession and we thank you for the forgiveness of sins that is available.

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We confess our sin and acknowledge our unrighteousness, our inability even as saved to fully keep your law every moment and to fully obey everything that you have required for us to do.

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We know that we have failed and we know that our failings will continue as long as we are in these bodies of sin and death and we pray for the grace to continually be sanctified and to continually mortify sin and put to death the deeds of the body that you would be honored and glorified through a bride, a church that is holy and righteous and spotless.

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We look forward to that day when Christ will present us to himself in all that glory and in all that purity and until that day,

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Lord, strengthen us and encourage us in our hearts to mortify sin and to put it off and to love you and be obedient to you in all things.

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confess these things and we pray for your grace and strength now in Christ's name, amen. Amen.