Desiring a Better Country — Don Wilkerson

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Abraham’s Faith and the Heavenly Country

Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. I want to talk to you tonight about those of us who are desiring a better country. Desiring a better country. Hebrews chapter 11, about Abraham. Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse 8,.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place, which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking for the city which had foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith, when Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised, therefore also there was born of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants of the stars in heaven, in number and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Now all these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed, and having confessed that they were strangers and aliens on the earth, and exiles on the earth.

For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity, they had opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a better country. Actually the word country is added to it by the translators. We'll talk about that later. It really reads, but as it is, they desire a better, that is a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them, desiring a better country. Our Father we thank you again tonight for the song of triumph in the midst of your people.

And Lord we thank you. We thank you. We thank you for moving Sunday. This Sunday night our hearts were moved as you were stirring us. And your presence was manifested in such a marvelous way. We thank you.

Lord we ask you that you would give us a church that has the cry of a poor man. The scripture says the poor man cried and the Lord delivered him out of his distresses. Give us a cry of a poor man, of a needy man, of a needy people.

Lord we are a needy people and we cry out to you again tonight. And we ask that you would minister the word and touch our hearts and everyone who's here. Lord that needs to hear the word tonight, anoint it to their hearts in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. There's probably no greater example in the scriptures of the life of faith than that of Abraham. And here we see that Abraham left his home. He left his family. He left his land at God's command.

And he never went back again. Never went back again. And you see the proof of faith and of holiness is found in this important truth. A true child of God never goes back to where he came from. You see there is a faith, there is a kind of faith that runs well for a while.

We have a lot of people that if the Christian life were the Olympics, they would be great at the hundred yard dash. Or all of those short little runs. And there is a faith that runs well for a while, but then it falters and it faints and it does not continue to obey.

But this is not the faith spoken of in Hebrews. True faith abides and continues and it doesn't go back. Now Abraham could have returned, but he did not. Isaac could have returned, but he did not. Jacob returned not.

They did not return in spite of the fact that they were living as exiles, as tent dwellers. They were called sojourners and pilgrims. Now a pilgrim's life is not an easy one. Abraham accepted the life of faith and as a tent dweller, it meant that for over a hundred years, he lived in a permanent state of impermanence.

A permanent state of impermanence. That's what the life of faith is. That's what the life of a tent dweller is. And the writer of Hebrews tells us that they were not coerced or forced to continue this faith pilgrimage.

They did not remain in this condition of obedience because they could not return. They had ample opportunity. Had they been mindful, the Scripture says, had they been mindful of that country, if they had been so thinking about it, thinking about it a lot, they probably could have found opportunity to go back.

But the fact is that the patriarchs did have frequent opportunity to return, to go back, but they didn't. You see, Abraham had, there were servants, there were people who came and went from his homeland, bringing him communication and report of what was going on back there.

There was news of home and he could have gone back. Now, you see, Ur of the Chaldeans, the architects or archaeologists tell us, was a modern city. It has been uncovered, unearthed, and they found in that city broad avenues, beautiful two-story homes, the ancient equivalent of shopping malls, and great marketplaces were in Ur of the Chaldeans.

You see, some places are easy to leave. Ur was not. It was prosperous. It was an advanced civilization and Canaan was a sharp contrast to that. You remember that Isaac's wife, Rebecca, was selected for him from back home.

And after she got her man, I don't know if she tried to talk him in and said, Oh, let's go back. I don't know if she did. The Scripture doesn't indicate she might have done so. But if she did, he did not return.

Jacob actually did return. He was driven out as an exile and he was driven back to his home and yet he did not remain there permanently. He too ended up living the life of a pilgrim, the life that God commanded him to live.

And so we learn from Abraham and from Isaac and Jacob that they had many opportunities to have returned, to have resettled comfortably in a familiar place, but they chose rather to follow the nomadic, uncertain, and unsettled life of a faith pilgrim a wanderer on weary feet, dwelling in tents, owning no real estate.

Hebrews 11, 13, and 14 says, Having confessed or accepted the conditions, they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For they who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own or of God's own.

The Church as Strangers and Pilgrims

Now, our present position today as saints is just like that of Abraham. We are living in this world. We're in the same kind of position. You see, the literal meaning of church is that of being called out ones.

That's what the church means, called out ones. We have been separated. We have been set apart just as Christ went outside the camp. So we are called outside of everything here bearing reproach. Therefore, in this world we do not have a home.

We have no permanent true dwelling place here. We too are strangers and foreigners just as our forefathers. I Corinthians 7 and 11 says that we are those who use the things of the world. And that's talking about the natural things of the world, not necessarily the sinful things, using world in a generic term.

