He Was Looking For The City Whose Builder & Maker Is God

Introduction

Pleasant good morning to all. I encourage you to take your New Testaments, and if you would, please turn to Hebrews chapter 11. I want to begin reading where Mark left off the moment ago. Beginning in Hebrews 11, verse 8, and I’d like to read through verse 22. The scripture says, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed.

And she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man in him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable, as the sand which is by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better. That is, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called there God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said in Isaac, your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Some people take a unique kind of vacation where they travel however far as they desire, and in whatever direction they may wish. If asked when they will return, they might answer, we do not know. We’re touring the United States, perhaps you’ve talked with someone like that. But while they may be traveling at different places and really without a determined route necessarily, there’s one thing for sure that if you were asked them where do they plan to return, finally, they will say it’s to their home.

They know their destination ultimately. Abraham left on a different kind of trip. The scripture says he did not know where he was going. Only that God was leading him. Indeed, in this great old call of heroes of the faith, Abraham stands out as the father of all that believe, and so designated in Romans chapter 4 and verse 11. Abraham’s life indeed was such that he was the father of the faithful. He was tested in many ways, actually. It may be sometimes we we look at the stories about Abraham and we say, well, you know, God was with him. And it’s probably easy for Abraham. But I want you this morning to think in terms as if you were to walk with him. How would it really be?

Think more about the kind of circumstances that he was facing. And how did he maintain the kind of faith that he had? There are actually three different tests that are shown, I believe, and referred to at least even in the scriptures I’ve just read. There was the test of where would he be going? He did not know. Only that God was leading him. There was the test of, he would be the father of many nations, but he had no children. And he was well past the age, as was Sarah of having children. How could it be that he would be the father of a great multitude? And then, thirdly, even when finally Isaac was born, and as Isaac grew up, no doubt, perhaps as a young teenager, we’re not exactly sure his age.

But he was asked of God to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. That certainly was a test to him. And yet Abraham obeyed without wavering. Staggered not at the promise of God, being fully convinced of what God had promised. He was able also to fulfill. I hear sometimes people say, you know, life is just not fair. Have you ever heard that? Sometimes we think, well, you know, maybe it’s physical problems or health or situations that are different. And some people suffer greatly, while others maybe have good health. Or maybe it’s financial problems. That, you know, you look around and there are plenty of people who seemingly have much wealth, and they can buy whatever they want and go wherever they wish. And they just live life, it seems, in such a way, but not me.

I’m poor, we may say. Indeed, we may say, well, life is not fair. But when we look at men like Abraham, we find out that here was one who suffered probably more than any of us in our life today, in many ways, physically speaking. How was he able to keep on going? How was he able to be the father of the faithful? And the key, I believe, also is in the scripture that we just read. The fact is that Abraham was looking for the city whose builder and maker is God. My beloved, when we really have that destination in our hearts and minds, no matter what the test may be for our faith, we too can say, as we just were singing, it is well with my soul.

1. He Went Out Not Knowing Where He Was Going

Look again at this test. First of all, he went out not knowing where he was going. Verses 8 through 10, again the reading, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. You think, first of all, that he went out not knowing where he was going. Now, as we are knowing this morning will be the last service, the Shabels are going to be with us.

They’re moving to Miami. But you know, they know where they’re going. They could probably tell their family, hey, we’ve been there, and this is the kind of place we’re going to move into. Or this is where it’s going to be. Abraham couldn’t tell back his family and say, you know, I tell you where I’m going to move over here, and you know it’s near a supermarket, and it’s a house that’s air-conditioned and centrally heated, and etc. etc. Did you hear the scripture? He was dwelling in tents. For about a hundred years in the land of Canaan, the southeastern set part of it, mostly. And among people that were not of his same character. It was not as though we might say it was easy. He was living in tents, dwelling as an alien among these people.

And yet he was there because God had asked him to go. In Acts chapter 7, actually, verses 1 through 5, Stephen in his lesson before the council, gave us a little bit of insight into the story. When the scripture says I’m beginning in chapter 7, verse 2, he said, Brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. God gave him no inheritance in it.

2. Father of Many Nations, But No Children

Not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, he promised to give it to him for possession and to his descendants after him. Did you understand? He didn’t even own a part of that land. Only later he did purchase the cave of Macpilah where he buried his wife and became a burial place for some of his uh descendants. But it’s like I’m going wherever God said, and then even when he got there, he would say he was like a stranger, as an alien and an outsider in the place where he was going. He was age seventy-five when Abraham departed Haran, the scripture tells us. And it’s significant that at that point in time, God also made a promise to Abraham that you might say was really a second test to him.

For it was here in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1, 2, and 3, that we know the promise was made that if you go here, God is going to make of you a great nation. I’m reading Genesis 12, verses 1, 2, and 3, where the scripture says, Get out of your country, from your family, from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. And make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you and in you, all the families of the earth shall be bless you. We particularly like to emphasize that third promise. Because it is a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ through the lineage of Abraham.

