Our scripture reading on the last service of 2023 comes from the book of Hebrews, in the 11th chapter. And we will read together verses 1 through 16. Hebrews 11, starting at verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith, Enoch, was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age. because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore, spraying there even of one and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand, which is by the seashore innumerable. 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. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country. That is, and heavenly, Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. Thus far, the reading of God's sacred and infallible and precious word. May he bless his truth to our hearts and lives. Dear fellow travelers to eternity, what are you seeking? Everyone everywhere is seeking something. May it be by grace that you are seeking what we read of in our text, which can be found in the same letter that was read in your hearing, the letter to the Hebrews, but the 13th chapter and verse 14. On this New Year's Eve, this last service of 2023, Words of our text can be found in Hebrews 13 and verse 14. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Thus far the words of our text. Our theme looking to the Lord is no lasting city here. We'll see, first of all, But this is good news when you're seeking the city to come. And secondly, this is bad news when you live only for the city here. No lasting city here. Good news, bad news. Children, what's your favorite city? Maybe you've visited Toronto close by or Montreal. Or maybe you've been to New York or you'd like to go there someday or Boston or some city in Europe like Amsterdam or Rome or Paris. Maybe you've read or seen pictures of the great cities of our world. Cities are places where lots of people live, where lots happens. And even in Bible times, they had large cities like Rome, which still exists today. Rome is mentioned in the Bible, or Nineveh, where Jonah preached, or Babylon. Do you know who built the first city? You can read of that in the early chapters of the Bible. Cain was the one who built the first city, sometimes called the city of man. And from what we can surmise from the Scriptures, he built it to feel safe. Because you know that the Lord had said that he would be a vagabond upon the earth. He was made to wander from the presence of the Lord ever after he had killed Abel, his brother. And so we read of him building a city, maybe tall walls, hoping that no one would get him, that they would protect him. And man loves to do that. He builds things great and better and all to make himself great, to protect himself or to be bigger than life. And that's what you can say about man by nature. He loves to build things. He loves to put his name on things. He loves to be able to look at things and say, like Nebuchadnezzar did about Babylon, is this not great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and the honor of my majesty? And just aside from literal building, isn't that what man is constantly doing? If you see through everyone's actions by nature, isn't it all about building? greater, better barns, more and more, seeking to leave something behind that will leave a mark as opposed to simply be swept away with nothing to memorialize man. And yet over this all, the apostle writes in the words of our text, we have here no continuing city. You see, congregation, the one who wrote this epistle, he wrote to people who were discouraged. And they needed encouragement. They had been worn down by struggles and strifes. At one time, they had, at least for the most part, been Jews who had been comfortable in the Jewish religion. But having heard the news of the Lord Jesus Christ, they had been won over, at least in an external way, at least by profession, they had been won over to the cause of Christ. And they had faced persecution as a result. Their former friends forsook them. They were persecuted by the authorities round about them. You read chapter 10, it says that they endured the spoiling of their goods, You can read in history where the authorities would knock on the doors of Christians, and if they didn't deny the Lord Jesus Christ, they were out of their houses, and their houses were given over to others, and they couldn't take anything with them. They were vagabonds, simply for naming the name of Christ. And they had endured this once, but it was now coming upon them a second time, and many of them were growing faint-hearted. The author to the Hebrews has to say, lift up the hands which hang down and confirm the feeble knees. Some of them were even thinking of returning, going back to Judaism, in which things were safer, at least. But the author to the Hebrews says, if any man draw back, my soul, that's God, has no pleasure in him whatsoever. It's onward, forward, no matter the persecution, no matter the difficulty, no matter the cause, for there's a city, there's a heavenly city that is waiting for all those who are seeking it, whom the Lord has made to seek the city which will abide. And especially for these formerly Former Jews, these Jewish Christians. You know, children, what city they were closest to. It too is a city that still stands. It's the city of Jerusalem. And maybe many of these people had gone to Jerusalem. They had seen the impressive walls and that beautiful temple that stood there. And they had seen from afar the priests that were in that temple doing the service. And how majestic, how honorable. How time-honored the things that happened there were. Perhaps they'd even sung the Psalms there. For example, Psalm 48. Beautiful for situation. The joy of all the earth is Mount Zion, the city of the great King. Maybe they had sung Psalm 138, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem. Let my right hand forget thy cunning." Jerusalem. Jerusalem. That was the city that they could at least point to. That place on earth, even though they were far away from it in Asia Minor, in today's Turkey, they