I'd like you, please, to turn with me this meeting to the book of Hebrews, and as you're well aware, we have been dealing with this book for quite a while, but we are getting to one of the most beautiful chapters, chapter 11. And the 11th chapter really deals with the necessity for faith, not only faith in theory, but faith that Acts, faith that is more than merely intellectual faith, but faithfulness that is necessary for those that believe in Yeshua the Messiah. And of course, we know that the writer who wrote to Jewish believers, to Hebrews in the 1st century, brought before them a whole chapter, I'm amazed when I think about that, without mentioning even one time New Testament individual, constantly bringing before them an Old Testament individual in this chapter.

Most of those individuals are actually Hebrews, the vast majority of them, some of them prior to the Hebrew Abraham, and some of them are non-Hebrews, even later on, after, like Rahab is mentioned here. But today, I would like to deal with the verses that have to do with Abraham and Sarah, his wife. So please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11, and we are going to read today from verse 8 all the way to verse 19. Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 8 to 19, and I'm going to read those verses now. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go 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 in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath a foundation 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 sprang 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 they 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 has prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

According that God, or accounting I should say, that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he hath received him in a figure. And I stop here. Verses 8 to 19 is the passage that we are going to speak about this meeting. Now, this passage is very interesting because we are finding ourselves today in Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, between those two seasons for our nation Israel, for the Hebrew people, and we know very well how solemn and how serious the time between Rosh Hashanah, the first month of Tishrei, and Yom Kippur, the tenth of the month of Tishrei. We know how our own people are literally longing and praying and beseeching God that God will forgive their sins and that their name will be inscribed in the book of life.

And here we are reading this chapter that was written to early century Jewish Hebrew Israeli believers that they come to faith in the Messiah and they have been challenged by the writer. They have been going through pressure they have been going through persecution they have been going through suffering they have been going through internal emotional feeling because they have been held between whether they should continue to follow after the Messiah and forsake everything that is behind or whether they should believe in the Messiah but go back and offer sacrifices and maintain their life in association with the temple and it's all what belonged to the law and always belonged to that which God had given in the past and they were struggling beloved i'm telling you if you would have been there one of these Hebrews individuals you would have struggled in the same way as they have been and the writer does not condemn them the writer does not tell them if you will think of them in a bad way but he tried to appeal to them to explain to them to help them to be drawn after the Messiah Yeshua that have already come and died for them.

And you know like how you and i need the same encouragement from the Lord you know how you and i sometimes feel so discouraged so dismayed things are not going the way we want them to go people have disappointed us and we have disappointed people and we get sometimes discouraged and how we long for some word of encouragement from another brother and another sister and how we need it. And I'm speaking for myself how we need it every time as believers in our life. And here come the apostle, the writer. And he, if you will, opened before them their history. Unfold before them their history.

As if it were taking a spreadsheet and spreading before those Hebrew believers the whole history of their people. And you notice this is very precious. It's always precious to the hearts of believers in every generation to hear of others that have gone before. Of others that have been faithful to the Lord. That have not been a perfect individual. They have made mistakes. They have sinned at times. They have gone wrong away from the things of the Lord. You never read of perfection except one by the name of Yeshua. But, beloved, He's presenting before them that in spite of their failure, in spite of their unfaithfulness, in spite of what they have done that they were wrong, God, look at that which they have done right.

And that God is honoring them. God is honoring them. And as we said often in our Bible classes and in our meetings together, that we never catch God by surprise when we go astray. We never give God some sort of unexpected situation when we deviate and fail. God knows that. But what God does, He draws us, He pulls us closer to Him. He encourages us to follow after Him in spite of ourselves, in spite of what's going on around us. And that's the encouragement that you and I need as believers today and those Hebrews needed at that time. So, we've already covered the first seven verses of Hebrews 11.

What is faith? It is the confidence it is the assurance of things hoped for and it is the conviction of things that we are not seeing that is faith faith is the substance of things that we hope for and it is the evidence of things that you and I do not see that's what faith is we trust God for what he said, we believe God for what he promised, and we have confidence that what he had said is going to come to pass. That's what faith is. It's not what we often hear of people that we have to have faith in faith. No. We don't have faith in faith.

We have faith in a person. We have faith in God. We have faith in Yeshua the Messiah. That's what faith is. It's in a person, in God the Son, in the Messiah himself. And so, by faith, many others have gone before those Hebrews. Many others continue to trust God in spite of situations that were against them. And so we talked about Abel. It is interesting that the first man that he mentioned in the book of faith, in the chapter of faith, is not Adam and Eve, but Abel. Why? Because Abel was the first one, we're reading in the Scriptures, that offer a sacrifice which in accordance with the will of God.

