[0:00] Let's continue in our praise by turning to Psalm 107, page 382. We'll sing verses 1 to 7 from Psalm 107.
[0:19] Praise God for he is good, for still his mercy's last will be. Let God's redeemed say so whom he from the enemy's hand be free. And gathered them out of the lands from north, south, east and west.
[0:33] They strayed in deserts pathless way, no city found to rest. For thirst and hunger in them paints their soul. When straits them press, they cry unto the Lord, and he then frees from their distress.
[0:47] Them also now wait to walk, that right as he did guide, that they might to a city go, wherein they might abide. Psalm 107, verses 1 to 7, praise God.
[0:58] Psalm 107, verse 1 to 7, verse 1 to 7, verse 1 to 7.
[1:28] Psalm 107, verse 1 to 8, verse 1 to 8.
[1:58] For the birds of anger and their face, their soul lets face and press.
[2:14] Let I am to the Lord the King and praise from their distress.
[2:30] Then, O, so, and I will to all that I did see it guide, but in my truth, I'll send thee, O where to my light abide.
[3:05] Seeking the Lord's blessing for a few moments together, we'll come back to a reading in Hebrews, chapter 11. And we can read again verses 8 to 10 of Hebrews, chapter 11.
[3:25] By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whither he went, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
[3:47] For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Especially Hebrews 11, verse 10, where it says of Abraham, he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
[4:06] As the Lord will enable us this evening to consider for a time together, just briefly together, what the offer of the gospel is.
[4:21] And I'm sure that this is often the custom here, often the custom in the ordinary preaching of God's word, here from this port, but especially at the evening service and the Lord's day of the communion, to reflect on what the offer of the gospel is, and to bring that great invitation that is presented to us throughout Scripture.
[4:48] And very briefly, the offer of the gospel is salvation itself. It is the offer of being saved. The offer of being saved from our sin.
[5:01] The offer of our being saved from the lost eternity of hell. The offer of being saved from the wrath of God. And with this offer, there is promise.
[5:15] It's the promise of peace. It is the peace that Jesus has come to achieve. It's that sense of reconciliation, where the enmity with God is over.
[5:27] And there is a way to God. It is the sense in which there is forgiveness. And that we come to know it for ourselves.
[5:39] Applying what the gospel teaches us into our own lives, into our own hearts, into our own conscience too. The sense of the dealing with our guilt and our failure and our sin and the brokenness of who we are and what we've done.
[5:56] The reality of what we need. And the sense in which we want to know God. And that we want to know life everlasting. Because importantly, and what I wish to draw out briefly for you this evening, is that the promise of salvation brings with it the promise of a place called heaven.
[6:20] A place of eternal bliss and eternal joy. And I'm not sure where you are today in terms of your own spiritual life and your own spiritual walk.
[6:32] But I recognize that there must be some aspect in your own life, even by your very attendance here this evening, that you would like to get there. that somehow you would be found in heaven.
[6:48] Once everything is done, once this life is over, once you face the reality of coming before God and the sense of which there is a judgment for us after death, that you would be found in heaven, that this would belong to you.
[7:04] And with that respect, I want to ask you this one question tonight. How are you going to get there?
[7:17] How are you going to reach heaven? And the Bible is very clear in how you will reach heaven. It tells us of its exclusivity.
[7:30] It tells us there is only one way. There are many religions in the world today, but the Bible tells us there is only one truth. There is only one way you can actually get to heaven and come to God.
[7:46] And that is through Jesus Christ, who tells you in his own word that you must be born again. And so it is a call to help saving faith and to live by saving faith.
[8:01] to be a believer, a Christian, to have a hope, to have testimony, to be able to say that you are on this journey, on this way, on this walk, with God to heaven itself.
[8:18] Now I say to you too that the Bible presents to you many examples. Maybe there have been examples in your own life, maybe your family, maybe amongst your parents or grandparents, of people who believed and trusted in Jesus Christ and whom you believe in your heart and soul today, that you do not grieve for them without hope, but that you believe that they are at home with the Lord.
