It's already been good today, hadn't it?
Man, God is so good to us.
Hebrews chapter 11 is where we are.
I learned something early on as a dad of daughters.
I grew up with a brother.
My dad had two brothers.
My mom had three brothers.
There haven't been a lot of women in my life.
Until I became a dad, and we were watching a movie,
it was a Disney movie, came on.
And at the beginning of all Disney movies,
especially movies that you show to girls,
there's the castle and there's the thing that goes over
and then the ferry comes over and there's Cinderella's Castle.
Anybody know what I'm talking about this morning?
And I remember sitting next to my oldest, Milana, one time
and I said, Milana, what castle is that?
She goes, that's Cinderella's Castle.
I said, do you wanna go there?
And she went, you can go there?
I said, yeah.
I was talking about Disney World, she goes,
I said, would you like me to take you there?
She said, yeah, I would love for you to take me there.
And so I said, okay, maybe one day I'll take you there.
Well, there's two problems with maybe.
Maybe means you're definitely taking me there.
Who agrees?
To a little kid, maybe means what?
We're going, that's the first problem,
it's like a promise.
The second problem is maybe for a parent means
off one day, but to a kid maybe means
we're going there tomorrow.
That's what it means.
Have you ever been there?
And it wasn't very long the next day.
Hey, when are we going to Cinderella's Castle?
So at some point I need to take her.
You guys are like, have you not taken her?
I have not taken her.
So I'm sorry, Milana, one day we may go.
Maybe, maybe.
As a dad, I learned the importance of a concept,
the concept of a promise.
For a hopeful kid, at least my kids,
when they hear that we may go and do this or that,
it's as good as done.
And it's disappointing to be promised something
and then to be let down.
Anybody ever have that experience?
Have you ever been promised something
and then the person didn't come through?
Have you ever been that person,
that you promised something and then you didn't come through?
I'll be there at nine on Thursday,
and then you're there and no person to be found, right?
Have you ever been put in a circumstance
where you promised something
and then something kept you from keeping your promise?
We're walking through Hebrews chapter number 11,
and I thought it was a beautiful reading today,
but the ability did such a good job.
Thank you for reading that for us.
This is a beautiful passage of scripture because,
well, first of all, it's true.
And a lot of things that are true are beautiful.
And I believe that the word of God is a beautiful thing,
don't you?
And so it's precious to us and that's good,
but it's also beautiful because of the story
that it tells and what it means for us.
This is a passage of scripture, this passage in Hebrews 11,
that's called the Hall of Faith.
It's talking about faith in the last two weeks.
We've gotten through the end of chapter 10
where it says that it is written
that the just shall live by faith.
And then he says to those Hebrews that he's writing to
in this incredible book of Hebrews,
we're not of those who fall back into perdition,
we're of those who move forward, who live by faith,
and we believe under the saving of the soul.
And last week we looked at this expression
that the author, the preacher of Hebrews is giving us
and giving us just example after example
of what it means to be people who live by faith
by looking back at the Old Testament
to these people who had gone before,
these Jewish believers who had gone before
in the Old Testament who heard the word of God
and responded to it and lived,
they walked by being just people,
the just shall live by faith.
They walked by faith.
Last week we looked at Abel who had an obedient faith,
an Enoch who had a faith that walked with God.
And we had this picture of Noah who believed
and was saved because of his faith.
And what an amazing thing.
Today we come to this incredible story
about a man and a promise.
That's why I'm talking about promises.
I want you to know that when man,
that even though man breaks promises,
we can be people who break promises.
God always, always, always keeps his promises.
What he said, he will do.
When God promises something,
you can take him to the bank.
You can count on him to keep that promise.
And today I want to talk to you about a promise
that involves you.
You say who me?
Yes, you.
God has made a promise through the people
that we're reading about today
that's a very important promise.
And I believe that this story that you're going to hear about,
the story of the promise of God will give you hope
and faith in God and all that he wants to do.
We have a good God.
We have an incredible God who loves us
and who gave his son for us
and we can put our faith in him.
And when we do, we know that he'll come through for us.
The story that I want to read to you today
we've already read is here in Hebrews 11 verses 8 through 16.
And it involves, if you're looking at your Bible,
I'm for tablets and I'm for phones and I'm for paper.
I like it all.
You have a Bible?
Is it on your lap or on an app?
It's somewhere, okay?
Hebrews 11 verses 8 through 16 can be divided
into three sections.
