Our reading today from God's word is in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. We will start at verse 8, going through verse 16. So let us listen to the words of our great God, who having not seen, we love. By faith, Abraham obeyed what 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, and 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, and him as is 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 confessed 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 the country from which they had come out, they would have had the opportunity to return, 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. Amen. You may be seated. Let's bow before our Lord once again in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, as we bow before You this morning, we pray that as Your Word is expounded here, that we may know something of what it is that Jesus Christ has proclaimed His name through the Word that is read and preached here before us. The name that is above every name. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. May that bowing of our entire being be the reality in our midst this day. We pray, Father, as the congregation of the Lord. We pray as the sheep, the sheep of his pasture, that we may hear the shepherd's voice through the word. and follow. That we may be given grace, O Lord, that we may, as we sit together under the ministry of your infallible and authoritative word, your holy scripture, that as we fellowship together in your presence, as you say, we come into the holiest of all by a new and living way to the body and blood of Jesus Christ himself. And so as we do come before you, We pray, Father, that it may be a time of encouraging one another thereby in the way. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ more and more may be made manifest here in our lives, in our words, our deeds, even in our thoughts, that he may have the preeminence here among his people. Father, we give you thanks for your good. Your mercy endures forever. And you say, Father, in your word, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Because, Father, you send your word and heal us. You deliver us from our destructions. And so as we sit together, Father, may we offer unto you spiritual sacrifices, just as we have offered you the sacrifice of praise. And so, Lord, may we be attentive to your truth. And, Father, may we go forth from this place taking that word and declaring it with rejoicing, exalting you. And so, Father, may you exalt yourself by your spirit here in the assembly of your people. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. the title of the sermon this morning, Pilgrims Traveling to the Celestial City. As we have read in these few verses together today, the emphasis is once again, of course, on faith. As the opening verse of the chapter says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for that is based on his promises and the conviction of the things not seen. It says there in verse six that without faith, that is impossible to please God. And so as we've gone through the examples and expressions of how in various aspects, each of these. portrayed and emphasized various aspects of faith. We come now to the time of Abraham. And by the way, it's no surprise, is it? You know, Abraham is called our covenant father, our covenant example of justifying faith. It says he believed God and it was counted him for righteousness. And there in Genesis 15, 6, when God gave him the promise to remember the animals, the pieces of the animals. It was on that occasion, it was on that occasion that it says he believed God, the God who covenanted, who sovereignly condescended by His grace to bind Himself to perform these things. And so our faith is rooted in Him, and in the veracity of God, the being of God. that he will most certainly do what he has said. And so it talks about him also in another verse where it says that he is the father of those who are the faithful. If you were to read Galatians 3, and a number of us have gone through it together, a number of ways you see that it says that those who have the faith of Abraham are the children of Abraham there in Galatians 3, 7 through 9. And it goes on to verse, I remember, 13 of that same chapter. And it says, Jesus Christ was he. This is the one who had no sin, right? He was made a curse for us, for it is written curse it is everyone who hangs on a tree. And then it goes on to verse 16. And it says, the seed of Abraham, and it makes the point of saying not seeds as is plural, but it says the singular, the seed of Abraham is Jesus Christ. And it goes on to say by the Spirit through faith, all of those who are in Jesus Christ united to him. Verses 25 to 29, the end of the chapter, it says, those who belong to Christ, those who are his, are children of Abraham, and listen to this part, heirs according to God's purpose and God's praise and his promise. And so this morning we look at the idea of those who indeed are children of Abraham, heirs with him, whether they be Jew or Gentile, doesn't matter if you're in the seat of Abraham, Jesus Christ. we look to hear in this text beginning with verse 8. And we consider, first of all, faith follows to an unseen inheritance. Faith follows