could still go there on pilgrimage, or at least they could think of that beautiful city of the seven hills, Jerusalem. But the apostle says, no, that's not the city. for which we live. That's not the city that we're seeking after. As he says later on in this chapter, we have an altar. Not the altar in Jerusalem. We have another altar. None other than the Lord Jesus Christ and His one sacrifice for sin forever. And in fact, about a year or two after Paul or whoever wrote this, wrote these words, Jerusalem was to be destroyed. The Lord Jesus had said it. He had prophesied, not one stone shall be left upon another. Rome and Roman armies would come and destroy the city of Jerusalem. Is that the city that we should seek after? No, says the Lord. We have here no continuing city. But what does the apostle mean when he says that we seek one that is to come? What he's saying on the one hand is there is nothing here on the earth from man or by man that is ultimately worth living for or basing your hope upon. No human project, no human endeavor, no human system, structure, or city. All of them will pass away. Congregation, that is so even of today's cities, of everything that man makes. We do well to think about that also on this last day of the year. There is a day when the sun will rise as we observe it, but will never set, because it'll be the last day that this world will ever know and see. And God has appointed it. When this old earth, this old world will forever be done, when this earth will be rolled together as a scroll, and in an instant, and in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of a last trump, this earth which looks to us to be so stable, upon which many of us have lived many years, many decades. But just like that, it will be rolled up as a scroll, and all the cities of man will crumble instantly. All the skyscrapers, all these towers, All these wonderful monuments of what man can and has accomplished all turn into rubble and fade away. We have here no continuing city. There is no lasting city here, but there is one. There's one to come. There's one coming, he says literally. And this city that he describes here, at least refers to here, is described in chapter 11 when he speaks, and that's why we read that, about Abram and Sarah. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive as an inheritance, he obeyed. And he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promises in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles, or we would say tents. with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Just to say it like this, humanly speaking. If someone were to say to Abram, Abram, you know, there are nice cities around here. For example, Sodom, Gomorrah. Beautiful cities before they were destroyed. Oh, wicked cities. But to Lot, they seemed so spectacular. And so Lot went to Sodom. He saw how pleasant the land was, these beautiful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But Abram, no, he was content to dwell in tents and tabernacles. But if someone were to say to him, now Abram, okay, maybe you don't fit into these cities, but why don't you build yourself your own city? You're rich enough, you have servants, you can build a city." Abram, and again speaking as a man, he would have said, no, no city here on earth will do. I seek a city that is to come. A city that is to come, Abram, what do you mean by that? A city whose builder is God. A city that has foundations, not in this world, but outside this world, in God. God, who from a never begun eternity has purposed in Himself to glorify His name in the salvation of sinners. A city that is described for us in the book of Revelation as being a four-score city. with gates, with walls, of course, figurative, symbolical language to speak of that place where God dwells with his people. A people whom he has purchased by the blood of his own dear son and whom he is bringing throughout this world. And he's bringing to himself in order that he might be in the midst of this people. New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. prepared as a bride for her husband. A place that is described in the book of Revelation as there shall be no night there. No death, no hunger, no thirst, no pain, no tears, no sin, no sighing. What a city! God is in the midst of Some of you here have loved ones there. And on a day like today, maybe you think of them. You wish them sometimes. You wish them back. You wish them here. Oh, how you miss them. The place is empty and large, but they're there where there's no night, where all that they've needed God is in Himself. He leads them by rivers, unending joy. The Lord in the midst, the Lamb, who in time they came to know and who in time they came to love. The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. that has foundations. And you know, congregation, that city, that's what we must seek for now. I have friends who have in their kitchen, above their dining room table, they have it in Dutch. We have here no continuing city. And every day it speaks, as it were, to them. Handed down from the generations. Maybe you've seen something like it or have it yourself. What a reminder. We have here no continuing city. We seek one that is to come. Oh, to live like that. Don't you think? To live with your eyes set on a city. The world doesn't understand that. Even religious people, they don't understand why you would do that. Why would you live for something you can't see? That's why the world is so busy making its own cities or living and spending itself and its life and its money on things that could be touched, handled, seen. Stuff dangled in front of us. When it all perishes with the using, but that city, that city of God, That's what this life is all about. Children, you know Pilgrim's Progress, don't you? It's a beautiful book, and you should study it. And there's different editions also for young people and even children. And you can see those pictures. Maybe you've seen that picture. Even some people have it on their wall of the two ways. And it's based