Faith Looks Forward

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0:00Good morning, church. My name is Joel, and I am happy to be serving you all as pastor here. It's good to be back in the pulpit. I'm grateful to Jacob for giving me a couple weeks off, but I was looking forward to coming back and serving you all in this way. So I'm glad to be bringing you the word today. And welcome to Explorers. We got the Explorers in the room today, so I'm glad you guys are here. So I'm going to ask these kids this question. So Explorers, listen up.

0:32Can you imagine that you might be driving someday? Ethan shakes his head, yeah. He's already thinking about it. So by the grace of God and through much prayer, we are turning our teenage daughters into drivers. One down, one to go. It's going well so far, I have to admit. It's going very well. They've been very responsible drivers. And honestly, it's been Nikki more than me who's been in the car with them. And so she, give her the pats on the back, not me.

1:07She's putting in more of the time. But whoever is in the car with them, we say the same thing. And teenagers who might be learning to drive or on the cusp of learning to drive, tell me if you've heard this one. Your parents say, keep your eyes ahead. Stop looking down. Don't mess with the radio. Keep your eyes ahead. It's very important. Now, that sounds obvious, but new drivers don't realize just how easily and how quickly you can start veering if you take your eyes off the road.

1:42Even old drivers like me forget that sometimes. And we look down. We think we have it. We look down and suddenly we hear the rumble strips going or something like that. But along with looking ahead, something else that is harder to do is you have to teach new drivers to visualize. You have to look and scan at all the things that are ahead of you, all the drivers especially, the other cars. You have to imagine what they're going to do, what they could do, right?

2:12Even when you're making a turn, when you're turning, you have to kind of visualize your car making that turn so that you don't veer out of your lane or hit a curb, cross the line, something like that. You have to visualize where you're going and you have to visualize what other people are going to do. It's hard because you never really know what other people are going to do. You can control your car, but you can't control theirs. So visualizing all that, imagining that is hard.

2:39It can be, it can feel anxious. Well, today's passage tells us that faith is about visualizing, about looking ahead. Looking ahead at what's coming and visualizing it, imagining it, envisioning it. But what we envision is not the possibilities of fickle people, but the promises of an unchanging God. Okay? Which is much better, you would have to admit, right? Than trying to predict what unpredictable people are going to do. We're visualizing the promises of a faithful God who does not change, whose promises we can count on.

3:17We're guided not by what people might do, but what God will do. We're in a sermon series in Hebrews called Toward and Enduring Faith. We're in chapter 11. We've made good progress through Hebrews. We're in chapter 11. You might know chapter 11. People call it the Hall of Fame of Faith. All these people, this cloud of witnesses from before, all of them living by faith, doing extraordinary things by faith. Today we're going to see how faith looks forward.

3:50It looks forward to God's promises. It sees those promises and it believes those promises to such a degree that they almost become a visible reality that guides them as they live their life. So turn with me to Hebrews 11. Let's come before the very Word of God. Holy and inspired. Completely reliable. We can and we should build our lives on it. We can and we should meet with God through Him speaking to us in His Word. So come with me to God's Holy Word.

4:24Let's receive the nourishment and the strength that we need today. This is Hebrews 11, 8 through 22. It's on the screen. It's in your bulletin. Please read along with me. 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 of the same promise.

5:00For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful 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, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

5:43For people who 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 the 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. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, through Isaac, shall your offspring be named.

6:22He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

6:56Pray with me. Lord God, we rely on your promises, and one of those right now is that we rely on your promise to bear fruit as your word goes forth. So, Lord, because you're good, because you're powerful, because your spirit is at work among us and in us, make your word exceedingly fruitful to push out idols and to bring in a greater love for you. To push out self-protection and self-reliance and instead build up a reliance on you. And, Lord, lead us in worship and truth for your glory and for our good.

7:42In Jesus' name we pray. God is good. Amen? So, Hebrews chapter 11 begins with a verse. This verse is like a theme for the whole chapter. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. That one verse describes every single story told in this chapter. Every single Old Testament reference, every life described, every person named, every act, it's described by that one verse. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

8:26Today, I'm isolating the passage here that talks about God's people from Abraham to Joseph. Each of them was guided by God's promises. They had a forward-looking faith. And that forward-looking faith enabled them to do three amazing things. Here's the first one. Answering God's call.