It says we are those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. Now, I hope that describes you. We are in this world. We're not of it.

We're not to be engrossed in it. In spite of the fact that you have to work for a living, you have to pay your taxes, you have to be a part of this life, we are not a part of this system. We're not to be engrossed in it.

Resisting the Opportunity to Return

Now, what can we learn, therefore, from the testimony of Abraham? What can we learn from the life of Abraham as a faith pilgrim? Well, first of all, consider the opportunities that are presented to us, to you, to return to the place that you have come out of.

If you are mindful of it, if you have a mindset to it, there are many, many daily opportunities for you to return to that country. Look at verse 15 again of Hebrews 11. In another translation, it reads like this.

It says, If they had been cherishing the memory. It says they came out of that country. They were not mindful of it, but had they been cherishing the memory of it. Or another one says, Thinking with homesick remembrance.

I hope tonight that there's not a one of you that have any kind of homesick remembrance for where you came from. If they had been cherishing the memory, thinking with homesick remembrance of that country from which they had come out of, they would have found constant opportunity to return to it.

Constant opportunity. You know, the word opportunity there really doesn't, it doesn't really convey the meaning that the writer had in mind. You see, I don't believe that they had a hankering. I don't know where that word came, hankering.

What does that mean? That means a desire. That shows you how old I am, I guess. Thank you Bob, I picked it up from David. I picked it up from Pastor David. They did not hanker after the pleasure of it, nor regret and repent that they had left it.

Even though they had opportunity to revolt against God, they did not take the opportunity that afforded itself for them to return. And listen to me, such opportunity knocks at your door again and again.

God's people are faced with a constant influence and lure and lust and longing and desiring and invitation to go back, back to that country. And you know, in one sense, when I think of God's grace and the riches of His inheritance in the saints, I wonder why and how anyone could ever, ever accept the opportunity to go back.

But at the same time, when I consider the weakness of human nature and the fact that the heart is so easily bent on backsliding, it is nothing short of a miracle that keeps the feet of His saints preserved and preserves them from going back at the least opportunity that's presented to them.

The fact is that we have constant opportunities to return. Some of you are surrounded daily by opportunity and invitation to go back. You're in constant company and communication with that other country and people who are part of a world system out of which God has called you.

And some of them would make it very easy for you, very easy for you, and to supply you with an opportunity to sin as they do or to fall into their practices or to be lured into their compromises or to take part in their loves.

And you see that opportunity and temptation to accept is there except for this one blessed truth. But now they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. Hallelujah. You see, opportunity to return is refused when the mind is engaged in rightful desires.

Verse 15 says,. And indeed, if they had been thinking, if they had been mindful of that country from which they want out, they would have had opportunity to return. But because their heart and mind is looking towards another better country, they have no desire to return.

That's the testimony of the saints. But you see, not only does the opportunity come to return by the company of people, of worldly people that surround you, you know that opportunity also comes in your own mind, in your own flesh.

You know, even if you lived in a desert island or if you lived in the wilderness and there wasn't another soul around, you'd still be lured back to that other country. The devil would do it in your own mind, your own thoughts.

You see, does not the enemy try to open a door in our thought life, in our minds, in our imaginations? Oh, the colorful alluring pictures that he can paint mentally of sin. How strong is the opportunity that comes to even the upright men of God to go back to the world to indulge in sin in the mind and in the thought life.

And the man or woman of God may hate that thought, that opportunity. They may fight it, but the fact is that opportunity is there. And once you go through that door of the imagination, once you open the door of your imagination, it's not long that thought will become deed and become action and the thought will go to your heart, to your feet.

And the closer you draw to the Lord, the more you desire to set your heart on a better country, that is a heavenly one. The more diligently the enemy is going to come and paint those pictures and say, here's the door.

Deliverance Through Prayer and the Holy Spirit

I think of the testimony of a young man that I've been helping him to write his book, his story. He's a son in the faith. Young man who graduated, went through Teen Challenge. Today he's a pastor and I've just been helping him and we're in the final stages of the production of his book.

And in part of his story, during which he was still in his rehabilitation, he was still in Teen Challenge, and he knew that he was saved. But he also had every day, almost every day, or two or three times a week, he would go back to his neighborhood and shoot drugs in his mind.

He called it the hammer. The hammer was the word that he gave it. It kept gnawing on him. And he was saved, but he wasn't delivered. And he knew that if he left the safety of the program, he knew if he left it, that if the opportunity was presented to him that he would go back.

