Looking for a City
Hebrews 11:8-10, "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."
Romans 12:3, "… God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
Faith – Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
What brought you to church this morning? I’m not talking about your means of transportation. What made you get out of bed, get all dressed up and come to the House of God? Did you come expecting something? Did you come looking for something?
The point I am trying to make is this: We have all been called to go out. We’ve been called to leave home, leave family and friends, and go in search of a city. We are compelled by our faith that the Word of God is truth, and that there is a very real and tangible inheritance out there, somewhere.
Abraham was Called to go out –
Out of the presence of friends and family
Out of the safe haven of familiar surroundings
Out of the land, and earthly inheritance that would surely be his
Out into world that was hostile to strangers
Out into the open road without knowing what pitfalls, what curves, what mountains and what valleys lay ahead
All that God said was, “GO”, so Abraham went.
God is still calling people out today. He is calling us to set our hearts on something that we cannot see, feel, touch, smell and hear – but yet it is as real to us as though we could do all of those things. It’s not something that the physical senses can discover, but by faith we know that it’s there. By exercising our spiritual senses we can almost see the lights of that city. It’s like a magnet drawing us ever closer. I don’t know what you sense, but I know there’s a city out there. A city not made with hands. A place where I will finally find complete peace and rest, and joy beyond measure.
God gave Abraham a place to go, a family to provide for and a job to do, but that wasn’t his final destination. He was still looking for a city somewhere. It wasn’t made on earthly foundations. It was built upon God’s Holy Mountain in the portals of Heaven. It was on a different plane, a different dimension, but it was there and it still is.
Along the way Abraham would fight many battles. He would have to provide for his family by earning his way and taking possession of earthly things to meet those needs. But they weren’t his focus, only a means of getting where he was supposed to be going.
He had an inheritance coming –
No doubt he had the opportunity to inherit land and wealth from his family back in Ur of the Chaldees. He could have been a man of means if he hadn’t given it all away. But Abraham gave up the earthly inheritance for a Heavenly inheritance.
Paul said in Philippians 3:7-8, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,"
The only treasure he had with him when Abraham left Ur was his faith in an eternal city that he would somehow find.
Sure he loved Sarah, his wife. He cared for those of his household and all that he possessed, but none of it could sway him from chasing that dream.
The winds of adversity would blow on Abraham all along the way. He nearly lost his wife in a foreign land. He had every intention of sacrificing his only son. He chose the way that seemed to have less to offer when Lot chose the green, well watered plains for his flocks. But what seems like prosperity to the world is really only a trap that leads to destruction.
In order to fully possess the green fields and the good life, Lot had to compromise so much until he was finally cornered in the city of Sodom. He had let his standards of holiness fall by the wayside. He had allowed sin to stay around him, and he stayed around sinful people so much that he became used to it all and learned to live with heathens while perversion was rampant. He just closed his eyes to the sin and convinced himself that this was his life.
Though there is no indication that Lot got involved in the committing of their sin, he still had to pay a heavy price for his compromising ways and allowing his family to be exposed to the constant filth around them.
He offered his two daughters to those who would use them and abuse them when the perverted men of the city called for the 2 angels to come out and play.
He lost his wife who undoubtedly had become wrapped up in the city life and ignored the sin around her. She learned to love the social clubs, the sports arenas, the shopping malls and the conveniences, taking in all of the pleasures of sin while trying to maintain her standing with God.
She had many friends in that city – and though she wanted to be with Lot, she wanted the things of Sodom even more.
We should never forget Lot’s wife though we don’t know her name. What we must remember is that less than 24 hours after sitting in the very presence of the angels of God, she was so close to the world that she became a part of it. She crossed the point of no return and became salt. She came so close, but lost it all.
Lot’s wife left Sodom totally against her will. She was very indecisive and uncertain about it. Lot and his family stood in the middle of the street and argued about leaving until the angel took them by the hand and pulled them out.
Lot argued with God saying that he could still live right in midst of the sin around him. He was used to it and his whole family was geared to that kind of life. He told God that hey could not live in the mountains and give up everything so quickly. He wanted God to spare Sodom because it was their comfort zone. All this reasoning made Lot’s wife even more determined not to leave until she was forced to go with him..
Maybe some of you are like Lot’s wife. You are one of those people who have made the decision to serve the Lord because you were scared into it by a preacher preaching fire and brimstone. Maybe you felt pressured and pulled, maybe even pushed to the altar.
Whatever it took to get you there, thank God for it. But understand, if the vision of that city and the inheritance doesn’t come alive in you, you won’t stay long. Lot’s wife was very reluctant to leave the city where she had lived for so long. All of the sudden she remembered, with nostalgia, all of the good times she had had there, forgetting the bad, and looked back with sentiment and longing. This was her undoing.
It was not only a judgment of God against her for her double mindedness but it was reaping what she had sown.
According to some scholars, Lot’s wife had given away the presence of visitors in her home by trying to borrow salt from a neighbor to cook the meal that she served the angels. It was as though she was pushing her luck and trying to make things work out the way she wanted them to so that she wouldn’t have to leave Sodom after all.