to an unseen inheritance. Remember, we saw that in verse 1. It is the conviction of things unseen. And here we see his being called out of awe of the Chaldees, and he went out not knowing where he was going. He listened to the Word of God, he believed the Word of God, and he acted upon it immediately, and he followed, and he went, traveling a long distance, not knowing where he was going, until finally he arrives in Canaan. And so he acted upon his belief. Notice it wasn't just musing about the truth of God and just, you know, sitting back and extolling this as wonderful and doing nothing about it, not acting upon it. But he was called and he went out. That's the way it's put in verse 8. It's interesting, the verbs that are used here. First of all, the verb called. He's called. is actually in the present tense. Fascinating. Looks like a past in your English, but it was a present tense. And it says, and he went out. There you have an aorist tense. Seemed like the reverse, the past. In other words, the point it's getting across in doing the grammar that way, or the syntax, is to make the point that when he was called, he acted immediately in going. He didn't procrastinate. He didn't dawdle. He didn't think it over and have second thoughts and third thoughts about it. He didn't ask his wife and say, is there any way I can get out of this? But God called and he went out. Now think about what was at stake here. Ur of the Chaldeans. Everybody knows what Ur of the Chaldeans is, right? You say, not really. Have you heard of the Chaldeans? Remember Daniel? Chaldeans. This is an area that was not far from, well, Ur of the Chaldeans would have to be the Ur that was thereby near Babylon, not far from the ancient Babylon. Or Babel, better said. Now remember the timing of these things. You see there in chapter 11 of Genesis. If you go back to where it's recorded there in chapter 11 of Genesis, you've got Nimrod. His name means let us rise up and rebel. Here is one who's descended from Ham. And so he's one who leads the people at that time. Remember God said spread out, fill the earth, multiply and fill the earth. And Nimrod is the one who led the people in gathering together. And he says no. Let us not be spread out, but let's make a name for ourselves. Not the name for the Lord, but a name for ourselves. Let's build a city. Let's bake bricks. Let's make a tower. And then we'll build a tower up into the heavens, and so they might worship, bringing themselves closer to God, rather than God, by His grace, reaching down to us. You see a reverse. A humanistic, and like his name would indicate, rebellious, let us rise up and rebel approach. Well, there in that chapter 11, what happened? But God spread out all the peoples from Babel. He confused the languages and they went out from there to various parts and migrated. But you see, Abram and his family, they were close. to the Tower of Babel. And it's fascinating that's in chapter 11 you have the Tower of Babel and in the first three verses of chapter 12 You see, you got the Tower of Babel, then you got this table, you've seen it, of these genealogies, right? Genealogies of various peoples that departed. And then it goes directly to the calling of Abraham at the beginning of the next chapter 12 of Genesis. And so, in other words, there's no new historical information between. So here is Abraham, or Abram, and his family who live not that far from the Tower of Babel, in Ur of the Chaldees, His family, it says in Joshua 24, 2, were idolaters. They were pagans. And so here is Abram's family, you see. They all were saying, well, who is this God that's talking to you? Who is this God who's calling you? Are you crazy? Leaving your family? Think of everything you're leaving. It's prosperous here. It was one of the most prosperous regions at the time. Property was there. You own your property here, Abram. All of your extended family is here. Language. I mean, think of the people of other places. We can understand them and you can understand them. And ancestral customs. I mean, we've got all, this is the customs that we know. You go over there, you're a foreigner. All your network of business and trade and powerful friends, influential friends, all of that's here. You're gonna leave that? Not only that, Abram, you're accepted here. Why, you have prestige and acceptance here in the community. He heard what God said and he went out. You see what he left behind, we could list more. And so you've got two things that are brought up to the end of the foreground in this whole thing. Faith here has two evidences. First of all, faith that obeyed the command. Yes, faith obeys the command. Any of you ever dealing with children? I know none of these children, and certainly not you when you were children, right? But any of you not obey? Any of you, I heard your parents told you something like, my dad would warn me about things. Son, don't touch that. It's hot. Are you sure? Reach out and touch it. You ever done that? I see some of the faces. Yes, you did. You didn't believe him, so you didn't obey. You don't believe he knows best. You ever had someone tell you that an elder, a grandfather, a grandmother, a mother, a father, an older sibling, that's even worse, that they know