on Pilgrim's Progress. And there's that man with that burden on his back. And he goes through the narrow gate and he goes on that narrow way. But there's that city. Look it up sometime. That beautiful city. But you know what that man does is when conscious of the burden of sin, he tells his wife, he tells his children, he says, this city is going to be destroyed. The city in which we live. I can't stay here. I must seek that city that is to come." And he plugs his ears to the siren calls of people that say, oh, don't trouble yourself. Don't be so silly about it all. Just calm down. You'll feel better in a couple days. But no, eternal life! Eternal life! This man has won over for the city of God, and that's the only true way to live. Congregation, how has it been this past year? Three hundred and sixty-five days have been given unto us. Others have been taken out of this life, but we've had a whole year. Has it been a year of seeking the city that is to come? I say it again, that's the only way to live. That's the only way to die, by faith. The scriptures say, by faith, Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees. Left, we would say, to use the picture of Bunyan again, the city of destruction. And there he went. Abraham, you're foolish. Abram, what's gotten a hold of you? I'm seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. I'm looking for that country where Emmanuel is. where the king is, that sunshine country, that place of light so different from anything this world can produce. And you know, congregation, nobody speaks about those people in Abram's day anymore, not even the great ones, not even the kings and the princes of Ur and all the rest of them. Maybe we know some of their names, but who speaks about them? But this one man, this wanderer, Abraham his name is known throughout the world and so it is You know many people will say and young people you'll hear this too in university or college or or just in the media as well You know don't this is what the world says Don't be so heavenly minded that you're of no earthly good You heard that That's a lie That is poison. If you listen to that, if you follow that, you waste your life. The truth of the matter is, is that those who were superbly and supremely heavenly focus, they were of the most earthly good. They truly were. No, they don't have cities named after them. No, they're not in the history books for the most part. But take Jonathan Edwards, for example, just as one example. That man, if you read his resolutions, for example, you know, people speak about New Year's resolutions. Well, Jonathan Edwards, when he was young, he wrote down these resolutions. When you read them, boy, there's something. But this man, by the grace of God, he was heavenly minded. And even today, people will say that Jonathan Edwards may have been, even secular people will say this, the most important American who ever lived in terms of his reach, his influence. And he lived for a heavenly country and for a heavenly city. Well, congregation, before we leave our first point, there are four things. that we need to have bound upon our heart, and that is in order to seek this heavenly city, we must enter through the narrow gate, and we must be on the narrow way that leadeth unto life. You know, it says here in our text that we seek one that is to come. Man by nature doesn't seek it. Man by nature has no use for it. Man by nature, if he even has by way of conscience or general revelation or just for a time he has some fascination with religion, oh, he may go away a certain amount of way seeking for truth or seeking for religion or seeking for God, but it cannot and it will not be lasting. He will not truly seek the city that is to come. For that we must go through the narrow way The Bible says, Strive ye to enter in at the straight gate, for wide is the way, and broad is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. But narrow is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few, few there be that find it. O congregation, may there be many in this congregation, but be sure of it then. Be sure of it. Don't leave it to chance. Don't leave it to presumption. Don't leave it simply to wishful thinking. Enter ye in at the straight gate. For the narrow way is the way that leadeth unto life, that leadeth to the city, this country. this place that God has prepared for all those who love him. But not only must we strive to enter, and secondly, we must endure the cost that there is involved. You know, Abraham endured quite some cost when he, by faith, heeded God's call and went and lived his life. And along with that, thirdly, we must resist the temptations, the temptations upon life's way. There are many things that the Hebrews also had to endure, many siren calls of the world, much persecution, much tribulation. And these Hebrews were tempted to go back, to turn around and to leave it all behind. What do you mean this heavenly city? What do you mean this this this place that God has prepared for those who love him? I don't see it. It's too hard. No, says the author to the Hebrews, we seek. And the word that is used there is we press on, we seek, we continually seek time and time again by grace, by faith, resisting temptation, resisting also the calls of the world to go back. And that's why Thirdly, congregation has We are called to seek this city. We cannot be captivated by the things that the world is constantly dangling before our eyes. The Bible says, the fashion of this world passeth away, especially it seems during the month of December, all sorts of things are just dangled in front of us. New this, new that, beautiful this, the latest here. And yes, we may use the gifts that God gives us, Be careful, congregation, be careful they don't captivate your heart, they don't capture your imagination, that you wake up thinking about these and living for these. And when you come to the end of your life, it's just been one long stream of grasping, seeking after the things of this world. When there's an eternity to be one, there's a city