And so he sought the Lord earnestly. He knew he couldn't leave, that he had to be delivered. And he would get up early in the morning many times and get on his knees before the Lord. Sometimes he said he would get underneath his bed and he would just cry out to the Lord and say, Oh God, deliver me.

And for a number of months he sought the Lord and finally one night it just so happened that he was in a service somewhere in a Pentecostal church. And he was there singing with a young group that were there singing in the meeting.

And the pastor of the church invited all the young men to come and come down to the altar. And he called all the saints together and laid hands upon them. And when they did so, something happened to that young man that night.

And he can't explain it theologically or any other way. All he knows is that like Sunday night, the Holy Spirit just came in and moved in a marvelous way and touched him. And when he went home that night, the hammer was gone.

And when he got up in the morning, the hammer was gone. And he waited a while to give testimony to it because he wanted to make sure. And he waited a few more days. And a few more days went by and it was still gone.

And he knew that he had been delivered. He knew that no longer was he going to go back to that country anymore. Hallelujah. Now the opportunity to return also becomes stronger. The more we have opportunity to enlarge our tents during our sojourn here on earth.

Prosperity and the Danger of New Opportunities

Now please listen to this carefully. It's a strange thing, but it's a paradox in a way. But the opportunity to return to the country from which you came from becomes stronger the more that you walk with the Lord and He begins to enlarge your tent.

Now let me explain what I mean. Because Abraham was a righteous man, and God prospered him. You see, godly living and Christ-like character will advance a man not only in the spiritual realm, but also in the social and business realm.

Proverbs 22, 29 says, Do you know a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before obscure men. You see, a transformed Christian is not only ready for heaven, he's ready for earth.

A transformed Christian is not only ready to die, he's ready to live. And you see, righteousness of character will sometimes get you a better job and a better position and the opportunity to prosper. You know why?

Because some jobs you work at, people are stoned and people have got their hearts set on other things. And if you're a child of God, you ought to be able to give a good day's work to your boss. I got a whole message I'm working on on that.

It's going to get down to really some nitty-gritty because we ought to be different when we're on our jobs. The Lord makes us different. And I've seen that when that difference is made known, I've seen Christians move ahead because of that.

Cream rises to the top, especially when the milk of the Word is mixed in with it. Now listen, I'm not talking about you seeking material prosperity. I'm talking about it seeking you and it coming your way because the Scripture says, Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all these things the Gentiles seek will automatically be added unto you.

And I've said it before, I'll say it again, the faith people have it all wrong. It's righteousness that brings prosperity. But not even the prosperity they're talking about. God, I've never seen the righteous forsaken or a seed begging bread, the Bible says.

The Scripture says a man's gift makes way for himself. And I believe that's not only in the house of God, that's also in the house of your employer or your profession. But here's the problem. The devil always fits our temptations to our changing circumstances.

Beware of those high places because they're very, very slippery. Blessings and prosperity provide new and different opportunities to return to the country out of which you've come. Listen, I've seen young people who have been delivered out of gross sin.

And when you've lived in gross sin, most of the time you're poor. Most of the time you're poor, you're penniless or you're homeless or whatever. And I've seen the Lord come in and change that individual and He changes his lifestyle.

Now they go out, they have opportunities for jobs. They have opportunities for positions. They have opportunities for promotions. Things that they would have never been able to have except the Lord gave them a new mind.

And yet those opportunities can prove to be traps. They can be doors of opportunity to return to that country out of which you've come. Now you may not, the opportunity return may not be to return back to the same old poverty level.

Now it's an opportunity to return to the high rent district. And among the yuppies and the yuppies. But nevertheless, the opportunity there is to go back. You see abundance can make the heart swell in vanity.

And if any of you are in that place where you're beginning to prosper like you have not so prospered in the past, beware and watch. Now we pastors, we're glad that you can prosper. Especially if you pay your tithe.

But beware of all of that. Because you're in danger of being mindful to return to the place that you came out of. Oh, it may, the door may be more expensive this time. It may be a more glamorous door, but it's a door.

1 John 2, 15 says, Do not love the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. All right, let me, another point. The opportunity to return is often furnished also by the influence and example of those that we admire.

The Influence of Backsliding Friends and Family

I speak now particularly of a brother or a sister, a friend or a family member who falls and tries to take you with him or her. I learned this long time ago, misery loves company. The backsliders often like to take other people with them.

And I say to you now, there may be a wife here tonight. Beware that your husband is not presenting you an opportunity to go back to that country from which you came. Or husband, you dare not follow your wife back to the world for the sake of her affections.

Or young people, I've seen young people, teenagers and other young people whose parents, the Bible says parents are not to provoke their children to wrath. And young person, you may be in that situation where your parents are ungodly.