One article that I read by a Jewish Rabbi says that Lot’s wife lingered far enough behind so that Lot and his two daughters were well ahead of her. As she stopped continually, looking back with a desire to stay there, and wish that the city could be spared, she was closer to the fire that fell than she should have been. As the fire fell, she was also consumed in the radiation and flames and instantly turned to ash in the heat. Over a long period of time, the elements of the earth turned her ashes into salt.
However she became a pillar of salt, I want to remind you that if we stay too close to the world, when the fire of God’s judgment falls, we will be burned right along with those who call themselves our friends but don’t know God. Lot’s wife wasn’t turned into the type of salt that God uses to describe His people. She became salt, but a salt that was useless to both God and man, good only to be cast aside as junk and garbage.
Abraham and his family had traveled down the road of faith a long way before all of this happened. He had obeyed God and walked in the paths of righteousness. As a result God had blessed him and given him wealth, not only of worldly goods, but of a greater measure of faith. He had proven his faithfulness and become a “Friend of God”. I can think of no better identity than that!
But it wasn’t going to be all peaches and cream along the way. Satan wasn’t going to just let Abraham waltz into Heaven. There were obstacles in his path; things that had the potential to slow him down or stop him in his tracks.
One thing was that not all of his family had the same vision or calling that Abraham had. One nephew in particular by the name of Lot became a source of problems for him.
The time came when there had to be a separation for the purpose of survival. Their blessings became so great and their flocks so large that they needed to find different places to dwell.
This was the crossroads of decision. Have you been at this place before? Is there a place in your life where the grass seemed greener on the side of world than it did in serving the Lord? Do you see people of the world seemingly more blessed than the people of God? Beware of what you see because what is seen on the surface doesn’t tell the whole story. You won’t know the truth until you have committed yourself to a certain path.
Lot chose the greener pastures and Abraham went back into the dry country to find the path that God would reveal to him as he went. It certainly looked like Lot would be the one blessed and that Abraham’s flocks would dwindle through lack of food and water.
Abraham gave up so much by not going toward the well-watered plains. He gave up being in a compromising situation with sin. He gave up living a life of luxury in the lap of deceit. He gave up having Sarah consumed by the society life and then turning into a pillar of salt.
And so it is with you and me. Let us never think that we “give up” anything of real value by serving the Lord. What is there in this world that is worth your family? What is there out there that is worth more to you than seeing your family make Heaven their home? The price of compromise is death. The pay day for keeping your eyes on the world will be the worst day that you will ever experience.
But Abraham obeyed God above all. That’s what we must do to. We must obey the Lord. It doesn’t matter what the world thinks. It doesn’t matter what other people say. It doesn’t matter what your brother or sister in the church says. It doesn’t matter what your family may say. The fact is that we must obey the Lord or we will never see that city made foursquare. I want to keep looking for that city like Abraham did.
Abraham went out and didn’t know where he was going. Would he make through the next valley? Would he cross the next mountain? He never knew what lay ahead. All he knew was to take the next step and let God lead him and take care of the rest. He had no promise of tomorrow; only that he would find a place, but where? How long would it take? Would he even know when he had arrived? How would God fulfill his promises? Abraham had more questions than answers, but he just kept walking in obedience and trusted God in faith.
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:
Even when he had arrived at his earthly destination and found the Land of Promise, it was still a strange land to him. It still wasn’t home! It still didn’t fulfill the desires of his heart for that heavenly city.
Let’s not get satisfied with a cottage below. It’s wonderful to have a new home. It’s great to own lands and property, but don’t ever forget that they will someday be burned away. It doesn’t matter how grand your home here is, it is still just a tent compared to the home in Heaven.
If you live for Jesus you will never “fit in” with the world’s crowd. There will always be a dividing factor between you. Your thoughts and heart is fixed on a heavenly city while theirs is fixed on earthly things.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God
Lord prepare us to live in that city. How will we enjoy living in your presence and living an eternal life that is holy and pure if we don’t want to do that right now?
Lord revive us that we may never lose faith and lose sight of that heavenly home. I need my daily portion of your Word and of the Holy Ghost in me that I may keep the strength to make it through. Every day is a new day filled with challenges and blessings. I need a revival in my soul every day.
Lord fill us with a great faith and a great desire to find that city that you have built for us. Let my vision of that city never fail. Open the eyes of my heart that I may have a clearer vision, by faith, of that city that you have prepared for all those who are faithful to the end.
Lord deliver us from compromising with the sin of the world and getting our eyes focused on the wrong thing. Let me count it all as loss so that I may gain that eternal inheritance.
Abraham saw that city by faith!
John saw that city in a vision!
Can you see that city by faith as well?
Revelation 21:2-4, "And I John saw the holy city, 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 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. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
I want to encourage you to keep looking for that city whose builder and maker is God. Don’t let anything of this world make you stray from the paths of righteousness. Hold on to your faith until you make it all the way home.