[8:42] That they are in that place where there is no more pain and no more suffering. And that the reality that there is a heaven that the Bible affirms to us. And yet in that recognition of others who have been there and who are there, who have been there in your life and who are there in heaven now, there is a sense in which you saw a witness in their lives, a sense in which they lived the Christian life and endured through all the pain and all the tribulation, that they were citizens of the kingdom of God.
[9:17] They were living for something greater and something better. And that the aroma of Christ was known in their lives. When you saw the journey that they were on, the walk they were on, that you saw they were going somewhere.
[9:34] They were heading for something better. And not only have we been blessed in our own lives with examples of the people of faith living out the Christian life, but the scripture constantly brings before us the testimony of the people of faith.
[9:51] And here in Hebrews 11, we have this great catalog of those who live by faith. And the great example here, the most significant of all the figures in Hebrews chapter 11, is Abraham, who gives us the picture of what it's like to live by faith.
[10:12] And you can read in Genesis, we read a little of his experience in Genesis, you can read in Genesis, Abraham was not a perfect man. The Bible doesn't hide his thoughts and his sins, but the reality that he is presented as somebody who knows God and longs for God and who is on this journey to heaven.
[10:38] The sense of the assurance the hope. Now I want us just to draw out a few points very briefly tonight. In verse 8, he was called.
[10:52] And what we have here, first of all, is the truth of hearing and obeying God. And in any sense, if you're going to be on a journey, it doesn't matter what the journey is, it doesn't matter where you're going, you took a journey today even to come to church.
[11:10] Journey tomorrow, many of you, God willing to work or different parts of your work itself. If you're on a journey, a journey has to start somewhere. It's not just that we want to reach a certain destination, but we have to put into place the reality of commencing a journey in order to get there, in order that we will be found there.
[11:33] The people of faith are on a journey. Banyan speaks of this in Pilgrim's Progress. He speaks of the journey from this world to the world that is to come.
[11:45] The hope that we have for heaven. All the people of faith are either on this journey and have been on this journey. And here reflected to us is this connection in Hebrews chapter 11 of the people of faith of the Old and New Testament.
[12:02] Here in the New Testament, the connection of the believers on the journey who were of the Old Testament, the connection to the Hebrews whom this has been spoken to and to ourselves similarly spoken to.
[12:15] Here is Abraham in verse 8, reflecting on what we read in Genesis chapter 12. There he is in his father's land all his life, over 70 years of it, up to that point, and there was his home.
[12:35] There were his roots. There was his family. There was his father's land. And God speaks to him. And God calls him out of the land.
[12:46] Tells Abraham to get up and to go on this journey. The call to leave. Because there is a promise for him of a better land. There is a promise for him of Canaan.
[13:00] And he hears the voice of God. And when he hears the voice of God, he responds to it. He obeys it. When God speaks to you, you have to obey.
[13:13] You have to respond actively and positively. You have to engage everything you are. There is Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees.
[13:24] What was up to that point is home. And God is speaking. God spoke powerfully in his life. and he recognizes now he has to leave that old life behind.
[13:36] And everything invented in terms of his identity and his person. And he has to leave all that behind. Because on this day, God has spoken. God has spoken right into his situation.
[13:50] God has spoken right into his life. Right into his heart. And he cannot ignore God. He must be obedient to what God is saying. he must walk with the Lord.
[14:02] And he must abandon the old way and the old life. And put it behind him and start this journey. The initiation of the journey commences with the invitation of God.
[14:15] This is the way. Walk ye in it. This is what Jesus is calling us to. He says, come and follow me. He says, come to me, all you who labor and heavy laden.
[14:28] The wonderful invitation of the free offer of the gospel that is speaking to you. That God has spoken into your life and into your being and is calling you to follow him.
[14:42] Calling you to a new direction in your life. Calling you to a life that is now based on faith. To see the things that are unseen. To live by hope.