And the blessing for us today, whether Jew or Gentile, is the fact that Jesus Christ did come, born of woman, born under the law, and lived without sin, made the perfect sacrifice that you and I can have the promise of life everlasting through him. Oh, that’s a great promise from Abraham. Abraham didn’t see it, though. You and I know. It was only a promise to Abraham. Furthermore, when that promise was made to Abraham, Abraham 75, and Sarah would have to be 65. And they had no children. How could you be the father of a multitude in chapter 15 as the stars of the sky in multitude? Would you stop and say, No, no, wait a minute, Lord. In my reasoning, that just doesn’t sound possible. Probably sometimes we like to reason as human beings about trying to keep and fulfill the will of God.

And if we’re not careful, we can say, well, you know, it just that just doesn’t sound reasonable to me. I can’t see the end of this. And therefore, maybe in our own way, we either lose trust in God, become disappointed, discouraged, or maybe even we might try to help the Lord out a little bit. I I do not fault Sarah. When eleven years later, she offered Hagar her handmaid to maybe help this situation along. No doubt when the promise was made in the leave herod and it finally gets settled in in Canaan, you’d say, well, you know, next nine months or maybe a year, we’ll have this son that God has promised, but son didn’t come. Eleven years later. Or perhaps ten it would be plus.

That Sarah gave Hagar, her handmaid to Abram, and a son is born. Maybe this fulfills it. Ishmael is born. But you know the story. No, Ishmael is not the promised one. That’s not the one God had in mind. Well, okay. So Ishmael’s not the right one. Maybe maybe now and next year, there’ll be a son born. Now walk with him. Think as you would think. Have you ever gotten a little frustrated? You’re saying, you know, if I can just be patient for another month or another year, maybe it’ll. But things don’t happen as quickly as maybe we want. You know, we’re kind of like the people the Lord gave me patience and gave it to me today. Too many of us are that way. He was a hundred years old before Isaac was born.

Sarah was 90. And as the scripture says that past age, past the age. Verses 11 through 12, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age. Because she judged him faithful, who had promised. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead. We’re born as many as the stars of the sky and multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. How could it be? Abraham, at age a hundred, now fathers, a child, and Sarah at age ninety. Only by God’s will and doing, by the miracle we might say, of God’s hand being involved, was it possible that indeed a son could be born. At age a hundred, Isaac is born. I tell you, there’s a passage in Romans chapter 4 to me that really illustrates.

I love the way the scripture words it. When the scripture says in Romans chapter 5, uh chapter 4, in verses 18 through 21, who, contrary to hope, in hope, believed. Contrary to hope. Who could think a son would be born at age 90 from Sarah? But contrary to hope, in hope, they believed. So that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken. So shall your descendants be. And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.

Somehow the King James Version, I guess I first memorized it, but I just sort of like the way it words. He did not stagger at the promise of God in unbelief. He was fully persuaded, fully convinced, the new King James Version gives it. That if God promised it, it would happen. And that is what really no doubt helped Abraham right on through. And yet you stop and think. You mean through this son Isaac, born late in life, I’m going to have enough children that’ll be like the stars of heaven? Well, let’s see. How many grandchildren did Abraham see? You know, Arlene and I can count a lot of grandchildren. Abraham died only having two grandsons, Jacob and Esau. And when Abraham died, they were only 15 years old.

He did not really understand or that it physically see that great nation that came. Here he was.

3. God Asked Him to Offer His Son as a Sacrifice

Abraham to be fully convinced, or fully persuaded, was because of absolute faith and trust in the Lord. He did not stagger. But if that were not enough to test the faith of Abraham, then the third test. God asked him to offer his son as a sacrifice. Chapter 11 of Hebrews again, verses 17 through 19. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said in Isaac, your seed shall be called. Concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. How was it that Abraham would be able to give Isaac as a sacrifice? Now I’ll tell you, indeed, the scripture in Genesis chapter 22 tells us that he arose the next day and saddled his donkey, and the servants headed to Mount Moriah to offer his son there.

But I want you to know it was not with many moments and hours, in fact, to redecide, or choose not to go. It took them two to three days at least to travel to Mount Moriah. The scripture in Genesis 22 says it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. Then he said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him, Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. You see, it’s the third day he’s got time to change his mind. He’s no doubt thought, God’s asked me to put my son to death, offer him as a sacrifice. Why? Is this the right thing, Lord? Aren’t you asking more of me than that wasn’t evidently what was motivating Abraham? Rather, verse 5 says, Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, the lad, and uh the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, son. Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but but where’s the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am.

And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. In point and purpose, indeed, God knew Abraham was going to obey. And in effect, he did obey all the way, offered his son in purpose and point. In fact, why would he do this? Number one, because he believed God would provide.

If he had enabled Sarah to give birth to him at a time when she was past age, Abraham himself past the age, if that could be, then Abraham had the kind of faith that whatever God promised, God would fulfill. But I’ll tell you, it was a test of the human mind, trying to think of a better way than what God had said. Or maybe even challenging whether God was right about it. His is an example of saving faith. Surely you know from Hebrews chapter 2, where uh from James chapter 2, I’m sorry, where the scripture refers to what saving faith is like. In James chapter 2, verse 20, do you not know, or do you know want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead.