You can see that in the first section by faith.
Who's the first person?
Who is it?
Say it loud.
Abraham.
Then you get on to verse number 11 through faith also.
Sarah.
Who was Sarah to Abraham?
Sarah was Abraham's wife.
Okay?
It was Abraham and Sarah.
God changed their name to Abraham and Sarah.
And so that's what you see.
And then you get down to verse 13.
It says, these all died in faith.
And so that's the third section that takes us down
through verse number 16, at least for today's preaching
passage.
And so you can divide it up those three ways.
And what we're gonna see is that the word promise
shows up a bunch too.
You see it in verse nine.
We've already read it, but you see it in verse nine
by faith he surged into the land of, what's the next word?
Promise.
And he says in a strange country,
dwelling in Tavernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same, what's the next word?
Promise.
It comes there.
It also comes in verse 11.
Through faith also, Sarah received strength to conceive.
Seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age
because she judged him faithful who had what?
Promise.
And then down in verse 13.
These all died in faith not having received the,
who agrees this is about promises.
This is about a promise of God given to Abraham,
given to Sarah and given to some others
that we shall see their seed.
So can I tell you the story?
Can we understand together what this promise was for them
and what it is for us?
I want this to be intensely practical today
because here's what's amazing.
God has been doing something
since the before the foundation of the world.
God had a plan, God had a mission, and God had a story.
And we're included in this story
and we're gonna see part of this story today.
And I think that at the end of this sermon,
at least this is what I hope,
that you'll have if you know Christ as your savior,
just this incredible awe and an incredible wonder
and a worshipful heart to the God
who has made these incredible promises to us
and who is deserving of our worship
because he's been so gracious and merciful to us.
And that you'll be excited about making sure
everybody you possibly can tell knows this promise.
And if you're here today and you don't know Christ as savior,
I want you to know that God has offered something to you
and you can be part of what God has been planning
since before the foundation of the world.
We can have a hope for our future through faith
and the promise of God by asking and answering
six questions of this text today.
Are you ready?
Here's the first question.
What was the promise?
What is the promise?
Well, let's look at it.
It says, it told us about it.
I showed you already, there's already been made a promise.
What is this promise?
Well, if you have your Bible,
go to Genesis, the first book in our Bible,
Genesis chapter 12, look at verse number one.
This is an amazing verse.
If you want to understand God's mission that he's been on,
you got to understand this first.
Here's what it says.
The promise that's being referred to is given to us,
not just here, it's been given to us other places,
but it's been given to us here in Genesis chapter 12,
verse number one.
Here's what it says.
Now the Lord has said unto Abram,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred
and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee
and I will make of thee a great nation
and I will bless thee and make thy name great
and thou shalt be a blessing
and I will bless them that bless thee
and curse him that cursed thee
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Who agrees?
That's a pretty cool promise.
What a great promise.
It came with a pretty difficult thing.
Hey, get up and go and I'll show you where you're gonna go,
but I'm gonna bless those that bless you and curse those.
Who would take that promise from God?
Hey, people who are with me get blessed.
People who are against me get cursed.
I think that's pretty cool.
And I'm gonna get a land
and I'm gonna get a people that's an incredible thing.
So what did Abram do?
I love this, verse four, this is his faith.
So Abram departed as the Lord has spoken unto him.
You know what's good?
Faith obeys.
It's good to be obedient.
Who agrees with me?
It's good to be obedient.
God's called us to be obedient.
So Abram departed as the Lord has spoken to him
and Lot went with him
and Abram was 70 and five years old
when he departed out of Heron.
This text that we're referring to
is called the Abrahamic Covenant.
The Abrahamic Covenant.
It's the promise of God, the covenant of God to Abram
that came with a command to leave where he lived,
the ear of the Caldees,
to go to the place that God would show him.
So what's the promise that's being talked about?
It's the promise to Abram,
a covenant of Abraham for Abraham from God
that God would be with him, that he would bless them,
that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed
through a land and a people.
We'll see that here in just a moment.
So that's the first question.
What was the promise that's the Abrahamic Covenant?
Here's the second question.
You're like, you got through a point in like three minutes?
Yeah, isn't that cool?
Cool, number two, don't expect that again.
All right, number two, what's the second question?
How is Abram a part of that promise?
Well, if you go back to our text,
Hebrews chapter 11 verse eight, it says this,
by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance,
what's the next word?