better? and you don't believe Him, and so you go your own way. Nimrod didn't believe God, and Nimrod didn't believe that God knew best, and so Nimrod is the one who led the rebellion, you see. Faith. When God gives the commands, you see, we believe that God is the one who is infinitely wise. We believe that God is the one who is eternal, that God is the one who is holy, that God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we need. Do we believe Romans 8, 28, for all things work together for good, for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, that he has a purpose. He has a design that it's real. And therefore we be by faith. We believe we obey. And that's what happened. That's an aspect of faith. You see when looked at properly. So faith by faith, he obeyed the commands. But secondly, he believed the promise. God is making a promise here. I will give you a land. A land that I will show you. Any of you ever bought something that was on the internet and you hadn't seen it, you know, and they got a picture on the internet, you know, and you say, wow, that looks good. I'm going to buy that. And you buy it and you get it in the mail and you say, what in the world is this? It doesn't even resemble what you ordered, you thought. You ever heard of that old saying, buying a pig in a poke? So you see, faith says, I believe what God has promised. Now you can go through the scriptures and as I, as can I, and we go through the promises of God that are given in the scriptures and the question arises, do we believe? And you see here, we see the application and the demonstration and the evidence and the fruit of faith. Faith that not only obeys the commands, but faith that believes and acts upon that belief in God's promises. God has bound himself by a promise. We were looking at this concept in Exodus 3 in the Sunday school this morning. We were considering, you know, the name of God, you know, I Am. So much in there. And as you think of God, that's one of the names that's most indicative of his being. Not just his attributes. You can say holy or sovereign and all of those things. Yes, attributes of God. I mean, go through properties that have to do with his trinity. You know where you think of God's fraternity, we think of filial aspects of the son. We think of the procession of the spirit. And we can look at this and all of it pertaining to the trinity. You see, that's the properties of God. But when we get to the being of God, Now you're talking about his very essence. We think of I Am. He's the self-existent one. He's the one who's self-determining. He is the I Am, the everlasting present tense. He is everlasting from everlasting to everlasting. He is God. He's the one who does not change. I Am. And you go through all of these various aspects of the name of God. And when God made a covenant with Abraham, it says in Hebrews 6, remember we covered that? It says men make a covenant. They swear by one greater. But God could not swear by one greater. Who's greater than God? So he swore upon himself that he could not change and he could not lie. And so, beloved, when you and I are reading or hearing the promises of the I Am, God Beloved, those are things you, you take beyond anything and everything else anyone ever says are promises. So it shall be. And so he believed the promise and he went out. He went out not knowing where he was going. And so you see here with Abraham, or Abram at that time initially, it was, we see what's being taught there in the very first verse of this chapter 11, and that is the conviction of things not seen. But also that first aspect of that verse, the assurance of things hoped for. Remember, hope is something that portrays a future. Hope is something that is not a fond wish, but hope is that which is the opposite of hopeless. And so the whole thing is based on his promises. And so there you have the assurance of that which is promised or the hope and the conviction of what's not seen. And so here we have faith that follows to an unseen inheritance. But secondly, we come to verse nine. Faith sojourning on foreign land. Look with me again in verse 9. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and with Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promises. So dwelling in tents on the foreign land. Now wait a minute, let's back up. What land are we talking about again? The one God promised. The one God said, I will give you, and I will give to your progeny, I will give to your heirs this land. Well, it makes the point here that Abraham, by contrast, was dwelling with Sarah and the like, with the rest of the family eventually, on this land, but as tent dwellers. In other words, they were on the land, but not of the land yet. And so, if you think of passing through, you see, that's the idea of what a tent's about. It says over in Acts chapter 7, remember Stephen, as he's defending the faith of Christ before the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 7, when he's preaching to the Sanhedrin, he says this in verse five, and God gave him, that is Abraham, no inheritance in it, 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. So Abraham didn't have a house. He had money, he had servants, he had the ability to build it, But he