that has foundation. I ask you, one final time, at least in God's house here today, what is your life, my friend? For what are you living? What has 2023 been for you? Has it been that seeking of the city that hath foundations? In your closet, in private, where no one sees you, that your heart and your flesh crieth out for the living God? A confession of sin, Lord, I so often fail in that seeking of that city. My heart, my heart is a den of vipers. It goes after the things of this world. I can't trust it whatsoever. And yet, Lord, make a difference. Give me a new heart. Cleanse my heart, Lord. Drive away all vile affections and help me to love. The Lord Jesus Christ, Maranatha. Has that been your life? In seeking the Lord of the city, the Christ of the city, the blessedness of that city, the benefits of that city, which even by faith in advance the people of God have and know. Congregation, have you ever had glimpses of that city? Under the preaching of God's word or the reading of his word, or as you go about your daily work, glimpses of that city. Or as it were, spiritually speaking, you strain your eyes, but here and there, something of the glory, the radiance of that city. is in your heart and in your mind. Maybe through deep ways. Maybe through some sickness. Maybe through something in your life in which you're struck down. And you're brought into a bed of affliction in which the only place you can look is up. You know, sometimes that's so. that we're on such a mad dash in life until one day there we end up in the hospital and there we lie flat and the only place you can look is up. And that the Lord would sanctify that. And you look to the One who heaven and earth is made. And He weans you from the world, makes you to realize what your soul needs above all is a surety, a mediator, someone to stand in your place Someone who can cleanse from guilt and from sin and can do it all for you because you can't do it yourself. That the cry is born in your heart, give me Jesus or I die. But only one thing matters in life and in death. Only one thing that can comfort amid all the shifting of this world, and that is that I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own. What a mercy! What a blessing! That you don't stand for your own account, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood hath fully satisfied for all my sins. And that and so much more means all the life to you. You see, congregation, to Abram and to all the godly throughout the generations, it isn't even the city per se. It isn't the streets of gold. It isn't the pearly gates or anything like that. But it's he who is in the midst of the city. He who has purchased, you might say, the city. He who shed His blood in order that sinners from every tribe, tongue and nation might be drawn from the city of man to the city of God. All for His namesake. All because of His blood and righteousness. He who is the Lamb in the center of that city. He around whom everything circles. To I Him. My eyes. Shall see the Lamb in His beauty. So see the land afar off, the King in His beauty. What congregation do you seek this city? If that's your life, is that what 2023 has been about? Or at least at some point in this year, by God's grace, by grace alone, and you know that. It's not of self. It could never be of self. God, for reasons you will never understand, out of free and sovereign grace, out of love for a sinner like you, He made a difference. It's good news for you. But it's bad news, my friend. This is our second and more brief point. Bad news for those who are home in this world. Thomas Boston said this world is a passing away. It was never meant to exist forever. It is like a stage that will be taken down after men have played their parts. Think about that. It's like that stage that is taken down after all that would have happened on it is done. An old child of God said it to me like this. He said, time is like a narthex. You know, children, when you came into this building, you came in probably through one of these sets of doors and you spent a little bit of time there in the hallway. We call it the narthex. But you didn't come here this afternoon just to spend your afternoon in that narthex. The narthex was in order to come into this building. And this child of God said to me, time is like the narthex, and eternity is the long haul in which we will be forever, whether for well or whether for woe. And how many people just waste their time, waste time. They never concern themselves why exactly they're here on the earth. They never reckon with the fact that one day the door will go open and you will go in either to eternal perdition forevermore or into the city forevermore. Congregation, it's that real. And it's that simple. In a certain sense, that's what it comes down to. And you don't know the day or the hour When that door will open and you, in an instant, you'll be on the other side. Oh, how will time look differently then? My unconverted friend, this very hour will come back to your mind in eternity. And the many other hours that you spent in church, along with all your life, all the many times the gospel was preached into your hearing and it was cried unto you. Here, O man, O woman, O boy, O girl, here, whoever you are, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. You see, there are times, congregation, when the Lord is near in the gospel. or to despise the day of your visitation. It will be more tolerable in the day of days for those who have never heard of this city, who have never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be many who will rise up in that day, and they will, as it were, all of them, point their finger at you, my unconverted friend. Unless you repent, they will say, and you heard. So much. What is it, my friend? Is sin really worth it? Sin promises so much, but it yields so little. In fact, it yields much, but it's awful. You don't see it at the time. The city whose builder and maker is Christ, is preached to you this afternoon. O sinner, whoever you are, let me tell you