8:514,000 years ago, Abraham was walking the earth. And when we first meet him, he was living in what is now eastern Iraq. This was a whole different period in Abraham's life. His name was actually Abram. He was nine generations removed from his ancestor Noah, who was saved. He and his family were saved from the flood by God. Nine generations later, you have Abram. The flood and God's salvation, that was a long time ago. Abram was not seeking God. Abram was worshiping idols.

9:34He was worshiping idols along with everybody else that lived where he lived. He lived in Ur. He lived in what was probably the biggest city in the entire world at that time.

9:47A city with a high standard of living, relatively speaking, of course. There was fertile land watered by the Euphrates. It was a sophisticated place. It had fortifications and a great temple to the moon god named Sin.

10:09Abram had made a life for himself in Ur. But then life changed. Life changed when the god of his ancestors, the living and the true god, broke into his life, showed up and spoke to him, and said, go from your country and from your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. Now, Abram did not get, he didn't get any information about the place that he was going. He wasn't given a brochure. Come visit fabulous Canaan. Land flowing with milk and honey.

10:44He didn't get the brochure. He knew nothing about where he was going. Another thing God didn't give him was a map. In Ur was a ziggurat, a tower that was part of the temple complex to this moon god. If you were to climb up to the top of that ziggurat in ancient Ur and look out in every direction around the city, past the city walls, you would see nothing but desert. Harsh, inhabitable desert all around you. And yet God showed up and he said, go. out there.

11:25I'll show you the way. Just go. Abram didn't know anything about the land. He didn't know anything about the way. And he didn't even know God very well. He had not been following the God of his ancestors. He didn't have so much information that we would have wanted to do such a big thing. Right? But he obeyed. He obeyed. Despite the ambiguity, despite the danger, despite this upheaval of his entire life, he set out and he went. He acted based on God's promise alone.

12:11God's Word alone. In fact, the language of this text implies that it was immediate. A way that you could translate this is, as Abraham was being called, as he was being called, he obeyed to go. The words were still ringing in his ears and he grabbed his stuff and he got out of there. He and his family. Now, there is someone that Adam foreshadows and his name is Jesus. Because the Son of God, right? He was also called by his Father. Go to the land.

12:47Go amidst the people. Go take on humanity. Go save lost sinners. But Jesus wasn't given a map. He wasn't given directions. We have no reason to think that he knew every day what each day would hold. What each person would say. How to have every conversation. What to do from one moment to the next. He was walking by faith. Every minute of his life. He was following his Father by faith. To answer his Father's call meant to walk by faith too. To trust in the Word of his Father.

13:24And praise God, he did, right? Praise God that he obeyed despite the lack of information that he had. Listen, church, we have to start with this. God is calling right now. He is calling you. Entrust yourself to me. Reorient your entire life around me. Turn away from sin and from self. Yes, even the things that you hold dear. Turn away from those things and worship me instead. faith responds to the call of God with a humble yes. Faith responds to the call of God with a humble yes.

14:08The first yes to that call is to tell him that you need him. If you have not done that yet, that's the place to start. To call out and say, I've taken a good hard look at my life, God, and I am helpless without you. I know that I am sinful and that you are holy. And I know that I need a Savior and Jesus, you're that Savior. To put your trust in Jesus is answering the call of God. But his call doesn't just come once. How many people here know that?

14:45His call doesn't just come once in your life, right? It comes over and over repeatedly every day. Make my ways your ways. Deny yourself and follow me. God's call is not just about the big life decisions, the forks in the road. It's not just about this job or that job. Should I go into this field or that field? Should I go to the mission field or into the workplace? Should I marry this person or not? That is not the only call of God. Sometimes people talk with me and I'm a second career pastor.

15:21Most of you know this, but if you don't know, I've worked as an engineer for 10 years. I studied engineering and I did that for 10 years before I answered God's call to ministry. And a lot of people have said to me over the years, gosh, what a big call. How much courage it must have taken to answer that call. And I know they're being kind and I try to receive that as kindness, but I never have seen this call as being any bigger or any different really than any call that any Christian gets from the Lord.

15:54No matter whether you're in ministry or not. His call comes to you every day, Christian. Every day you open up your Bible and you read His Word. Every time you hear His commands, His instructions for you. These are callings too. God is saying, live this way. Go this direction. Whether you're a pastor or an accountant, whether you are married or unmarried, have kids or don't have kids, whether you're a student or in the workplace, that calling is for your life right now.