He obeyed, when God said, get up and go,
Abraham got up and he went.
Now when he got up and he left,
did he know where he was going?
The verse tells us they didn't have any idea
where he was going, he didn't know.
He's just gonna go wherever God shows him.
How many of you guys would like to try it?
Let's try an Abraham, Megan, next summer, Abraham vacation.
We're just gonna load up the car and we're gonna go somewhere.
Who wants to go on vacation with us?
No, you can't go, no, you're not coming.
Just go to a land that I'm gonna show you.
What an amazing thing.
Is that what it got, what did he do?
Now think about, we have so much history to refer to.
Right, we have so much of God revealing himself to us.
In fact, Hebrews 11 is something that Abraham didn't have.
He didn't know about a whole of things.
He probably knew some of the people
that had come before him for sure.
But he didn't have what we have in knowing how God is
and what God was doing.
He just got God showing up and saying,
Abraham, get up and go, you're gonna move.
You're gonna leave your land, you're gonna leave your kindred
and you're gonna go to a place where I'm gonna show you.
What an incredible thing to ask.
And when he was told to do that, he obeyed and he went out.
It says not knowing whether he went.
It involved a place.
This promise involved a land, it involved a place.
Genesis 11, 31 tells us that he went
and terror took Abraham, his son,
and a lot of the son of Abraham, his son son,
and Sarah, his daughter-in-law, and son's Abraham's wife,
and they went forth with him from Ur out of the Caledys
to go to the land of Canaan,
and they came unto Heron and dwelt there.
He was promised a land.
He was promised this progeny, this people.
It took some faith to leave your home land
to go where you've never been
and not really know exactly where you're going.
Verse eight says he went out knowing where he went.
And then he says in verse nine,
by faith he sojourned in the land of promise
as in a strange country, dwelling in,
what does it say next?
Dwelling in tabernacles.
This is tense with Isaac and Jacob.
Who are Isaac and Jacob?
Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob.
This is his son and his grandson talking about that.
The heirs with him of the same promise.
It's the same promise because he said
it's gonna be through your line
that we're gonna have a nation of people
and we'll see how many there would be.
So it was through them.
Abraham's faith demonstrated by his obedience,
by his obedience that he had a generational impact
through Isaac and Jacob.
We read about his life in mere moments,
but his life was revealed to him slowly over time.
There were years of childlessness.
That's the thing that's so interesting.
We're gonna see this in looking at Sarah.
He says you're gonna be the father of a great nation
and how many kids did he have?
Goose egg, zero, he had no kids.
How old was he when he got that promise the first time?
75 years old.
Is there anybody?
I'm not gonna have you stand.
Anybody here over 75?
Yes, there are.
We're having baby dedication later, so you 75 year olds.
Make sure you mark in your bulletins, right?
That you're gonna write, that doesn't happen.
There were years of childlessness,
one in which the descendants would be like the stars,
this promise that they'd be like stars in the sky
in the sand of the seashore.
He also demonstrated his faith by being a tent dweller
and a sewjourner.
He was nomadic, never permanently setting up residents
while believing God's promise about a land.
It says that they were dwelling in tabernacles,
which literally means tents.
Their son and their sons and sons lived in the promised land
and passed down this faith and God,
according to the promise to their kids.
Why did he do it all?
Verse 10, why?
Because he looked for a city which had foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.
The word here for looked,
it looked for is echodechomai
in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 13.
It's in that same verse, sorry, in Hebrews 10, 13,
it's the word that's translated expecting.
So when it says he was looking for one,
it wasn't like Nicholas Cage putting lemons
on the back of things, treasure map.
You guys know what I'm talking about?
No one knows what I'm talking about.
He's not searching as it, like he's searching for treasure.
Like there's this lost city that he's gotta find
somewhere in this promised land.
When it says he's looking for, it says he's expecting
a city and the city he's looking for is not an earthly city.
He's looking for a city whose builder and maker was who?
God, that's exactly right.
Abraham would no longer have to be a sojourner
in a temporary land.
He lived in a temporary earthly tabernacle
while he looked forward to an eternal heavenly city.
He lived it by faith, by echo deco mai,
by looking forward by expecting a certain destination.
Now, as I read this text, as I read it this week,
I thought of this question.
If God told me to leave,
and that's all he told me to do when I do it.
If God told you to leave,
now before you just say yes,
think about what a big deal that was.
