Are You Listening: #7 From One Man

Abraham believed God's promise he left everything by faith, seeking a heavenly homeland whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11). In a world chasing empty utopias, his obedience gave us the Ten Commandments' justice, true liberty, and Jesus as the Builder. What voices are you listening to for a better life?

Transcript

We want for young Carter a better life, and we want for ourselves a better life. How does that desire for a better life affect us? That's the question I'd like to start out with this morning. So good morning and glad to have you here. Are you interested in a better life? Are you interested in improvements? Are you interested in improving your current condition? You know, we really are all driven by two forces, aren't we? We're driven by one force to protect what we are, what we have to preserve. Whatever good we have and to seek to improve, our current condition. We are driven by those two forces to avoid harm and to seek improvement. It could it could be said. Now, think about this for a second, that every one of our human actions in some way is driven by one of those two things preservation or advance. Now, a lot of times we do things that, harm ourselves and, and put us in a worse condition. But that's not why we did them. We always act in a way that we think will take us from one condition to a better condition, or preserve the current condition that we're in the idea of, seeking after, a better place. It seems to be a uniquely human characteristic. You don't really see a pack of wolves going around saying we're going to have a wolf council and figure out how we can, organize a better wolf society, or you don't really have a, you know, a flock of geese gone. Okay, I know we've been flying this route for the last, million years, but now we're going to our. However long the geese have been flying, migrating. But we're going to figure out, we're going to see if we can figure out a better route next, next winter or dead of snakes or anything else. It seems to that that that animals in their animal kingdom seem to remain static in how it is that they conduct themselves in terms of their social order. We, on the other hand, are always looking for a better condition. And we have, a lot of voices out there trying to guide us into a more perfect society or better, way of living. And we are driven by what voices that we listen to. Some of those voices are helpful and some aren't so helpful. Think about every single commercial appeal you see on TV. If you watch any commercial, it's doing 1 or 2 things. It's offering a way to preserve what you have or offering you to, to enter into a better condition than you currently are in. Sadly, many of those voices that we hear all around us turn out to be empty and false promises, resulting, in fact, oftentimes in the opposite of what they promise to give. You know, what are some examples of people who have actually listened to the voice of God? Because the voice of God, along with all these other voices, is promising us a better condition, is promising to take us, to protect us, to preserve us, but also to improve us. What? What about those voices that have gone before us, that have actually listened to God, have believed God and obeyed God's call? How does the pursuit of God's promise for something better impact the world? How have those who have gone before us and listen to God and obeyed God actually improved our lives and brought a better condition to us? How often do we stop and appreciate how our lives are better off? Because of the men and women who made the decision to listen and follow God's voice? God's call say, 3000 years ago, is there anyone that lived 3000 years ago that we currently are living in the wake of their blessing because they were obedient to God's call? And the answer to that is yes. Today we're going to be looking at how it is that, Abraham's act of faith and Sarah's act of faith even now, is blessing us today as we continue in our series entitled, Are You Listening? We're going to be looking at, one man and his wife and their pursuit of God's call to seek something better. And how that radically has improved our lives. And it is the basis for the freedoms that we enjoy. And it is the basis for the liberty and, security that that to whatever degree, exists within humankind today, today, as we, try to gain his vision for a glorious future, and we want to look at how his vision affected us and how we are affected by the voices that he listened to and chose to listen to. I want us to also to think about this. How are we affected? How are we affected by the voices we have chosen to listen to? And how will those who follow after us? How will those who are influenced by us? How will those who are affected by the wake of our choices be, affected by the voices we choose to listen to? How will the following generations, be impacted by our choice of what we listen to? God has promised a better place, a glorious place, a city that is designed and built by him. A dominion over which, he has created all order and all of its functions. And a place, a better place. Where there is just a majesty of beauty, a freedom, an abundance of delight, a fellowship without rival. What a place. And when one man heard that call and heard that vision of this city built by God, he left everything in pursuit of it. He this when one man God called to seek out a place, a better place than his own homeland, he pursued it wholeheartedly. And as a result of his pursuit, we have really reap more blessing than he did. We're going to we're going to we're going to show that actually, we have gotten more of what Abraham was promised than Abraham. God. Well, I don't know. He's probably in a pretty good condition now. But in terms of his own earthly life, we have received more of what he was promised than he did. And yet we still have the same vision going forward that he had. Today's, message is entitled from one man, and we'll be looking at Hebrews chapter 11, verses eight through 19. Heavenly father, Lord, we just pray that as we see, the choices that Abraham made and try to even grasp the impact they have on us, that we might join into his vision and, and carry on in the, in the quest for that better city, that place that you are the designer and the builder of. Lord, so much good comes out of believing and following you. We pray that we'll be part of that stream of blessing. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Okay. Hebrews chapter 11, beginning at verse eight, it says this by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him to the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself conceived, receive herself, receive power to conceive, even when she was, was past the age since she, was considered faithful to him who had promised therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants, as many as the stars of heaven, and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore, these all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them, and greeted them from afar, having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who I speak thus, make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desired a better country. That is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city by faith. Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promise, was in the act of offering, offering up his only son, of whom it is said through Isaac shall your off spring be named. He considered that God was able to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. So here in the in the context of the 11th chapter of Hebrews, this is a chapter where, men and women of great faith are listed and their faith is acknowledged, and each one of them, almost every one of them was the same as Abraham, whereas what they put their faith in hadn't really come to pass in their own lifetime. The great promises of God that they pursued were things yet into the future. But nevertheless, they lived a whole life. And in pursuit of the faithful visions that God had given to them, they listened to God's voice, and they obey God's calling. And Abraham was one of these, really the father of these who obeyed God's calling and continued to obey it even as they trudged through the world, not seeing what it was that God was, going to bring forth, they all set out looking for something better as part of our human condition, to want something better. Mostly, God promised most. Most of God's promises, have never been realized by any of them in their lifetime. Because God's promise was too great to be confined within and be realized within one short lifetime. Men and women of faith hear God's voice and follow him. Even though the journey only begins in the few 80 few hundred few years that we live here, when we hear his voice, our journey is much longer than 80 years. It begins in these 80 years, these 90 years, these hundred years. We begin, a long journey towards a glorious future. By following the voice of God here and now, men who listen to God all become like Abraham. Travelers, foreigners in a foreign land, looking for a better place, looking for a place, that is superior to what we currently experience here. Abraham was such a traveler. He left his home. He left his home, and he forfeited a comfortable, living and a prosperous family in here of the chaldees. And he went to, went to the to the land of where Israel would, would later become Israel, not knowing anything about this land, not having any property there, not having any, titles or deeds, just following a promise for a better society. You know, human beings have a great hunger. We are constantly trying to, pursue this idea of utopia. We are looking to build, the City of Man in such a glorious way that everyone will be happy and whole, and, it always backfires on us whenever we try to, build these utopian visions on earth, we end up creating a horror. In his book, Heaven on Earth The Rise and Fall of Socialism, a former socialist, Josh, Moravec, Merab, a Czech, he goes through and he chronicles these visions that people have had, these ideas, these attempts to create heaven on earth, these utopian visions from small communes to large global movements. And he he looks at, in each case, what actually happens as a result of these attempts for man to build the city of man, the beautiful city of man, where everyone will be happy. And we see, in the wake of all of these attempts of man to try to create utopia, is is the horror of, genocide and killing and death and power struggles and darkness, you know, you see these great, these great leaders who have a vision for a better place. Hitler was motivated by a vision for a better society. The 1000 year reign of the, of the superior race. And he had that vision for the sake of mankind. He thought he was doing something good for mankind. Linen for the for the sake of, of the people. And now for the sake of the people and Paul Pot, for the sake of the people. And the people all died, millions died. And following the visions of these, men who are trying to create a better place, a better society, all of whom were promising a more just society, a society free from poverty and despair and all that they brought was a whirlwind of the very thing that they were trying to avoid. There is another voice besides the voices of men. There is the voice of God who calls out to us, and he appeals to our desire for that better place. And he says, there is a better place, not a city of man, but a city of God. The city of God. Where? Where the builder, the designer and the builder is God himself. And that's the vision that Abraham was called to. He was following the true voice to a better city, a voice of true justice and true liberty. The city of God. And because of this one man, listen to God. The point I would really like to drive home today is we have received a great deal of blessing to the degree to which we have incorporated and followed God's design, and been allowed to be built by the builder. We are receiving, receiving, a benefit from, Abraham's faith. Even now, today, we have received really more blessing from the promise of Abraham than Abraham did. It did himself even in his own lifetime. The theme this morning is this from one man, God's promise of a better city was born from one man. God's promise of a better city was born. Let me reread eight through 12 again. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. Think about how many years went by before they received that place as an inheritance. And any guesses from the time he left to the time that that land was actually possessed by his offspring? Yeah. A longer than the United States has been in existence, 4 or 500 years. Yeah, yeah. A long period of time. So, I mean, he's pursuing this inheritance. Yeah. You know, I got a promise for you. You can buy this property, and you can, you can redeem it for, a greater value 500 years from now. Anyway, he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went to live in a land, the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him to the same promise. For he was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even though, Excuse me, conceive. Even when she was, past the age since she considered him faithful, who had who had promised. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead, were born descendants, as many as the stars of heaven, and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. So Abraham left his homeland behind. He didn't know anything about where he was going. He didn't know where he was going to end up or how he was going to live. He all he knew is that God had called him to take the first steps to a better place, to a city whose designer and builder was God. So here we are. Now I want you to just imagine we have a little family conference. Imagine for a moment I'm Abraham and you're part of the family. And I say, okay, we're having this family conference. And, I said, I'm the patriarch of this family, and I've heard from God and God's called us to, pursue a better place, a country, by his design and by his building. And, I don't know where it is. I'm not sure how long it's going to take. Don't ask me any of these questions. We're going to go from this nice place in here where we have this nice society of dependent, structures and buildings and safety, and we're going to go out and live in tents. We're going to go out and live in tents. And this, this, this, area around the Fertile Crescent where we've never been before. And we're going to do that in pursuit of, what God has called me to, we're going to be, doing this together. And, I don't know where the city is. Don't ask me that. I don't know if it's already been built or not. I don't know, I mean, I have no idea about any of that. I don't know when we're going to get there. I don't know what it's going to be like on the way. You know, I don't know if there are already people living there. I don't know any of the details. All I know is God has called me and promised a more glorious society. So we're going. To think about this. You know, let's fast forward another 80 years or so. Imagine a conversation between, his grandson, Jacob, and a couple Canaanites. You know, imagine this conversation. You know, I don't it's not in the Bible. But just imagine these Canaanites, you know, saying, now go over that with me again. Why are you guys here living in tents in our in our area? Your grandfather said what he heard from God and he was called. Where is the city? He was called to? What do you have to show for this? I mean, here it's 80 years later, and, you know, your grandfather's gone and dead, and you're still pursuing the same dream of a city whose foundation is built by God. And you're still out here in the these tents. You know, you've had to go through several generations of these tents. They're all wearing out, and you still don't even know where the city is. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much it. All you have to hold on to is the fact that your, grandmother was barren, and she gave, you know, birth to your dad, the child of promise. And that's the only indication that you have that this thing is going to come to pass. Yeah, that's about it. And you're continuing on in this faith? Yeah. Yep. We still believe what? Grandfather said that God called him in pursuit of a better place. Now, from our perspective, some 3000 years later, we still are waiting for that city of God. But we have a much better perspective. We can see much more clearly what Abraham himself couldn't see. We can see the design that God has is starting to unfold in human history. We can see the builder who has come to build the city. We see so much more than what Abraham could have seen even in his lifetime. We see the building even under construction. We see, you know, the footings being poured and everything being done to establish this city. Again, the theme this morning is from one man, God's promise of a better city was born. And point number one is, through Abraham, God has revealed his design. Abraham had no idea about the design of the city. Abraham wasn't living under the revelation of God's laws for social order. But we have that. We have that. And that also came through Abraham. Let's take a look at 13 through 16. All these died in faith not having received. When it says all these, it's referring to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and several other generations after that, all these, died in faith, not having received the things promised, but had having seen them and greeted them from afar, having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus, make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. He