didn't have a house on the land. You couldn't mark out a stretch on the land where people recognize this is Abraham's acreage. But they lived as sojourners, as pilgrims in tents. Any of you ever lived in a tent for a brief time? Yeah. Oh, it's so much fun, isn't it, to go camping? Oh, this is great. We love camping. Then it rains. Or then it snows, or I don't know, winds come along and tip everything over and that kind of stuff. Now it's gotten old. This is not so much fun anymore. Imagine living in a tent. your whole life. And moving and setting up and, you know, tearing down and setting up again wherever you've taken the flocks. Remember there were times you would go way up north and Abraham showed Lot. Remember he said, Lot, you take that side and I'll take this side or I'll take that side and you take this side. It doesn't matter. Pick. How could he say that? Because his house was mobile. His tent he took with him. And so you see, the reason it was a tent is because this was a tent that was made for a pilgrim that was for a journey that had a destination. And so this is going someplace, not here. And so there was the promise that God break his word, not at all. But what was going on also were times of trial. Belief of God's promises, even though the circumstances and the people and the trials around him might indicate otherwise. Belief in God. In other words, he was believing God as he was on the land, even though he did not see the evidence that the land was his. You see the flip? And so he did not see or experience daily. In other words, there would be a temptation to doubt, wouldn't there? Did I make a mistake? Did God misspeak? Did he break his word? The temptation to doubt the promise. But also what we see with Abraham in the tents on the land, sojourning in this foreign land. was he was sanctifying everything to God's glory by the providential circumstances. All that God brought into his life, he sanctified to God's glory. If you were to look at Hebrews chapter 7, verses 1 to 4, we already have. There's an illustration of it. What do you have there but talking about Melchizedek? And there it talks about when Abraham, remember Lot was taken, kidnapped with a bunch of other people when the kings came from the north and they defeated the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. and the five cities there in the plain, and they took him away, and Abraham got all his entourage of servants. Imagine having that many servants if you had a little army. Tracked them down, conquered them, and brought Lot and everyone else and the stuff back. And coming from Jerusalem or Salem was this king priest by the name of Melchizedek. And he went out to meet Abraham, and Abraham recognize this man as king priest, and he gave tithes from this gathering of goods that was taken. And he gave tithes to Melchizedek, worshiping God, honoring God there. And what we have in Hebrews, but we see that Melchizedek was himself a type of Jesus Christ. And so you see in all of these things that occurred, There was a reason for it, maybe not the immediate present for Abraham, but there was a reason that stretched down through the millennia, even to this day, that Jesus Christ is a king priest like Melchizedek, and he is at the right hand of the father on high, a much greater king priest than we could ever have imagined. You see, he sanctified it by his faithfulness and faith. There's another one. where you see the Abraham in action. When this one, remember, he had the choice of property. You know, Lot did when they split their flocks, Abraham and Lot. I mentioned it already. And Lot chose the ones closest to Sodom. They were well watered. It was a grassy plain. I'll stick my uncle with the rocky stuff over here. Of course, we know what happened. Remember the Lord came to visit with two angels to Abraham and he entertained them and he fed them. And then the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? And then he tells him what he's going to do and he says, the sin of Sodom has risen up before me and I'm going to destroy it with fire. What does Abraham do? We see here the faith of Abraham as he intercedes in behalf of his... He says, if you find fifty righteous, if you find ten righteous, if you find five, Couldn't even find that. But the Lord heard the intercession of his godly man. You see, here's a man who's working on faith as the starting and ending point and everything in between. And so as a tent dweller, every step of the way, nevertheless, he did not doubt God or question God or complain against God, even though he was sojourning on this land that was promised to him as a foreign land. Nevertheless, he believed and he trusted and he followed. And there's another thing. He didn't know the timing of everything that would occur, but he was patiently waiting Now, when you think of patience, you think of waiting. When you think of persevering, you think of waiting and driving and continuing on through, enduring. All of them are true here. But all the while, growing in grace. All the while, the Lord's name on his lips. All the while, you see a fruitful faith. What an example of sojourning in a foreign land. You and I are sojourning in a foreign land. That's what this text is getting