When you traveled in ancient times,
you didn't travel on highways with exits
where there's fast food and gas stations.
When you got up and left your land and your kindred
and your tribe, you're leaving all of the things
that you had set up for provision,
all the things that you had set up for safety.
People back then had lots of kids
because that was their social security.
Right, when I get older, my kids will take care of me.
Right, they didn't have nursing homes.
Are you with me?
So when you get up and leave, that's a big deal to go
where you were doing that.
So if God asked me to do that same thing, would I go?
If he told me to leave without telling me
where I would end up, would I go?
Now, I'm gonna tell you this, God does tell you to go.
He does give us commands.
And when he tells us something in his word,
to live by faith is to obey what he said and what he says.
I've heard people say this.
Yeah, Pastor Ben, I know what the Bible says,
but I feel, I know what God said,
but I think God'll just forgive me.
Yikes, indeed.
Don't be deceived.
This is a recipe for a bad life,
for a life filled with behavior that God will not bless.
We have to be diligent to live our faith
in obedience to God in front of our kids
and to share our faith verbally with them.
It must go into their minds
and see them soaked down into their hearts.
They must see that faith expressed.
They have to have faith, they need to hear.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, our kids.
We need our faith to be expressed,
but it also needs to be engaged.
We need to know the word of God.
We need to hear the word of God,
but we also need to obey the word of God,
even when it's hard.
The other thing I thought of
when I thought about this text is this.
At the end of the day, my home is a tent.
At the end of the day, my house is going away.
And so is yours.
Your stuff, your car, your job,
it's all going away.
It's all going away.
There's two things that are eternal that's on this earth,
the souls of men and the word of God.
Your relationship with God
is what's gonna make it out of here.
The cities that we live in
don't have heavenly architects, engineers or foundations.
It's not if it will be gone, it's when it will be gone.
So I need to live for the eternal.
I need to have grace my feet and faith my eyes
because the just shall live by faith.
I will leave this home, this city and this life.
I can live focused on the temporary
or I can live echo-deco-mai,
looking forward to focused on expecting
that eternal life, that everlasting city.
The Psalmist put it this way,
when we follow our good shepherd, surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me and I shall dwell
in the house of the Lord, what forever?
So how is Abraham involved?
It involved a place.
How was Sarah involved?
Well, in this promise there was a place
but there was also a people.
In verses eight through 10,
we see Abraham as part of the promise.
It was all of it but it was in this particular text
it's emphasizing that he was going to a place,
a city whose builder and maker was God.
Now he's moving on to Sarah
and emphasizes the other part of the promise.
Look at verse 11, through faith also,
Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed
and was delivered of child when she was past age
because she judged him, God, faithful who had promised.
You see with Sarah, she was directly involved
because this promise to Abraham involved a people.
We see that Sarah's faith was demonstrated
in belief in the promise of God
to receive the promise of God about a people.
When it said that she received strength to conceive seed,
this was her believing God
that she could even have a baby.
Sarah was 90 years old.
Say that's old.
That's old.
If you're 90, I'm sorry.
I hope it's not news to you.
That's old.
Especially in when you're talking about having children.
Talk about being past age.
She was past age for sure.
But what does it say she believed?
She believed not only to conceive
but to be delivered of a child.
Having kids takes energy.
Who agrees with me?
Sometimes as a parent, I have to get off the couch
when I don't want to get off the couch.
Sometimes when I don't feel like helping with dinner,
I got to help with dinner.
Sometimes when it's time to discipline my kids,
I don't want to do it.
Has anybody here felt that way?
But here she was, someone who did not see people
at 90 having kids believing that if God promised
at 90 years old that she'd have a kid that would happen.
She believed God that he could do it
but also that he would do it
and that she would have the strength to be a parent.
She believed God and then she received God's promise.
Look at verse 12.
Therefore, spring there even of one
and him as good as what?
Let's not be cross or crude.
But what he's saying is people that age are not having kids.
From a reproductive standpoint, he was as good as dead
but therefore spring there even of this one dead one.
So many as the stars of the sky and the multitude
and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable,
uncountable.
This is a reference to some other reiterations
of God's promise to Abraham.
In Genesis 15.5, this is how God kind of reiterated
this promise to Abraham.
It says, and he brought him forth abroad and said,
look now toward heaven and tell the stars
if they'll be able to number them.
And he said, so shall thy seed be.
And he believed in the Lord and he the Lord
countered it to him Abraham for what?