In contrast to his brother Cain, that offer a sacrifice which was not according with the will of God and so the first man that is mentioned in the Scripture is able he offered the sacrifice of faith and then we see Hanok as we have him in verse 5 we have covered him as well and he we see him how he walk by faith and by the way I did not mention this in our last meeting together because Enoch was the father. Of the oldest man that ever live by the name of Methuselah. We find him in Genesis chapter 5. And you know what happened? We never read of Enoch, that he walked with God before Methuselah, but we read of him that he walked with God after he gave life to Methuselah, which tells us a lot, because in the name Methuselah, you say it in English Methuselah, in the name Metushelach, we have two Hebrew words which mean metu and shalach.

Metu means when he will die. Shalach means I will send or it will be sent. What will be sent? The judgment of the flood was going to come after Metushelach was going to die. It was like a message from God. I'm going to judge the world and I'm going to send the flood upon the face of this earth. And it seems like that through the name Metushelach, Chanoch Ino, got the message from the Lord. And it changed his whole life. Instead of not walking with God, we read that he walked with God. Now I do not know if he walked with God before. We don't read it in the Bible.

But what we do in Genesis 5, that Enoch walked with God after he begot Metushelach. And you know, sometimes we need warnings from God, warnings that will warn us, that will change our conduct and our behavior. That when we get warning from God, it motivates us to walk with God. And so with Enoch, we see the walk of faith. And then we had Noah, the last one in verse 7, and Noah gives us the illustration of the works of faith. He was a man who built an ark, preparing for the flood, while it was never drop of rain have come down ever as yet. He had never seen rain.

How could you build an ark so far away from the water and show you're building an ark? Noah must have been the kind of a man that everybody mocked and laughed at him. And Noah, every nail he put into the ark was a message to the world. Judgment is coming. The flood is coming. Are you ready? Will you come into the ark? Are you ready? And you know, unfortunately, only Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his three daughters-in-law enter into the ark from among the human race, and the rest were judged by God. And what we see in Noah, the works of faith. He carried on to build the ark.

He carried on to work and to do things for God in the midst of an age where everybody laughed at him and mocked at him, and Noah trusted God. And so, we saw these three men, and now, beloved, we are moving now, verses 8 to 19, and we see, actually, the first Hebrew in the Bible. We have a lot of misunderstanding about who is Hebrew, who is Israeli, who is Jewish, and we have a lot of misunderstanding. But let me tell you, as far as the Bible teaches, the first Hebrew, we call him Ivrid, Ha'ivri ha'rishon, the first Hebrew was Abraham, the father of all the nation of Israel, the father of Isaac, the grandfather of Jacob, the great-grandfather of the children of Jacob, who are the children of Israel.

And here the writer who writes to the Hebrew believers of first century bring before them the first Hebrew, and his name is Abraham. And so notice, I want to tell you four things here in verses 8 to 19 about Abraham and Sarah. Now, look at this for a moment. You know, promises that people receive are very easy to receive, but very hard to wait for. God made promises. And God made promises to Abraham and threw Abraham to a nation, namely the nation of Israel, of which those Hebrews, to whom their writer write, were part of. And God made promises and he is going to keep those promises.

But the problem that men have, the problem that you and I have, is to wait for those promises. To come to pass. Waiting is not easy. Waiting and trusting is not something very simple. It's something that demands much from all of us. But God made promises. He made promises to Abraham. He made promises to Isaac. He made promises to Jacob. He made promises and He promised that those promises which he has made, he is going to keep. But it's very hard to wait on promises. And so what we find out in the history of Abraham is that just like Abraham, you and I might ask the same questions, and those are four questions that we often say.

And the questions are like that. Where? Or how? Or when? Or why? This is exactly what you and I would say many times when people say, promise us things, is where, how, when, and why. Those are the things that you and I may very well, or those are the words that we would mention every time when we wait on a promise. And I would like you to see here that Abraham, in spite of those four things or four words, well, how, when, and why, he still obeyed God and waited on those promises of God. Notice, by the way, that the word promise is mentioned five times in the text in which we read today.

From verse 8 to verse 19. Let me read you those words. Verse 9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise. Verse 9 at the end. With Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. Go down to verse 11. The last part of verse 11. Because she judged him faithful who had promised. Go a little bit further down to verse 13. In the first part of verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises. Look at verse 17. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, when he that had received, and he that had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son. You notice that?

Five times. The word promise or promises are written here in this text from verse 8 to verse 19 of Hebrews 11, which tells us volumes. It tells us so much because he was a man that did receive promises from God. He received promises from the God of the universe. And he wanted those promises so much for his life. And so, beloved, look at this. Now as we got those five times we read about the promises of God, I would like to show you that Abraham was faithful in spite of the fact that he didn't receive all the promises yet in his life. Number one is found in verse 8 to 10.

And in verses 8 to 10, we read, we see that Abraham's obedience to God, while not knowing where, and here's the word, where he is going, he continued to obey God, and even he did not know where he's going to, He obeyed God's word and went to where God had told him to go. Look at this, verse 8, 9, and 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 tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

And look at this last verse, verse 10. For he looked for a city which hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God. Look at the man, Avraham. The first Hebrew that is actually found in Genesis chapter 14 the first Hebrew individual he's called Abraham the Hebrew in Genesis 14 and verse 13 the first man that is called the Hebrew he trusted God to such an extent beloved brothers and sisters that when God called him in Genesis chapter 12 to leave his family, to leave his country, to leave all that which is surrounded him and to go to a place which God told him of, you know, he obeyed. We read in this verse, he obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went.