across. And we learn from him. It's not by sight, is it? It's by faith. How many of you can tell me what's going to happen on your way home this afternoon? Well, I don't know. You know, you say, well, it might just so happen that as you're driving home, you know, about 100 feet in front of you, suddenly a large chest of gold is going to drop down on the street right in front of you. You're going to stop just in time. And it opens up because it fell out of a plane that's long gone. Don't know whose it is. Must be yours now, finders keepers. Here it is. It's yours. Don't know. It's not going to happen. You say, yeah, right. But more rightfully, he said, we don't know what tomorrow brings, or the next day, or the next. And we're to walk by faith. In regard to this thing, Abraham set out by faith to his destination, not knowing where he was going. He set out with hope, firmly grasping the promises of God. Martin Luther wrote about this, and this is the way he wrote about not knowing, going by faith, and not knowing, not seeing, not going by sight. And he said this, this is the glory of faith, simply not to know. not to know where you are going, not to know what you are doing, not to know what you must suffer, and with sense and intellect and virtue and will, all alike made captive to follow the naked voice of God. Abraham, with the obedience of faith, shows the highest example of the Christian life. because he left all and followed the Lord, preferring the word of God to everything else and loving it above all things of his own free will a pilgrim and subject to the perils of life and death every hour of the day and night." That's the way Martin Luther saw it. Exciting. Do you and I look at it like that? Exciting to follow the Lord. Excited that he doesn't give us all the details of what lies ahead. But sufficient, he said it. And his word cannot be broken. And thus we follow. That's a faith as he described it. You know, one of the things that walking by faith It calls into challenges, let's say. It calls into question, in lots of our lives, is the idea of security. If you think about human beings, you know, is there anything we crave? Almost always it's security. We like security. Real security is not anchored in this passing world, but rather in the promises of the everlasting sovereign of heaven and earth. It's the best way I could come up with saying it. That's real security. It's anchored in what he says, in his character, not in anything this world has to offer. And so if I may give you the big picture then. As we go into my third and final point, seeking and living for the highest inheritance. Let me read verse 10. I'll set the stage. For he waited for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Seeking and living for the highest inheritance. Let me set the stage. True promised land is eternal. Therefore it cannot be of this creation. It has to be of the new creation. Remember in chapter 1, you can turn there with me if you like. That's a hint. Turn back to chapter 1. And let's begin with verse 10. In 110 it says of Jesus Christ, And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth. You notice Jesus in this quote out of Psalm 102 is equated with Yahweh, the Lord. He said as much, didn't he, in John 8, 58, before Abraham was, I am. In any event, you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will grow old like a garment. Now notice, like a cloak, you will fold them up and they will be changed, but you are the same and your years shall not fail. To which of the angels did he ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. If you were to read that idea of the heavens being rolled up like a scroll, Revelation chapter six describes that on the day of the wrath of the lamb, where the heavens roll up like a scroll. And so the big picture is we have there's a promise, new land coming, right here in chapter 12 of Hebrews. If you were to begin with verse 26, it says, the one whose voice then shook the earth, but now he is promising, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that can be shaken. Are you getting what it's talking about? The removal of this present creation. Removal of those things that can be shaken as of things that are made or created. That the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken, Let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire." And so you see there the big picture. It will be removed. And so the everlasting city, the city of God, is what awaits. If you look in 2 Peter 3, and you all know it so well, I'm not going to have you turn there, but it talks about the day of the Lord. where Jesus comes like a thief in the night in which the heavens pass away with a roar and the elements melt with fervent heat. The earth and its works are burned up, but we're looking for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. There is your everlasting earthly inheritance, a new creation. Read Revelation chapter 21. It talks about the very same thing in that chapter beginning, but it talks about something else referring to the city. It says the old heavens and the old earth are passed away, and there's a new heavens and a new earth. And I was looking up, and I saw the heavenly Jerusalem descending from heaven like a