something. You are not too bad. You are not too sinful to be an heir of that city. Just come with me a moment in your mind. Everyone in that city is a sinner, born of Adam's race, And many of them were worse in their life than you are here today. But even if you would be the worst, even if you'd be the vilest, this city is for people who by grace have been drawn out of darkness into God's marvelous light as trophies of what mercy can do. Paul says, I, the chief of sinners, obtained mercy. The Lord loves to save the chief. Don't delay, lest his anger rise. And a man in our congregation in Grand Rapids, he called me up one day. He had a large area that was his own, and he had had a large brush pile for many months. In fact, I think it was for many years. And one day he decided to get rid of it. And so he poured gasoline all over this huge brush pile. And then he made one of these trails, you know, away from the brush pile that he was going to light. And he lit a match and lit that little trail. And there it went. There the fire went until it enveloped the whole brush pile. And unbeknownst to him, there were two raccoons that were in that brush pile. And of course, he felt horrible. But one of them, as soon as things started to get hot, he could see him run for the hills. There went that raccoon, not looking back, not at all, running, running, running to flee from destruction. The other one stayed by the pile, tried to find a safe spot, climbed a little higher. And finally, when it was all enveloped in smoke and in flames and fire, of course, that raccoon was lost. And he said to me, one shall be taken and the other left. What a solemn thing. You see, when you make your nest in this world, when this world is everything for you, oh friend, then you'll be consumed with it because this world has, as it were, a tag on it that says, one day it will all be burned up. Oh, to run for your life's sake. Oh, to head for the hills, spiritually speaking, especially to that one hill far away on which my Savior bled and suffered and died for sinners. And there, and there alone to find security and safety. and to pursue Him all the days of your life, no matter where that takes you, no matter the cost, no matter what people say, no matter what the world and how the world will scoff at you, to just close your ears and say, I seek a city that has foundations and the Christ of that city, because He is worthy. People of God, another year is almost past. A year of sin, but a year of mercy. Don't you agree? Let's end with mercy. Let's end with God's sovereign, free mercy for Christ's sake. How much more time the Lord gives us here, we don't know. But may we, whatever time the Lord gives us, may we be seeking that city, all about that city. May it, as it were, be written all over us, I seek a city that has foundations. The story is told of an old couple that had been missionaries in Africa for years, and their time of service had come up. This was in the early part of the 1900s. They were traveling back to America from Wednesday Hill, and they boarded a ship. And as soon as they were on that ship, they discovered that President Roosevelt, who was then president, he was on that same ship. He was returning from a hunting expedition in South Africa. And they crossed the Atlantic and they arrived in New York City. And as they disembarked from the boat, there were all kinds of dignitaries. There was bands playing to welcome the president back from his hunting trip. And this old couple who had given their lives to the mission cause in Africa, there was no one there to meet them, to greet them, to pick them up. They stayed in a hotel. And discouraged, having seen all this, the man prayed and poured out his heart before the Lord. And later on, he told his wife how he felt that the Lord had answered him. It was as if the Lord had said to him, my son, the reason there were no bands playing and no people here to greet you and to meet you is you're not home yet. This world is not your home. You're a pilgrim here. And you're dependent on my grace. And congregation, may that be us. May we be of that number who doesn't have a home here, but we look for a city to come. And one day, child of God, you'll be home. Home at last. All of grace. And it won't matter the songs of the angels or anything like that. What will matter then is the Lamb. In the midst of the throne, in the midst of the city, all glory, all praise to Him who loved us and bought us and led us and guided us. Oh, people of God, it'll all be worth it until that day lean hard on Christ and look, look for that city. It's coming close. One day soon we'll see it all by grace. and for God's glory. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, be the afterpreacher of Thine own Word. Seal it to our hearts, we pray. Encourage Thy people. Grant us a glimpse, even on this last Lord's Day of this year, of that city, especially of the Christ of this city. May everything be worth it. because of Him. And for those who still have no lot or part in this matter, whose only hope really is this world, at least thus far, O Lord, bind upon their hearts that this world is so quickly perishing. It's as if the gasoline has already been poured over it and a trail has been made. And when that match will be lit, Lord, who shall stand when once thou art angry, when thou shalt appear? O Lord, may we be found on the right hand and not the left, especially not as people who have heard these sounds so often, to yet go on in unbelief, to yet harden our hearts. Lord, may it not be so. O then, work by thy Holy Spirit. Brands from the burning, we pray and all to the glory of sovereign grace. We ask this in Jesus name alone in the pardon of every sin. Asking me to to bring us through the final hours of this day, keep us in the hollow of thy hand. Do not let any of us go. We pray the Lord that that would bring us across the threshold of this old year into the new. And may we begin the year in thy house to hear what God the Lord will speak. We ask this all out of free mercy in Jesus' name alone. Amen.