Righteousness.
Verse 17 of Genesis 22.
That in blessing I will bless thee
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed
as the stars of the heaven and as the sand
which is upon the seashore and thy seed shall be
possessed the gate of his enemies.
Abraham and Sarah plainly believed God
and demonstrated their faith in his promise
of a place and a people.
A land and a people.
A place and a progeny.
This wasn't just a one time decision.
They embodied what it was said was earlier in this text
this idea that the just shall live by faith.
We see that truth expressed in the answer to the next
question that gives us hope for the future.
Number four, what was their perspective?
We get their perspective of themselves
and they express it in the following three ways.
First, their perspective of themselves was given to us
in verse 13 and 14.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises
but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them
and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country.
When it says these all it refers not only to Abraham
and Sarah but also to those who are mentioned
in verse nine Isaac and Jacob and their kids.
All these people died, yes they saw some kids
but they did not see sand of the seashore.
They did not see sky, stars in the sky, numbers.
They died without seeing that promise of in them
all the nations there are being blessed.
They did not see it in their lifetime
and the Bible says they saw it afar off.
They lived as if that promise was true.
The just shall live by faith.
They lived as if when God made that promise
he was gonna complete it.
It says they were persuaded of them, they embraced them.
It impacted their view of themselves.
It says they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims.
What's a stranger and a pilgrim?
A stranger and a pilgrim is, a stranger means I'm a foreigner.
I'm living in a land that's not my home.
This earth is not my home.
There's a city coming.
That's where I'm a citizen, you get it.
They said that we're foreigners, we're pilgrims.
Not only did they live in tents and travel,
they believed that this earth as home
was not their permanent home.
They had a temporary view of themselves.
They had a temporary view or perspective of their home.
Look at what it says in verse 15.
And if indeed they had been mindful of that
from which they came forth,
they might have had opportunity to return.
That's just saying, they didn't count important
in the land that they came from.
Their physical location and their past
was not important to them.
Abraham and Sarah came out of Earl of the Caldees.
They didn't go back there, why?
Because that temporary distinction was not important.
They believed God and left that place.
This was an eternal decision.
And you can also see that in their perspective
towards eternity, you see that in verse 16.
But now they long for a better, that is a heavenly,
a better what?
A better city, a better place.
I'm an American.
I'm an Ohioan.
But there's a citizenship that trumps that.
I'm a citizen of heaven.
And when America is forgotten,
not because of me, but because of Jesus,
I'm gonna be a citizen of that fair country, amen.
That doesn't mean we don't have an allegiance
at some level to our own country,
but there's an identity that's more important.
And I'm in Christ.
That's what's more important.
The land that was promised was a future city,
an eternal city, a city whose foundations,
it says we're God.
Again, they weren't wandering around looking for a city
like the lost city of Atlantis or something.
They were living, believing in the eternal,
invisible God who would give them to be with him in eternity.
So because that was their perspective,
here's the fifth question,
and there's gonna be a huge payoff at the end,
this is gonna be so exciting.
Number five, what was God's perspective?
It says in verse 16,
but now they live for a better, that is a heavenly,
and then it says this,
wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God,
for he did prepare for them a city.
God accounted their faith as righteousness.
God gave them the righteousness of Christ.
He did what he does now.
When people put their faith in him,
he places them in Christ.
He gives them Christ's righteousness.
He takes away their sin.
Their identity is now the people of God.
Their destiny is now a new city, Mount Zion, new Jerusalem,
heaven, eternity with God.
He was pleased with their faith
and he prepared for them a city.
You remember what Jesus said?
I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go, I will come to you again
to receive you unto myself that where I am,
there ye may be also.
They said, how can we know where you're going?
How can we know the way?
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth in the life.
No man comes to the Father, but by me.
Right now, Jesus is preparing a place for us.
It's gonna be incredible.
So that leads to the final question about this promise.
Remember the premise,
what I'm not trying to get you to think about.
We can have hope for our future through faith
and the promise of God by asking these questions.
Here's the last question.
How does faith and the promise impact us?
The promise impacts who we are right now.
This is amazing.
Go in your Bible to Galatians chapter number three.
Galatians chapter number three.
If I do this right, you'll be amazed at this.
Verse six.
Even as Abraham believed God
and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.
Here's a quote from Genesis about God's saving of Abraham.
Abraham was accounted or imputed Christ's righteousness.