[14:54] To have a real commitment where you leave things behind and you live for this new life and this new destination. Calvin says here that the commitment of Abraham in leaving his father's life, look at his father's land, it is that commitment that is without wavering.
[15:19] The prophet in the Old Testament cried to Israel, why halt you between two opinions. Joshua as we saw on Friday evening, he challenged Israel to be committed to the Lord, to follow the Lord.
[15:34] The great demand of commitment when you've heard God speak into your life, when he's called you from darkness to light, to a new way of living, to a new hope and a new destination and a new desire.
[15:51] And everything in it is of faith. You see this in verse 8, by faith Abraham, in verse 9, by faith he, and so on, it continues, the great catalog of faith, it is all of faith.
[16:11] And the example here of Abraham is that he heard God's voice and he listened and he responded.
[16:24] Are you listening to the voice of God tonight? Are you hearing that God is calling you? Are you hearing that the invitation of the gospel is a free offer?
[16:38] That you've just to come, you've to come to Jesus, you've to come and you've to follow him. The first thing we're called to do is to begin the journey by hearing and obeying God.
[16:52] And the second thing really here is that we must ask ourselves, where do we belong? Where do we really belong? And you look at this in terms of Abraham in verse 9, he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country.
[17:15] He sojourned. And it says he's dwelling in tabernacles or tents with Isaac and Jacob. And it tells us why in verse 10, because he looked for a city that was to come.
[17:31] And what we have here is the reality of the way that Abraham is promised by God that this will be his land, the land of his descendants, the nation that will come from Abraham.
[17:43] This will be their land. And we know this to ourselves. For the Jew, this land is still important. They're still battling it, fighting for it. They take the physical, natural descent from Abraham and they say this is our land.
[17:58] God gave it to us. Yet here is Abraham and he is in this land. He's left behind his father's house and he is here dwelling in this land and he is a stranger, a pilgrim, an exile.
[18:13] an alien, a migrant, journeying through this land. He is passing through Canaan because his citizenship is somewhere else.
[18:31] You ask someone where they're from and they'll tell you about a village, a village that was of their childhood or of their family.
[18:41] and maybe they don't live in that village anymore or that town or city. But they say that's where I'm from, that's where I belong. And they may live in a different district or a different place and they say this is where I belong.
[18:58] And yet here is Abraham and he's never saying I belong to Ur of the Chaldees. and he doesn't even say I belong to Canaan.
[19:11] He lives out a different kind of citizenship. He lives for the reality of a better place. He looks for a city whose builder and maker is God.
[19:23] In verse 16, a better country, a heavenly one. This is where he belongs. This is the kind of citizenship that he lives out.
[19:38] And the kind of citizenship that Jesus calls all his people to live out. To be citizens of the kingdom of God. To be Christians. To live as a sort of life of this world.
[19:50] To be different and distinct. And to find our identity in Christ and in our hope of heaven. And so the question for us all to ask ourselves is where do we belong?
[20:06] Where are we going? And where in fact is our life heading for? What will the destination be?
[20:17] The Bible is informing the Christian this is not your home. This is not where you belong. This is not your identity. And the reality for every single person is this isn't home for any of us.
[20:34] This is not the final destination. There is a journey we are all on. This world is transient and passing. Everything in it is testified of this great reality.
[20:47] Nothing lasts. Everything is passing. Everything is rusting and rotting and corrupting. Nothing lasts here. There is an eternity beyond this life.
[20:59] the great reality of what is beyond our last breath. And we are going to be found in either one of two destinations. To be in the agony of a hell forever or to be in the place of promise of blessing and comfort and consolation in heaven itself.
[21:19] And it calls us to ask ourselves questions in terms about belonging. What are we living for? What are we investing in our time, our energy, our money?
[21:36] What are we investing ourselves on and in? What are we building? What foundations are we digging, trying to find some sense of permanence, some sense of investment, some sense of identity?
[21:53] in verse nine, Abram dwelt in tents. God says to Abram, this whole land belongs to you.