bride to this new creation earth. And God shall dwell in our midst. Wipe away every tear. He'll be our God, will be his people, will dwell in our midst, and the Lamb will be our temple. Now that's a city. In Hebrews 13, 14, it says, we have here no lasting city. In chapter 12 of Hebrews, across the page in my Bible from 11, it says in verses 22 to 24, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels. to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered there in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. There's our city. Abraham was looking to that city. It says he was looking to the city which has foundations, not like his tent that was movable, but has foundations, whose builder and maker, not men, but builder and maker is God. That's an inheritance. And so as pilgrims, you see, beloved, the pilgrim destination is the city of God. That's our destination. And this life, This pilgrim pathway that we are walking, and so short it is, is en route to the celestial city. Any of you ever read Pilgrim's Progress? Of course you have. Isn't that what that talks about all along? Here he is that he's, you know, the evangelist gets a hold of him. You know, he's there in the city of destruction. And he gets a hold of this book and he recognizes he's in the city of destruction. He tries. His family won't go with him. Nobody else will go around with him. And he goes and he makes this perilous journey, you know. the slew of the spawned, and there's all kinds of doubting castle later on and everything else. But it's there when the evangelist talks to him about the gospel, and he sees a cross and an empty tomb, and there the burden he was carrying rolled off his back and rolled into the tomb. Done. He's a Christian, a pilgrim. Where's he going? Not back to the city of destruction, but en route. to that heavenly city, celestial city. And every step of this life, whether it be the various people that he comes into contact with, whether they be talkative or whether they be someone else who's unfaithful, they have the, you know, the vanity fare that might cause you to step aside and be tempted and stay there in that city. Or there might be Doubting Castle where you doubt the faith and you're there beaten by the giant of despair. Or you come to Beulah Land Finally, he comes to this river that he crosses. Out of this life, into that everlasting blessedness of the heavenly Jerusalem. We're pilgrims passing through. There is our promised land. There is our inheritance. Well, as we think of this for a moment, If we're walking by faith and we walk through those gates by faith, it's not an apathetic drifting like we saw in chapter two, is it? Just drifting through. Apathetic, that's where I'm headed. It's guaranteed. That's not sounding like walking by faith to me. Or it's not a carnal worldly pursuit either. We don't see any of that in these that it describes. And as you look furthermore, that's in verses 13 and 14, by the way, of this chapter 11 and 13 and 14. It says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. But in verse 15 it says something else, and truly if they had called to mind the country from which they came out, they would have had opportunity to return. Next verse, but they desire a better country. So it's not the drifting, it's not the carnal pursuits, and it's no turning back unto apostasy that we've also seen in the Book of Hebrews. But it is a steadfast pilgrim's walk by faith. until we go through those gates. And the gospel on our lips, God's people with us, and more and more about Christ himself, that's what we're about on this Pilgrim Pathway. Philippians 3 is there in your bulletin and the sermon notes. Beginning in verse 12, it says, Paul, knowing something of suffering on this Pilgrim Pathway said, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me, purpose. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press towards the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you." Do we have a pilgrim's heart, a pilgrim's pathway, set upon our minds. Is that the distinction of our lives, that we, as it says here, desire God's city? In verse 16, desiring a better that is a heavenly country, therefore God is not ashamed to be called our God, for he has prepared a city for them. Just a couple thoughts as we conclude. As we think of this, you say, oh, I desire that city. I want to depart this life and enter into heavenly glory. Let me caution you. As we think through this, as we desire things, as we pursue, as we walk as pilgrims, examine our hearts. It's not just to escape the troubles here on this earth. It's something far greater. Did you get that in chapter 12, verse 23? It said this, in the glorified state, the disembodied, we call that the, you know, the intermediate state. It's between, you know, when we die, absent from the body, present with the Lord. We're in the Lord's presence with all the saints and the heavenly redeemed. And we'll deal with that more in another time coming soon. But it's only when he comes again, we get a glorified body and we're made whole to inhabit that new creation. We've talked about that. Okay, so we're back. Did you catch that of those who have died to be with the Lord in the heavenly places? The spirits of just