God considered him as righteous,
not only because of his works,
not because of his works,
but because of his faith that did produce some works.
It's the same with us.
When we believe God, put our trust in Christ,
God gives us Christ's righteousness as well.
Look at verse seven.
He says this.
No ye therefore, that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham.
Okay.
What is he saying?
Who is this written to?
What book are we in as we're reading?
Galatians, was it Galatia?
Were these Galatians, Jews or Gentiles?
They are Gentiles.
He's saying you're of Abraham, but they're not Jewish.
He says, no ye therefore, that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham.
We are not the children of Abraham and that we're Jewish.
We're the children of Abraham
and that we are given the righteousness of God
in the same way he was given it.
He responded to the revelation that God gave him.
We respond in faith to the revelation that God gave us
and God imputes Christ's righteousness to our account.
Look at, now here's the good part.
Look at verse eight.
And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify
the heathen through faith preached before the what?
The gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all the nations
be blessed.
Okay, let's pause for a second.
What's the gospel?
Gospel means good news.
The good news is this, that Jesus died for our sins
according to the scriptures, that he was buried,
that he was risen again on the third day
according to the scriptures for our sins.
You get the good news, you get the good news,
you get the good news is that we can go to heaven.
Thank you.
If you're a heathen, raise your hand.
I mean, we're saved now, we're sanctified,
but the heathen he's talking about is people who are Jewish.
He says here that when God said, in thee shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed, he was talking about us.
Missions is God's idea.
In fact, we are doing the mission of God when we do missions.
All the, did you hear about Levi and Chelsea this morning
in South Sudan?
Women and men who don't know the gospel,
hearing the gospel, like you're gonna meet them one day
in heaven, people who didn't know Jesus,
they're gonna be in heaven.
Every nation, tribe and tongue in heaven.
People, we got to baptize people today.
That didn't make them go to heaven,
it just showed, they just wanted to let you know,
hey, I'm going to heaven because Jesus died for me
and rose from the dead, and I'm identifying with him
and I'm identifying with you, who's excited about that?
The gospel got to Ohio.
From the Ur of the Counties, through Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob and Joseph and David and Moses,
all the way down to Jesus, who made disciples,
who said disciples, and he said,
you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea
and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth
because in the seed of Abraham, Jesus came,
and because he came and he died and he rose again,
he could save to the uttermost those who went before
who believed in him and he could save to the uttermost
those who come to him today by faith.
And so you and I as Gentile, heathen people
can be considered the sons and daughters of Abraham.
We're part of God's family, his progeny.
We haven't replaced Israel.
I'm not saying that.
What I'm saying is the same way Abraham gets to God
and is right with God is the same way we are.
So they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Look at this, verse 10, this is amazing.
For as many as are the works of the law under the curse,
what does that mean? It says it, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that continues not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them.
I got to talk to a lady yesterday.
I know an early lady, sweet lady,
and I, she came last week for the first time,
came to our house and I told her,
hey, I'm not here to offend you.
I know you go to church a lot.
I know you have a religious background,
but I'm here to tell you something that you need to know.
You're a sinner.
The Bible says you're a sinner.
God has a law and all of us have broken God's law.
All of us.
If you're like, I haven't broken God's law,
you just did, you're lying.
We all broken God's law.
And if you're trying to get to God
based on keeping God's law, you've already broken it.
And because you've broken it, it says you're cursed.
Isn't that what it says right there?
Verse 11, yeah, cursed is everyone that continues not
in all the things which are written in the book
of the law to do them.
If you don't keep all of the law,
you've broken the law, you're cursed.
Verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law
and the sight of God is evident.
No one's made right, no one's justified,
no one's declared righteous by doing good works.
You can't do enough by doing good works.
Good works to outdo the bad that you've done.
And that's why it says, for the just shall live by faith.
The law is not a faith, but the man that doeth them
shall live in them.
Christ hath redeemed us.
Here's the good news, Christ hath redeemed us.
You see this, are you with me in verse 13?
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us.
For it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree.
God planned before the foundation of the world
to sacrifice his son to raise him up on the tree
and to pour his wrath out on Jesus for our sins.
I'm forgiven because he was rejected.
Do you get it?
Because he took my punishment.
I can be saved.
Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to me.
And even as a snake was raised in the wilderness,
even so must the son of man be lifted up.
Verse 14, Jesus was cursed by being punished for my sin
on a tree.
Punished for my sin on a tree.
Verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles.