[22:06] We find just a little piece of land and we bring a digger in and we build foundations and we say, this is mine, this is my home, this is my investment, this is where I will belong.
[22:23] Abram finds a land that God has given to him and he pitches a tent. Year by year he moves in that tent, year by year taking with him those who are inheritors too of the promise, Isaac and Jacob.
[22:39] And he is saying in his own conduct, this is not where I belong, this is not what I'm investing in, this is all transitory, this is all passing, this is all going to go, here I have but a tent, there my foundations are, there my investment is, that's what I'm building towards, the goal is greater than Canaan, the longing is for heaven, the goal is greater than anything that we can amass in this world, in terms of our wealth, in terms of our place, in terms of our ambitions, in terms of our position, there is something greater and offer, something greater that God has prepared for his people, something greater of which we have been created for and to, that we've been made in the image of God, that our souls are eternal, that there is an eternity before us, we're not to live our whole lives and our whole investment, here and now, this will all pass and it will belong to someone else, and the effect upon the life of Abraham is he displays this in everything he does, his heart simply does not belong to this world, his heart is in the world to come, he lives for a better place, he lives as citizens, citizen of it, because he is going to enter in to it, if we are truly the people of
[24:25] God, this is how we ought to live, with the loose grasp of the things of this world, with not grasping for the ambitions and desires of the here and now, but to commit ourselves to this journey and this walk and this desire, that everything we are and everything we hope for must be in heaven itself, to find an eternal reward, and I do believe that every one of you here, whether I'm right or wrong in assuming this, that you want to go there, but if you want to be there, you have to live it out here and now, how else can we get there, how else can we be citizens of the kingdom of God, God?
[25:11] God, because what Abraham is doing here is he is pursuing something better, he's passing through Canaan in the way that we pass through this life, passing through no settlement, no settled abode for Abraham, he is a pilgrim, he is a tent dweller, he is on a journey of faith and it takes over his whole life, everything he has and everything he is, he is passing through this world, the reality of what it means to be a displaced people, we know what that looks like, we see multitudes on our news, trying to flee from places that were once their homes and the ravages of the cities they leave behind and the danger that they were in and we see them spilling out of their country, spilling into other countries, looking for safety, looking for shelter, that's no longer their home, they're displaced, we have in our own history, with the highland clearances, people displaced from the land that they thought was their homes that they built their lives in and they were made to be migrants and to be exiles, the sense in which here,
[26:43] Abram leaves behind his old life as a sojourner, moving in the reality of the transitory nature of this world and this life, because he's looking for something better, a greater settlement, a greater home, he doesn't pursue the land of his birth with some sentimental yearning to go back and to recover what once he knew, he doesn't even pursue the land of his sojourn that is under his feet, that he pitches his tent in, that he is living of, that God has promised him, rather his pursuit is of heaven, he looks for a city whose builder and maker is God, rather he is pursuing God himself, he wants to know God, he wants to be with God, he wants to realize all of these promises because he lives for what is better and what is greater, don't let the devil fool you, don't let your ambitions be lonely, don't let your thoughts be carnal, don't be consumed by this world, don't think this is all it is and this is what we've got to expend all our energy for and what towards and pull ourselves towards, don't think that this is the great inheritance, the great inheritance is heaven, it's what's beyond this life, because this life will be something that seems so small and so short, that James says in his letter, what is your life like, the brevity of it, it's like a vapour, the psalmist says, we're like the grass on the field, in a moment the wind is going to come and we'll be gone, it'll all be over,
[28:39] Jesus says in the parable that the shaman and he's built barns and his harvest is so great and he's so consumed with his harvest, he thinks that he needs to build bigger barns and so he spends all his time, all his energy in his work and he's working towards this, looking forward to the day where he has accumulated everything he's desired, everything he's longed after and fulfilled all his worthy ambitions and Jesus says God took him that day and he said to him, you fool, you fool, this day your soul will be required from you and he asks, what's going to happen to all these things?
[29:29] They will be absolutely meaningless when you stand before the great triuner of God. But if you want to get to heaven, you need to turn back on the old life.