men made perfect, perfected in righteousness. If there's anything that should be the desire of our heart, you've probably found it to be so with you. The more I pray, the more I confess, the more I pursue the righteousness that I so desire. how frequently I'm tripped up, how easily drawn aside, how easily tempted. Maybe it's only me. But I want to come to that celestial city that I may be done with sin forever. That's a pilgrim's mindset. But on the way, on the way of the celestial city that we go, What do you desire most? Oh, I want to join the family of God on high. That's a good one. It talks about that a lot in the family of God in chapter 9, verses 14 and 15. It says that Jesus Christ, the one, you know, He's the one who, His sacrifice is better than that of lambs, bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer. That His is to the cleansing of the conscience. And it says that He presented His own blood as High Priest by the Eternal Spirit to the Father. But it goes on in verse 15 to say, not just for us in the New Covenant era, but for all the saints of all time throughout the Old Testament era as well. Old and New Testament saints, in other words. Family of God. Chapter 11, verse 39. You look here at chapter 11, verse 30, the second to last verse. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having promised something better for us. Now listen to this part, the end of verse 40. that they should not be made perfect, that means complete, apart from us. You see, all of us, the rest of the New Covenant saints, the last one to come in, the family of God, Old and New Testament saints, will be full, complete. It says there in chapter 12, verse 1, you and I, surrounded by so great a company of witnesses, all of those who've gone before. Yes, to join with the heavenly family. Oh, what glory! We read it in 12, 22, and 3. But how about this? To be joined with our mediator, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It says in 1 Peter 1, verse 8, I think it is, talking about Jesus Christ, and it says, talking about the redemption he performed for us, having not seen, we love. Do we love him today? And so to be with our Lord, but also with our gracious Father and our sanctifying spirit. You know what our true inheritance is? And here it is. I've held it to the last. Here's our true inheritance. I've got it here in Lamentations chapter 3, verses 22 to 24. I was saying earlier in the class, Lamentations was that book written by Jeremiah as he sat there looking at the smoldering ruins that was Jerusalem after the Babylonians, raised it to the ground, burned it and slaughtered the people. By the thousands upon thousands, the temple destroyed, heartbroken, probably weeping. God through him wrote this. See if any of it sounds familiar. Lamentations 322. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I hope in him. You know what your inheritance is? Him. There's your portion. It says over in Psalm 73, verses 23 through 26, the Lord says, nevertheless, I'm continually with you. He responds, you hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Listen to this. Whom have I in heaven but you? There's none upon earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is my strength and my heart and my portion forever. It's not just here, it's other places too. Even in that Genesis 15 text, the Lord is our shield and buckler, our exceeding great reward. That's the desire of a pilgrim. Remember what Jesus asked Peter when he restored him there in John chapter 21. Peter, do you love me? You know the interchange and everything, but remember the question, do you love me? And what was the result? Then tend to my lambs, feed my sheep, lead my sheep. There's the love of God moving us. Let me read you a favorite text as I close. It's in 2 Corinthians chapter five. I found it, Well, let's say, convicting and exhilarating at the same time. 5.14 and 15. For the love of Christ compels us because we judge this, that one died for all that then all died, and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, But for him, for him who died for them and rose again, the love of Christ constrains us. Beloved, may it be so. May you and I have a pilgrim's heart traveling to the celestial city. Amen. Let's bow together in prayer. Even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Oh Lord, we pray to you. That piece of scripture that is certainly one of the most widely known in all of your word that you've given us, But may it be so with us, even though we walk through the valley of deep darkness, we fear no evil. Why? Because you are with us. Sinners saved by the grace of you, O God, being guided to a place where there is no more sin, no mourning, no pain, no tears, but your perfection, untainted but perfect. And so may we have eyes, even though we don't see yet what you have given us in your word, that we would have eyes of faith, for you have given us perfectly as much as you want us to know, but we know that picture has been painted by you upon your very word. And so may we keep our eyes set upon it as we walk through this journey, not looking back, but looking forward in Jesus' name. Amen. Now receive the benediction of the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.