16:33When you read, as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. That's God's calling. And you answer it by forgiving the person that you would like to hold a grudge against. When you read, you cannot serve both God and money, that's a calling from God. And you answer it by being generous, even in an uncertain economy. When you read, in humility, count others more significant than yourself, that's God's call. And you answer it by practicing sacrificial love towards the people around you, towards your neighbors, your friends, your classmates, your siblings, your spouse, your children.

17:23Consider others more significant than yourself. That too is a calling of God. Don't think of the calling as just, oh, that's what I did when I came to faith. Or, oh, that's just when I face a big life decision. Think about God's calling as every day. Every day, it's a choice, right? Am I going to go God's way or am I going to go my own way? That's what you need to consider. He's calling to you every day. Look forward in faith to His promises and answer that call.

17:56The second one is this, trusting God's purpose. God's calling every day, but sometimes His callings ask a whole lot of us. It requires faith that believes the impossible. When Abraham and Sarah left for Canaan, it was difficult. Right? They didn't know where they were going. But once they got there, God spoke again. Abraham, I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth. That's how numerous they'll be, Abraham.

18:29And that would be strange and exciting for him to hear considering he was 99. And they had no children. Later, God spoke again. These many offspring, let me be more specific, Abraham and Sarah, those offspring will come from you. You, Abraham, and you, Sarah. They're going to come that way from a child that you two are going to bear. Now this was getting hard to believe. Sarah had never conceived a child in her whole life and now she also was in her 90s.

19:09Abraham and Sarah laughed about this. Both of them. And who among us wouldn't laugh about that, right? It sounds ridiculous. It's one thing for God to tell them to get up and go to a strange land, right? At least they have legs. They can stand up. They can walk. Right? This, who would tell a couple like this you're going to have a baby? It doesn't make any sense. They laughed, but they believed. They laughed, but they believed. And by this faith, Sarah received power to conceive.

19:47And the long-awaited child was named Isaac. Now you might think here that the application is okay, if I just believe hard enough, my wildest dreams will come true. If I just believe, all of my desires will happen. But be careful. This wasn't about her dream. I'm sure it was her dream to have children. But this wasn't about her dream that was about God's promise. God had told her, I'm going to do this through you. This is going to happen. She believed that he was faithful who had promised.

20:29She considered him faithful who had promised. She heard God's promise and she responded with bold faith. Faith that believed that he would do what he said he would do. Not faith that he would make her deepest desires come true, but faith that he would do what he said he would do. Despite the impossibility. Sarah, she foreshadows Mary, right? Who also had to believe despite human impossibility that God would enable a miraculous conception. And Mary believed that.

21:05Children of God, I need you to know this. Nothing can stand in God's way of his purposes. If he is calling you, he will give you what you need. If he is calling you to something, he is going to give you exactly what you need. There is no obstacle that he can't overcome. There is no mountain that he can't move. There is no pre-existing condition that he can't defeat. Have faith and receive power for God's purpose in your life.

21:41Fast forward ten years later or so, Abraham received probably his most difficult call in his whole life. Harder than leaving his hometown and his family. Harder than going into the unknown. Going into the desert. Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and offer him there as a burnt offering.

22:08Boy, every time I read that, it's just, it's hard to take in, isn't it? A single command and a double blow for Abraham. The heartbreak of his only son's death at his hands.

22:28But then also, along with that, the confusion. How does this fit into your plan, God? Anybody ever wonder that about your life? How does this fit into your plan? This is the long-awaited promised child. You've been telling us this. You had to convince us despite our laughter that you were going to do this. And now he's here. We're living with him. We enjoy him. What are you doing? God, what are you doing? And yet again, even in the confusion and the heartbreak, Abraham obeys.

23:12And again, he does it immediately. As he was being tested, he offered up Isaac. He grabbed his things as the words were ringing in his ears. Come on, Isaac, let's go. No argument. No accusations. No delays or stalling. How? How could someone do this? Well, he did it by faith. And specifically this, he considered, pay attention to this, he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead. Now that is remarkable. He had never seen God do this.