Was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God. And it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness. There’s some who’ve taken that quotation, particularly where it’s found in Romans and said, Oh, you see, there, thinking of belief is simply a mental agreement only. But James illustrates it’s more than just a mental agreement. Oh, yes, I believe God. Saving faith is an act of faith.

4. Looking for the City Whose Builder and Maker Is God

Faith that saves is a faith that obeys. And what Abraham was doing was simply as God had commanded, so Abraham would obey, no matter what the test might be. I suggest to you, therefore, when you look at these three different great events in the life of Abraham spread out over a period of time, is an illustration of a man who walked day by day by day by day, trusting Almighty God. Whether he could see physically or comprehend mentally, all that God would bring to pass, is not what mattered to him. It is that if God said it, I will obey. And it’s that kind of faith. What do you believe carried Abraham through? When you think about it, how was it that he was able to go through all of these strong tests in his life and succeeded in obeying God?

Was he superhuman? I’d say no. Abraham was every bit of human being like you and I. And yet he was able to do it because he was looking for the city, whose builder and maker is God. He had a destiny. In fact, look again in Hebrews chapter 11, where in verse 13, I would say begins to give you the key to the kind of attitude that everyone today as a Christian ought to have, a person of faith. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. What does it mean to say they saw far off? Did they literally see it? No, it’s the eye of faith.

They understood. They understood that if God said it, it would come to be. That’s the kind of faith that they had in the Lord. If God said, do it, I’ll do it. Because I’m serving the creator of heaven and earth, the giver of every good and perfect gift, the one who has really blessed us this far. It will no doubt take us even with him eternally. I’ll tell you, the scripture simply says they they recognize they were strangers and pilgrims. Their destiny was not just what is right in front of us. Too often we we we may think in terms of what we have now, boy, you know, we’re we’re either really living or not. How do most human beings today count wealth? Don’t they count it?

Well, what your bank account like? How many stocks and bonds do you own? And what position of power do you own in the business world? Who are you? Every citizen a day measures success by the material. Now, usually some people say what the hand can hold, the eye can see, the material. And we think that’s success. Well, I’ll tell you, the wealthiest man, what does it profit? If he should gain the whole world and lose his soul. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? How do you measure success? When the reality is we’re we are but strangers and pilgrims. How long are you going to live? Anybody here know exactly how much longer you have? Not any one of us. Instead of thinking that our success is measured by the material, we need to recognize that our life is governed by an attitude.

Instead of being citizens of earth striving for heaven, our citizenship is in heaven. And we’re sojourners on earth. Philippians 3.20. Our citizenship is in heaven. And I’ll tell you, my beloved, that just puts a different perspective on everything. When we really think in terms of my real destiny. You know, I often say, remember who you are and where you’re going. And I simply mean by that. If you are a child of God, if you’re serving him faithfully, then where are you going? It’s not physically earthly destination I’m speaking about. Is it that city? Whose builder and maker is God? Indeed, these could have returned, the scripture says. Look at verses 14 and 15. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. I believe Abraham could have gone back to Mesopotamia, where the ground was fertile and all his relatives were there. If that was what he really wanted most of all, he could have gone back. But he didn’t. He could have returned, but he didn’t. He kept moving forward. In fact, as you read the next verse, verse 16, but now they desire a better. That is a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. You think about that for a moment. God is not ashamed to be called their God. How powerful.

Many a prominent person has a brother, maybe a son, that they are ashamed of. That they they kind of wish that nobody puts the two together, associates them. I’ve known a parent who disinherit the children because of the way their children have chosen to live. But God is not ashamed to be called their God.

Conclusion

Think about yourself. Is God ashamed to be called your God? May it not be so. Let it be said of all of us that he is not ashamed to be called our God. That we are the children of God. What a tribute, what an honor, what a privilege, what a blessing. By faith, Abraham obeyed God, was blessed by him. But remember, it wasn’t just easy going and everything worked out smoothly. There was a test throughout a life. He lived to be 175 years old, and we start with him at age seventy-five. So to the next hundred years that we study Abraham’s life proved him to be the kind of man who fully trusted that if God said it, it’ll be so. I will do what God says.

And that brought a blessing to him. May God help us all to have that kind of faith. Look for that city whose builder and maker is God, and you shall be blessed as well. Let us close with a word of prayer. Almighty God, our Father, we’re truly grateful for your love. We give honor and glory to you as the one who is the creator of heaven and earth and the giver for every good and perfect gift. That most of all that through a one like Abraham, you’ve brought about a great nation. And out of that great family you’ve brought about your only begotten Son, who fortook of flesh and blood because we, your children are also flesh and blood. And he lived without sin that he might be the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sins.

Help us to treasure what a privilege it is to be called the children of God. May our lives be filled with sincere faith, not hypocrisy, but true love that obeys your will, no matter what. Help us to keep our values straight and to remember who we serve and where we’re going. And may we be and always being bring glory unto you. Keep us now the rest of our services today, and especially even also this afternoon, as we mourn and pay tribute to our beloved sister who’s passed away. We pray that this whole day will be such that will only help us to be drawn closer to the walk with you. For this we pray in the name of the Christ. And amen.