[29:47] You need to look at it and put it all behind you to live out the new life. It's forward looking. Verse 10, looking for that city.
[29:58] Again in verse 13, embracing these promises. Again in verse 14, they're seeking that country. In verse 16, they desire a better country.
[30:10] Can you not see what this holy ambition is? How it is far greater and far better than anything that is so grounded to this world and this life that is passing.
[30:23] This is what is better. This is what is greater. This is what God is calling you to. This is what we were created for and this is what redemption is all about.
[30:36] Jesus is speaking to us in the invitation of the gospel and following him in this great longing that we would be born again. And he says, this is what it's like.
[30:50] The offer of the gospel. The gate and the way is narrow and straight. it's another way.
[31:03] It will demand everything. It will call you to make sacrifices. It calls you to make sacrifices in this world. It calls you not to be invested in it.
[31:15] It calls you to be different from it and distinct. It tells you this is the only way of salvation. This is not a way. This way of following Jesus.
[31:29] This way of being consumed with that holy desire and holy ambition that Christ would be everything. Friend, if you don't know Jesus today, may it be that you're hearing his voice even now.
[31:48] May you hear that invitation that says follow me. May it be so that you engage yourself in the life of discipleship. that tells you that you've to deny yourself and take up a cross and follow him.
[32:09] Maybe this is what you do pursue. Maybe this is what you hope for. Maybe this is the reality of who you are.
[32:19] You want to go to heaven. How will it be? How will you get there?
[32:31] There is only one way. There is hope for you in Christ. It is only faith that can take a person to heaven.
[32:42] By faith, Abraham when he was called into that place, he obeyed. By faith, verse 9, he sojourned and he looked for a city which has its foundation.
[32:53] The destination that he longs for is a heavenly home. And here again, we are reminded of how the Bible describes heaven in this way.
[33:07] It is the only point in scripture where heaven is called the homeland. We have it here in these verses, in verses 10 to 16, where we have here the description of the heavenly home.
[33:25] And we are told that it is a home in verse 10 whose builder and maker is God. The design and the construction, the architect and the builder.
[33:38] It's a place. It's a city. Multitudes will gather there. They will come from all over the world, north, south, east, west, from all the different nations of the world.
[33:55] And they come to this place. For this has been their ambition and desire. And when they come, they find a place that is well ordered and well appointed.
[34:07] A place that has been built and constructed and designed by God. It fits the divine plan in all its beauty and all its splendor.
[34:21] it is unspoiled. There was once an unspoiled place and Adam sinned. Here is the reality of redemption and renewal.
[34:36] Here is the reality of the new heavens and the new earth. Here is this great city, the Jerusalem above, earth. And all the citizens of that kingdom enter in and they find this city of glory and splendor and magnificence and beauty.
[34:58] and it's an eternal home. They'll never need to leave this place. You will need to leave this earth.
[35:10] Doesn't matter what we do. Doesn't matter how far we go. There will be a moment we will be here no longer. It is all passing.
[35:21] It is all transient. But eternity is different. the believer does not live for the here and now.
[35:33] The believer lives for what is to be. To live for this great eternal treasure. To live for this place.
[35:44] That has this unshakable foundation. He speaks here in verse 10. This city, it has foundations. In chapter 12, he speaks again in these terms in verse 28.
[35:59] We receive a kingdom which cannot be moved. And everything else is itself vulnerable to shaking and movement. And the reality here is we found somewhere that is firm and safe and secure.
[36:17] It is not what we look for. In all the troubles of life, in all the storms we've faced, what we want is a place that is safe and secure.
[36:32] In the ancient world and especially in these areas, there would be earthquakes and earthquakes were devastating. They would destroy whole towns, villages and cities.
[36:43] And the people would have to rebuild these towns and cities and villages and sometimes they would rebuild them somewhere else. They would just take all the bricks and stone and move them somewhere else and rebuild the city somewhere else.