Well, remember the promise, it says, if my mother and my father forsake me, God will lift me up. But many a Christian has been presented a door of opportunity to return to that other country through the influence of a close friend or a family member.

Especially when those who fall have been highly esteemed. They've been highly esteemed. They especially can become a stumbling block to our faith, especially to the young in the Lord. And you see, the devil will so discourage a young person when they see an older person that's been in the Lord and they fall.

And the devil will whisper to them and say, what makes you think you can make it if they've been serving the Lord so long and they fail? And I pray tonight, if you're being tested and tempted to go back because of the influence of somebody that you once esteemed, and maybe they've fallen or they've backslidden, I pray that God will give you the grace so that if others play the Judas, instead of it leading you to do the same thing, it will strike the fear of God in your heart.

And instead of being a stumbling block, it'll be a reason for you to draw closer to the Lord and say, oh God, I don't want to have to follow the same path. Now, one other thought or question that must be considered before moving to another point is, why does God allow so much opportunity to return?

Testing, Temptation, and Proven Faith

We've addressed this. Pastor Bob Sunday morning addressed it. Can He not keep such temptation away? Why is it that these doors of opportunity are before us? Well, you know, there's no doubt that the Lord could protect us or preserve us from ever having such opportunity.

But that's not the way that He chooses to help us or to make us strong. The Lord taught us to pray, lead us not into temptation. And listen, He will never, never put a door of opportunity before you. He'll never put you through that door.

He never leads us into it or through the door. It's our own desires and our lust that take us through that door. But nevertheless, God does allow us. He does permit the door of opportunity and temptation to stare us directly in the face.

And He does it simply because He wants to have tested and tried and proven and strengthened saints. You see, faith that has never tried is not a true faith. Those opportunities to return are intended to try your faith and to prove to you that He is able to keep them from falling and to present them faultless before the throne of God.

If the Lord would hold us or keep our feet from slipping by chaining us somewhere, putting a chain around us, that would prove no victory. That would be no victory in that. I think of a wife who prayed for her husband for years.

She said, Oh, Lord, save him, save him. But her prayer went like this, Lord, save him and take him. Lord, save him and take him. In other words, she didn't believe he could really make it. I don't know, maybe subconsciously or secretly, some of you prayed the same way.

Lord, save me and then take me so I don't have to face all these doors of opportunity. But you see, a man who does not run away because he has weak legs does not prove himself a hero. But if he that could run does not, and he that could desert the Lord does not desert, has with him a power of faith and righteousness that is stronger than anything else.

And the way that you'll know that you're truly Christ or not is when you have opportunity to return and do not. And I'd like to give an altar call some night in reverse. Instead of giving an altar call for everybody who's gone through that door and fallen, I'd like to have everybody come forward that had an opportunity and did go through it, hallelujah, and give praise to the Lord.

A whole congregation ought to be, because that's when you prove the reality and strength and praise of your love for the Lord. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

Desiring Something Better Than the World

All right, let me move on. This brings me to another point. The reason the true saints do not go back, even though they have frequent opportunities, is because they have found something better than what they could get by returning to the country from which they came out of.

It's as simple as that. It's a very simple message tonight. Hebrews 11, 16, it says, but now they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Now, let me ask you this question tonight. Has the world ever satisfied you?

Well, it did once. That's because you were dead in sin. And a dead world will satisfy a dead heart. But once you have tasted of better things, things that you never knew or never believed existed, how could you ever be content with earthly or worldly things again?

You see, before you knew the Lord, you had nothing to compare that life with. You thought you were living. You thought that was life. Now you've realized that that was mere existence. You had nothing to compare it with.

Now you do. And let me ask you, would a blind man whose eyes suddenly are open ever want to go back to darkness again? Would a lame man who has been healed ever want to limp again? Would a leper ever want to go back to his leprosy or a sick man back to his bed?

Or one who has been cleansed of his sins? And I think if there's any one thing that probably is a deterrent in my own life, whenever the enemy might present a door of opportunity, is I like the feeling of being clean.

I like the feeling of having my soul cleansed from unrighteousness. And I've dealt with enough people who have a guilt-ridden soul, either before they came to the Lord or those who came to the Lord and then went back and I've seen the guilt in them.

And oh, I look at that and say, oh God, thank you. I never want to have to experience that. The night of our musical, our Christmas musical, I was sitting on the balcony and somewhere in the middle of it, as God was moving, a young man from the Timothy house leaned over to me.

He said, Brother John, this is better than any shot of dope I ever had in my life. No, in fact, I think this is what he said. No, he put it this way. He said, this is the best shot of dope I've ever had in my life.