23:55God had not told him that he could do this. He had no information. Abraham simply believed. Well, God promised offspring through this son of mine. So if he wants me to sacrifice him, then he must be able to bring him back to life. That's all it was for Abraham. God must be able to do this because he has promised. He trusted God's word and his power to accomplish it despite the impossibility. faith believes that God's power is greater than our limitations.

24:31Barrenness, old age, death. Are these difficult for the Lord of Lords? No. No, they are not. Not by a long shot. Child of God, what limitations are you staring at in your life? What obstacles are standing in the way of God using you for his purposes? Do you feel short on time? Short on resources? He can multiply those things. He can give you more and he can do more with little than you even realize. Far more fruit can come from the little bit you have to offer than you even know.

25:14He can multiply those things. Do you feel weak? Do you feel tired? He has supernatural strength to give you. Do you think that you're too old? Look what he did with Sarah. Do you think you're too young? Look what he did with Timothy.

25:36Or maybe it's other people that are the obstacle for you. It's their stubbornness. It's their stuckness. It's their resistance. God can soften the hardest hearts.

25:49No one is beyond hope. Anyone can change. Commit them to God in prayer and keep going towards his call. Is anything impossible with our God? No, it's not, church. You know that. You know it to be true. Press into that truth. Look forward in faith to God's promise and believe that he will always keep his word. He always keeps his word, but sometimes it requires a resurrection.

26:21Didn't our Savior trust his Father also? When he was coming to the end, he trusted the same thing. He believed that God had the power to raise him up, vindicating him and accomplishing salvation for all who trusted in him. Jesus stepped towards that cross believing, my Father has the power to raise me. He has resurrection power and I'm going to do this thing that he's called me to do. And praise God, he did it and God raised him.

26:55Will you follow him with that same faith looking forward, believing he will work? He will work resurrection power wherever he needs to to clear the way for you to step forward to the purpose that he's called you towards. His purpose. Now the last one is this. The last amazing thing that they did, and honestly, it's all over this passage, is they were seeking God's homeland.

27:25What is just as remarkable about how these patriarchs lived is how they died. In the end, they all died not having received the things promised. They still lived in tents. They didn't own the land. They didn't have countless descendants. The nations weren't blessed. Their lives didn't seem to amount to much, did they? Compared to the promises of God, an outside observer would look at them and say, what a waste. Abraham, what a fool you've been to go out to this country and live in a tent.

28:03You weren't living in a tent in Ur. What a waste. What a fool. And yet, these patriarchs didn't see it that way. They died in faith, the passage says. They came to the end of their life not cynical, but hopeful. How many people here want to come to the end of their life and be hopeful instead of cynical? I know I do. They came to the end of their life with hope brimming in their eyes, not cynicism. They were still looking forward. When Isaac and Jacob spoke to their children, they invoked future blessings.

28:45Isn't that amazing? They were still looking forward and they say, I'm taking this blessing that God has promised and I'm reminding you of it. I'm putting it right in front of your face. Oh, my children. Oh, my grandchildren. They did not see their life as a waste. Far from it. They said to their children and their grandchildren, it was worth it. It was worth it to follow God. Despite all the losses, despite the heartache, despite the confusion at times, even when I had to climb that mountain with a hammer and a stake in my hand, it was worth it.

29:23Even when Sarah said, when I was wondering how this was going to happen, I was 90. It was worth it. And I am calling you children and grandchildren to do the same. Be like me. Follow the God that has called us. What a way to end your life.

29:46Now, how could they do this? Because they had spent their whole lives looking forward. Looking forward so much so that they died having seen them and greeted them from afar. They didn't have them in their hands, but they looked forward and they saw them and they greeted them. They had eyes of faith. Like Abraham, they were looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. God promised Abraham three things. Land, offspring, and being a blessing to the nations.

30:26Abraham had spent so much time contemplating all of these promises, thinking about them. from day to day, living his life. He had a lot of time to wait, remember? He had decades between God doing something with all the things that he'd said. He had a lot of time. He was thinking about these promises, land, offspring, nations. Land, offspring, nations. He was thinking about them, dwelling on them, and finally he integrated them together. and he formed a picture in his mind.

30:58A picture of all the redeemed people of God from all time and throughout history as a city. And he was looking forward to that city. Little did he know that 2,000 years later his Savior Jesus would call his people a city on a hill. And then not long after that, John would get his revelation and John would say this. Put up that slide. I saw the holy city, John said. New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

31:35What else is called the bride in the Bible? The church. The people of God. Do you see this? Abraham, 4,000 years earlier from now, he was the first one to get this picture of the city of God. All the promises together. This vision that he had was so compelling. It was so true. It changed how they looked at the very land that they were walking in. That they were called to. They were literally in the promised land. But they didn't consider it home.