Are you with me?
Are you getting what I'm saying?
That the blessing of Abraham might come
unto the Gentiles through Jesus Christ
that we might receive the promise of the spirit
through faith.
Wow.
Through faith.
When we put our trust in Jesus, God saves us.
He blesses us in Christ.
And it's in that way that all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed.
You guys are not blown away.
This is amazing what God has done for us.
So the promise doesn't just impact who we are now.
It impacts also where we are going.
Remember what it said all through that passage
that he's building a city for us,
that he's preparing a place for us.
That there's a city whose builder and maker is God.
Can I tell you, this is a book full of promises
that have been made and kept.
This is a book God has an incredible track record
of keeping his promises.
But not all of the promises have been completely fulfilled.
And John the revelator tells us in Revelation chapter 21
verse one, a vision that he sees that's yet to come.
Are you ready for this?
This is amazing.
Verse one, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away
and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem
coming down from God out of heaven.
Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
behold the what?
Does God write some cool stories or what?
Does he choose words for a reason?
Behold the tabernacle of God is with men
and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people.
And God himself shall be with them and be their God.
Here's some really good news and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death.
Who's for that?
No more death, neither sorrow nor crying.
Neither shall there be any more pain.
For the former things are passed away.
And he sat upon the throne said, behold,
I make all things new.
And he said unto me, right, for these words are true
and faithful, he said unto me, it's done.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
I will give unto him that is a thirst
of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that over cometh shall inherit all things
and I will be his God and he shall be my son.
Father Abraham had many sons.
Many sons had Father Abraham.
If you're in faith, I'm one of them and so are you.
God is preparing a city and we're gonna get to go there
if we know him as our savior, but don't stop reading.
Verse eight, but the fearful and the unbelieving.
What is that unbelieving person?
There's someone that's not necessarily any worse.
It's not about works.
Do people of faith mess up?
Do people of faith sin?
Are we going to heaven because of our works?
No.
What's the difference?
It's faith, but the fearful and the unbelieving
and the abominable and murderers and hormoneers
and sorcerers and idol archers.
Well, Pastor Ben, I'm none of those things
and all liars and all liars shall have their part
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.
I've got good news and I've got bad news.
The good news is you don't have to keep the law.
You can't keep the law.
You aren't made right with God through performance.
You're not.
If you're trying to perform to get God to love you, stop.
He already loves you.
If you're trying to get saved by saying certain prayers
or doing certain religious ceremony
or by belonging to a certain denomination or sect,
if you're trying to be right with God
and you're holding up the fact that your daddy was a preacher,
your mama taught Sunday school, you coached Little League,
any of your good works, the Bible says are righteous,
this is like filthy rags.
I can't do enough good to cover up for my bad.
Cursed is every man that tries to get there
based on the law because we can't keep the law.
Jesus was cursed for us on a tree and if we put our faith
and trust in him, the Bible says it this way,
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
and with the mouth confessions made to salvation.
Without faith it's impossible to please God.
And so God's been telling a story
since before the foundation of the world.
He had this plan that he would choose a people,
that he would choose a land and that through this people
and through this land he would bring his son,
God would become flesh, he would become a man,
he would be born of a virgin, not getting the sin nature
which comes through the man, the father's line.
He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.
He kept the law I could not keep.
He became sin on the cross who knew no sin
that we through faith might be made the righteousness of God
and him, there's one way to get to heaven.
His name is Jesus.
And when we put our faith and trust in Jesus,
God counts it to us as righteousness.
God takes Jesus' righteousness and puts it on my account
because he took my sin and put it to Jesus' account
but Jesus didn't stay dead, he didn't stay dead.
Jesus rose from the dead and he says this because I live,
you can live also.
So I'm begging you to search your own heart,
and I'm asking you to ask this question,
why do I think I'm going to heaven?
Is it because of me?
Is it because of my good works?
I'm asking like not me, you.
Do you think you're going to heaven
because you're a good person?
You're not, I like you.
I like almost everybody in here.
I'm human, I'm human, no.
Humanly speaking, you may be a good person,
but if you think you're going to heaven
because you're a good person, you're wrong.
God has been doing something for a long time
and he's included you in it.
He wants to be your savior and to be your God
and for you to be his people
and for you to live one day where he is,
there's only one way to get there.
It's through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And when you put your faith and trust in him,
God says you're saved, you're saved.
Would you bow your head and close your eyes for me?