[36:57] They were vulnerable too from the attack of an enemy. And if the building wasn't safe, the enemy could enter in. Here is a place where there is no threat, where the walls will never fall.
[37:15] Here is a place where that lasts. A place that will never be devastated. And for Abraham, the contrast is amazing.
[37:28] In verse 9, they're dwelling in tents. There's no foundation in a tent. And it's so vulnerable to all the weather conditions.
[37:40] You just pick a piece of land and you put the pegs down. And you lift the tent. And you hope the wind won't blow it away. But rather than having that in verse 10, he is going to inherit a city that has foundations.
[37:58] A city that is secure and safe. A city that is a place of permanent residence. is to be home.
[38:13] It's the end to tent dwelling. It's the end to this transient, temporary life. It is finding the place of belonging.
[38:27] You remember Jesus said to his disciples, us, I go to prepare a place for you. Do you want to be there with the Lord?
[38:40] Do you long for that place? In verse 14, they declare that they seek that country. All the dark desires are ahead.
[38:53] Not backwards. Not in Ur, not in Canaan. not to go back. Abraham himself insisted on this. You remember when he wanted a wife for Isaac and he sent the servant there in order.
[39:07] It was of course Rebecca who came back. And he said to his servant, don't take my son to that place. He doesn't want to go back to that place.
[39:18] He doesn't want Isaac to go back to that place. He recognizes he no longer belongs in that place. His longing, his desire identity is for heaven.
[39:31] And we must ask ourselves the great question, not just do we want to go to heaven, but what's the way there? How are we going to get there?
[39:42] The journey begins and ends with faith. In Jesus. He perfects our faith. And here is this great example in the life of Abraham to show to us what it looks like to be a believer, a stranger in this world, what it looks like to have our identity with God, what it looks like to belong in heaven.
[40:15] God will be a desire for you for your consideration, for your encouragement, for the desire that we would be there, that we would be there together, and the desire that you would take every opportunity to commence and complete the journey that it takes to ensure that you'll be in heaven.
[40:55] Life is brief. Must I have to say that? Your life is brief. My life is brief.
[41:09] Let's find a home in heaven, and let's not turn back, but let's move forward, leaving behind everything that inhibits us, and pressing on towards what is far greater.
[41:30] There are many difficulties and challenges, that heaven is worth every sacrifice, and every difficulty, every pain, every tear, because when you get there, there are no more tears, and there is no more pain.
[41:55] The former things have passed away. Heaven is the place you want to be. Heaven is the place you want to get to.
[42:11] Hell is not. Hell is not. That is the only alternative. You are either on this road, or you are on a very broad road that leads to destruction.
[42:29] I implore you, and I call you, even here tonight, to hear and obey the voice of God, and to walk this journey to this glorious place, a city whose foundations, who has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
[42:54] Amen. The Lord bless. our thoughts here. Let's pray. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we give thanks to you for your word.
[43:06] We give thanks to you for the invitation of the gospel, and the promise of the glory of heaven, and the reality of the sense of lostness. We pray that you would save us, and keep us, and help us to look to you as the author and finisher of our faith.
[43:25] Help us to long for that city, to have a heavenly homeland for ourselves, and forgive us, Lord, our unbelief, we pray. All we ask is in Christ's name. Amen.
[43:42] We'll sing together in Psalm 87 on page 342. After this psalm, I'll pronounce the benediction, and then there'll be a short prayer meeting after the benediction for those who wish to remain behind.
[43:58] Psalm 87 upon the hills of holiness, he is foundation says, God more than Jacob's dwellings all delights in science gates. Things glorious are said of thee, thou city of the Lord, Rahab and Babel I, to those that know me, will record.
[44:15] This is, of course, the collection of different peoples, the sense in which they find a belonging in Zion, and of course, the participation of the church, and the people coming from all different nations to be citizens of the kingdom of God.
[44:32] Psalm 87 verses 1 to 7. On what 1900 mat rib audio , 19 , so, let me cast Oh Oh Oh
[46:29] Oh Oh Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all