32:12They acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Even while they walked on the promised land. And verse 14 says, people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland where their feet tread, they did not consider it home. The promised land was not home for them. They knew it wasn't their home. They desire a better country, a heavenly one.

32:39C.S. Lewis wrote this, if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.

32:52Abraham and his family knew that they were made for another world. They didn't seek contentment where they were. That's why they lived in tents. That's why it said that they lived in the promised land as in a foreign land. How could it be foreign if it was promised to them because they were already looking forward to the better country, the real homeland. If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, then we were made for another world.

33:22I was in an airport a couple weeks ago and I saw something that I see most any time I'm in an airport terminal. I saw a bird. I didn't take this picture, but when you see a bird in an airport terminal, what is it doing? It's flying around. It's restless. It's searching. It's flitting here and there. Moving around, looking, looking, looking. Inside the terminal, it's light. It's spacious. There might even be a couple of plants around or some trees.

33:58But for a bird, it's not home. And the bird knows it. That's why it's looking around constantly. Unsettled. Friends, you and I are like a bird in an airport.

34:19This is not our home. We were made for another world. We were made for God's homeland. We were made for the new heavens and the new earth that will come at Christ's second coming. If you believe that, if you believe that we were made for another world, then please don't try to find satisfaction in this one.

34:48No landscape, no hearth, no bed, no front porch here will ever give you the security and the peace that you desire. The deep desires that you know aren't met. They're not satisfied in this world. You were made for more than this. More than this world. Instead, instead of seeking satisfaction here, embrace the feeling of homesickness.

35:16You know that feeling, I'm sure. Maybe you felt it when you were a kid and you went to camp in the summer. Maybe you felt it as an adult when you moved to a new place. I remember feeling it about two decades ago. I was out of the country for several weeks for work. I was having fun. I was eating new food, meeting new people, seeing new things, but then one day, I was hit so hard with homesickness. All I wanted was my food, my friends, my music, my living room, my church.

35:52I wanted it so intently. Allow yourself to feel that way about your future home. Give in to that feeling that you were made for something more than this here. When you feel the sting of conflict between people, look forward to the complete agreement and harmony that will happen among all people in the new heavens and the new earth. When you feel unsafe and insecure, whether you're at work or maybe even in your own home, remind yourself that you will never feel that way in God's homeland.

36:37Look forward to where God is taking you. Don't scrounge. Don't settle for what is here. Look forward to your homecoming. For people who live that way, God is not ashamed to be called their God. He approves of that feeling of homesickness because that is part of looking forward in faith to the promise that He has for you. To the city of God which He is preparing. It says here He has prepared for them a city. He's doing it now.

37:13Many, many decades ago, there was a missionary who had served in Africa for 40 years. His name was Henry Morrison and he was sailing home with his wife because he was sick and he had to return home. He was sailing back to America which is where he was from. He was sailing into New York City Harbor and he saw a crowd of people on the gangplank cheering with banners and he thought, oh, they've remembered. They've remembered the things that I've done, the service, the 40 years that I gave, that we gave.

37:50They've remembered. They're here to welcome us. But then when the ship docked and the gangplank was laid down, he saw President Teddy Roosevelt coming off the same ship as him. He had come from a safari in Africa and the crowd was there for him. They welcomed Teddy, they celebrated him and then they all left.

38:18And Henry was left crestfallen. And for a long time after that, he thought, no one's remembered. They were all there for a man who was hunting, not for a man who was winning souls and serving the Lord. He was crestfallen for a long time and then one day his wife noticed that his face was brighter and she asked him, what's going on? And he said, well, I kept going to the Lord about what happened when we docked and finally the Lord said to me, Henry, you're not home yet.

38:54Child of God, you're not home yet. But you will be. You will be. And that home is better than this home. Your father is waiting there to welcome you in with a seat at the table and a pat on the back and a hug and an encouragement. Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done, living by faith, answering my call. Well done, seeing my purposes and trusting me even when it was hard. Well done.

39:31And now come home and enjoy the rest that I have for you. Thank you.