Solomon put it this way. Solomon, second chapter, verses 10 and 11. And all that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. For my heart was pleased because of all my labor, and this was my reward for my labor.

Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done. The labor which I exerted, and behold, all was vanity. And striving after wind, and there was no prophet under the sun. Bob used this Sunday morning as well, Solomon 1 ,2, Vanity of vanities, says the preacher.

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. You see, anybody who has tried both countries, listen to me, anybody that has tried both countries and does not choose the better country, that is the heavenly one, has to be a fool.

The Better Country Is Found in Christ

The child of faith has found this to be true. Psalm 36 and nine. For with thee is the fountain of light. In thy light we see light. And in fact, you know, the scripture, I don't know where it is. I think it's in Proverbs.

It talks about the fact that this light shineth more and more unto the perfect day. And I thought about that when I, when I went into 1989. You know the thing that rejoiced me is that I went in better, I came in better in 1989 than I came into 1988.

Now there was nothing wrong with me when I came into 1988. It was blessed, it was wonderful. But when I came into 1989, it was greater than when I came into 1988 because the light shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Hallelujah. Psalms 87 and seven. All my springs of joy are in you. Or translated, Jesus, you're the center of my joy. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. I feel like preaching tonight. Now, I want you to look at verse 16.

The Heavenly Promise Beyond This Life

And note something that I referred to before. There's a word here that was not in the original. It says, But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. And the translators added the word country.

And the reason they did so, that in the context of what it's talking about here, it seems to be the appropriate word. But really it should read this. They desire a better, that is a heavenly one. Now you see, we do not always know if and when the promise of a better country is going to be ours.

But one thing we do know, anything is better than the country we came from because we have a better. It says, Abraham died in faith without receiving the promise, but having seen them and welcomed them from a distance.

Now, as he journeyed towards that promise, he never did come into it fully. He waited years for a country of his own, but he never received it. But still he didn't go back because he was not thinking of that country, but to a better one yet to come.

And you see, just like Abraham, we do not always enjoy in this life, we do not always in this life enjoy something better. Sometimes like those spoken of in Hebrews 11, we experience pain and suffering and sorrow.

There's a verse in chapter 11 that says they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, yet they never lost the desire for a better place. And you see, my friend, we are just like that. Oh, that we would have that same kind of faith and desire as Abraham.

It says, and he desired a better. And it says country, and as I said before, that seems to be the best word in the context. But you see, actually you have to read it in a blank because it's indescribable.

It's indescribable. But as it is, they desire a better. Now he put country, but country limits it. And you can't limit God to anything. It's a better. Well, here, let me put it this way. Here's the Scripture.

It hath not appeared as yet what we shall be. But we do know this one thing, it's going to be better than where we came from. It's going to be better than that country out of which we came. But you see, it's not just another country.

It's not just another city. It's not just another place. We were talking about that today. As much as we look forward to moving out of this theater, our heart is not set on Lamar Callenger. Our heart is set on one thing.

And what Abraham was looking forward to was not a place, not a thing, but he was looking forward to, it was a person. It doth not appear as yet what we shall be, but we know that. When he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is.

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. I forgot when I started. One more thing. In light of the saints' desire of the heavenly place to come, it is reasonable to expect that they will resist every opportunity and every invitation to go back.

A Positive Confession of Heavenly Hope

Look at the 13th verse of Hebrews, chapter 11. It says, These men and women of faith confessed, they confessed that they were strangers and exiles and therefore did not belong here and would not take advantage of any opportunity to go back.

You see, any time the temptation or opportunity presents itself to return, we have to make a positive confession not to do a negative thing. The testimony of the heroes of the faith was in their confession.

A confession that they were strangers and exiles on this earth with a mind focused on a better country and in that confession of their faith was the power to resist the opportunities that came along to them.

You see, God does not want you walking around gritting your teeth saying, How can I resist the devil? When you've got your mind on the country, when you've got your mind on the king of the country, when you have that confession, therein is your power.

It's a positive confession that gives us a negative reaction to any opportunity to go back. And you see, whenever the devil shows you a door, give him your confession. And in fact, here's a few confessions.

I call it the saint's better list. What's that old time song? Anything you can do, I can do better. Anything the devil offers you, God has something better. Here's a better list. Psalms 84 and 10. You don't need to turn to these.

Familiar Scripture. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the church of the house of God than dwell in the biggest, most beautiful and luscious inviting tents of iniquity.

Psalms 118 and 9. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Psalms 119 and 72. The law of the Lord is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Here's another one.

If the devil comes to you and shows you a door called great treasure, give him this answer. Proverbs 15 and 15. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it. Or here's another one.