has prepared for them a city. Even though Abraham and his offspring for several generations never saw the promise unfold, with the expectation of Sarah being able to bear and offspring, they nevertheless never stopped believing because, and because of this faith, God never was ashamed of them. He always remained true to them. And this vision unfolded in, it. God had given Abraham. Our Abraham gave us. And Abraham's followers gave us the evidence that they were in pursuit of this vision continually, because at any point they could have gone back home. They never went back home all those years in the tent, any time they wanted. They could have returned back to Earth of the Chaldees, but they were in this relentless pursuit of this promise of a better place. They wanted something better than what they had experienced under the authorities and the structures of man. They wanted something better than the city of man. They wanted the city of God. And through Abraham, the design for the city of God was given. We don't realize, how much we are blessed by Abraham's offspring. Through Moses, the Hebrews were given the Ten Commandments. Nothing, nothing, nothing saved. The first coming of Jesus Christ has had a greater impact on the well-being of mankind and social order than the ideas inherent in the Ten Commandments. The ideas that are born out of God's law have blessed us so immensely today. We don't really think about it or realize it. We take God's law for granted. We even disregard God's law and don't allow it to be displayed in our schools. The very thing that gives us liberty and gives us peace and gives us and restrains those who have power over us from exploiting us as the is, is something that we've grown to disrespect and not even displayed to our children. What an ironic thing it is. The very foundations of our justice and our liberty and equality in our unit, in our unity. And that frees us from the capricious powers of man. Oops. How did that get advanced, capricious powers of man? Is God's law. And I'll let me just briefly say I don't have time to expound upon that or explain that, but let me just briefly say this. Never before in human history, before the Ten Commandments, was there an idea that everyone is equally accountable to the law. Never before was their idea that even the King has to submit to the law. Never before was this the idea that the law is above all and makes everybody equal under the law. Before the Ten Commandments, the idea was, if you were rich and you killed a poor man, that was a minor crime. But if you were a poor man and killed a rich man, that was a major crime, because nothing had to do with equality under the law at all. It had to do with status and power and strength. The law presents this idea that a husband can't do whatever he wants to his wife. A king can't do whatever he wants to a citizens, equal protection under the law if it's purely applied, which it never has been. But the more purely equal protection under law, is applied, the freer we are and the more equal we are now. Man has never done that. But the principle is there, the foundation for God's kingdom. Is there principles that preserve the rights of people and the property of people and the dignity of people? Never were there before the Ten Commandments. All human law before that was built on the preferences of status and power. And now it was built on the principles of the dignity of every man. Those ideas didn't come from some guy. They came from God himself, and they were given to us through the offspring of Abraham. Equal protection under the law. These ideas of the Ten Commandments require that which belongs to God to be honored, that which belongs to the parents to be honored, that which belongs to each other, to be honored and not to be violated. That each one has the rights and protections under the law, the law, and all of its corollary principles are a perfect design for justice and a free and social order. The problem is, is we need God to be more than a good designer. We need God to be more than a good designer because, you know, a good design or a good set of blueprints in the hands of an incompetent builder is going to result in something less than a good result. For example, if you put blueprints in the hands of a monkey, you could have the greatest blueprints in the world to build the most beautiful city. But if it's not in the hands of somebody who can execute it, then it's not going to turn out that well. Our best attempts at at implementing God's design have fallen short. It has been sinful man who have tried to apply God's design. When Reagan refers to America as, a city on a hill, he is talking about how it is that even the principles that we as imperfect people have extracted out of the Bible, which is what the is what the Founding Fathers did, they extracted principles out of Deuteronomy, out of the Ten Commandments, out of, you know, the ideas of the division of power, many ideas that are in the founding of our country. Look at a biblical idea of man and God's social orders in the law. And these principles were our best attempt, and it has created the highest degree of human liberty and freedom. Without God's law, we would not have America. We would not have the ideas of Lex rex that the law rules. We would not have concepts that really are at the basis of our precious liberties and freedoms and equality. The founding principles, are in some degree, out of God's design. And they, they build, they have built not the city of God, but a little bit better of a city than any of the other cities. A man, but we do need we need more than just the good design. We need a builder. We need a builder who will take God's good designs. And he will execute them into a beautiful city without flaw or without, imperfection. And, that's where we have what we have in Christ from one man. God's promise of a better city was born through Abraham. God has revealed his design. Also through Abraham, God has brought forth his builder. Through Abraham, God has brought forth his builder. Let's look at verse 17 through 19. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promise was in the act of offering up his only son. Of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Now the Bible doesn't say this, but I think it's inferred here in this passage and in other places. That and I can't help but make the connection between Abraham's willingness to give his son the son of promise, the son to whom God said, all of these generations would come forth from back to God. I can't help but think that Abraham's willingness to give Isaac back to God was connected to God's willingness to actually give the life of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to us. God's law is God's design. God's son is God's builder. Through Abraham, we have received both his design and his builder through Abraham and his descendants has have come, has come the builder of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. God's law without Jesus, we know, is ineffectual. God's design without Jesus does not work, because the building materials that it seeks to, conform to the design are defective. Jesus is the builder of the city of God, and he builds the city of God by first, preparing the inhabitants, the citizens of the city of God, to be part of a great new society in his building. Right now, he's building us. He's preparing us, he's suiting us. He's fitting us to be part of a glorious new order. He's transforming us so that we are qualified for this new world. You know, a good design, the best design, the best laws in the world are of little use for rebellious people. But God's city, the city promised to Abraham the inheritance God has promised to us will be both designed and built by God. We are his building blocks. We are being honed by him to fit in into our place, in his temple, into his body politic. Each one of us is being prepared by him to fit well into a glorious kingdom, glorious kingdom that is forever and ever. A city of God. A place of perfect justice, perfect freedom, perfect liberty, perfect unity, perfect love with perfect people. And we don't do that ourselves. We need both his design and his building. His design. We are looking for the New Jerusalem, the new city of God, and we continue to look for it as Abraham was looking for it. But we have seen a lot more of it come to pass than Abraham ever did. And we're not. We're much closer to its realization than Abraham ever was. But we are like Abraham in our pursuit of this new city. The city of God. We too are strangers and foreigners, travelers through this land. Our journey is not from to a better place. Here on this earth. Our journey is to a better place in in, in eternity. Unlike Abraham, we have much more reason to believe than he did. We are much closer to that city. We are much further down that journey. Think about this. If this one man listen to God has resulted in so much for us. What about each of us? What about our journey? Who will we bless in the wake of our faithful pursuit of a better, of a better place, of a better world, of a city whose designer and builder is God Himself? Again this morning, from one man, God's promise of a better city was born. Through Abraham. God has revealed his design. Through Abraham, God has brought forth his builder. I'd like to conclude a couple chapters after this verse in Hebrews chapter 13, verses 12 through 15. Hebrews 1312 through 15 says this. So Jesus suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. He suffered outside the gate. He suffered outside the city of man to set us apart, to sanctify us, to cleanse us by his own blood, to prepare us for the city of God. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp, and bear the reproach he endured. Why? For we have no lasting city. We don't have a lasting city here. We have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come through him. Then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of the lips that acknowledge his name. We have no lasting city here. The best we do to build the very best we can here is sandcastle building. Are we willing to live outside the camp bearing the burden of associating with Jesus? Are you willing to willing to bear the burden outside of the city of man, saying, I associate with my builder, Jesus Christ, because my city is not this city. My city that I look forward to is a much more beautiful city, a much more glorious place. And it isn't a city that is temporal, but it is a city that is lasting forever and ever. It's designed and built by my Savior, Jesus Christ, and he's designed me to be part of it. And that's where my hope is. Let's pray. Heavenly father, it says here that through him let us continually offer up sacrifices of praise to God. That is, the fruit of the lips that acknowledge his name. Lord, we praise you, Lord. We thank you, father, that you have given this man Abraham a vision. We thank you for his steadfastness. It's so amazing to me that he would be so faithful to you, believing that if he took and sacrificed his only son, that you would be able to raise him from the dead, which you did figuratively when you brought that that sacrifice in his place. And in response to Abraham, mankind was qualified through his faith to receive your son, who you did actually give as a sacrifice for us, that through his blood we might be cleansed and sanctified, set apart, made right, made ready for a better place. May the risen power of Jesus Christ operate in us in such a way, Lord, that we would be being prepared and we would be come prepared to be part of the glorious city of God that is eternal, perfect in every way. The delight of the human heart is totally fulfilled in your perfect society. Christ name