Here we see the preciousness of this man, The trust of this man. He obeyed God. And by the way, if you read in other passages, if you read in the book of Acts chapter 7, you will notice that he stopped somewhere on the way. He actually did not continue all the way to Canaan. He stopped somewhere in the place called Haran. We actually read it today in Genesis 11. And you know what happened here? Instead of continuing all the way to the promised land because of relative, because of his father, he stopped in Haran and he waited in Haran for a while before he continued to the land of Canaan.

And you know, it teaches us many things here. You know what happened with us as believers sometimes? Sometimes because of family ties, Because of parents, or children, or brothers and sisters and relatives. Sometimes because of our relative, we don't continue on in spiritual progress because our natural tie is very important for us. You know the expression, blood is thicker than water. And you know, this is a true expression. Because many times believers, and those Hebrews needed to hear it, And you and I need to hear it, that a time because of natural ties, because we love our parents and because we love our family, we don't continue to progress spiritually because we do not want to separate from our blood relation.

We do not want to hurt them. We do not want to lose them. And therefore, sometimes we neglect our spiritual progress because of our own family ties. And you know, Abraham, we read, by the way, that Abraham did not leave Haran before his father died. It says, by the way, I'm reading verse 31 of Genesis chapter 11. And Terach took Abraham his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his son Abraham's wife. And they went forth with them from Ur, listen, from Ur the Caledines, to go into the land of Canaan. But look what happened. And they came unto Haran, and they dwelled in Haran.

They stopped there. They didn't continue. And then we read and the days of Terach was 205 years and Terach died in Haran and then chapter 12 come now the Lord said unto Abraham get thee out of thy country and of thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land which I will show thee you see beloved God had to repeat the call of Abraham in Haran because Abraham stopped there because of family ties. And that's what happened with us. And that's what the apostle is telling the Hebrews. But you notice the interesting part here? In Hebrews 11, he does not mention at all the pause in Abraham's life.

He only says in Hebrews 11 where we just read, He says, by faith, verse 8, Abram, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went. Interesting. God doesn't mention the stop in Haran at all. You know why? Because God does not look at the negative and the failure and elaborate upon our failure because we didn't catch him by surprise. He knows this about us. But in Hebrews chapter 11, he wanted to show the Hebrews and you and I that Abraham did obey God in spite of the fact that there was a time of weakness in his life.

And by the way, how do we know that God already called Abraham before he came to Haran? You know how we know it? It was Stephen, the first martyr who died in the land. Stephen says in Acts chapter 7, men and brethren, verse 1, And fathers, Harkon, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran. And he said unto him, Get thee out of your country and from thy kindred and come into the land which I will show you. He already called him before, but you see, his family ties, like you and I, family ties, are very important, but many times they hinder us from faithfulness to the Lord to move forward and to trust Him in spite of the fact that our families might not go with us.

And so he continued, and he's saying, by faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place that he should receive as an inheritance, he obeyed. And he obeyed, and he went out, and he did not know where he went. I mean, this is fascinating. God said to Abraham, go. He might have had an elapse in his time. He stopped because of his father until his father died. But he went. But you notice he went not knowing where he went, where he's going. He trusted the Lord. You know, sometimes, I don't know if you feel like this, but in faith in the Messiah, sometimes you do not know what is going on.

So many voices around us. So many people to draw us and to tell us come this way and come that way and come this way and look, go to this leader and go follow after this leader and you don't know what to do. But if we set our affection on the Lord Yeshua and we trust Him and we wait on Him even if we don't know what's next we just continue on like Abraham not knowing whither he went and by faith it says He sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

You see what he did? He trusted God and he moved forward. He dwelt in tabernacles, it says here, which means tents. And he was like a bedwool, like a nomad. He was moving from place to place, even in the land of promise that God had given to him. He trusted God and he moved about as God had led him but we see here even more in verse 10 about Abraham he did not know where he was going but he went to trust God but what we see here in verse 10 that he looked for a city which has a foundation whose builder and maker is God you know what that tells us that even though God had promised to Abraham to come into the promised land, to the land of Canaan, Abraham was looking, you see, he looked for a city.

He looked for a city which has foundation and he wanted that the builder of this city is none else but God himself will be. And so, beloved, that thing tells us that Abraham looked for much more than just here and now, even much more than just a piece of Lot in the land of Canaan. You see, yes, that will be given to Abraham, and that will be given to his descendants, Isaac and Jacob and Israel and the whole nation. That will be, but he looked for a city which the builder and the one that the maker is none else but God himself. It really tells us that he's looking beyond what's going on here on earth.

And that tells us what you and I should look for. We are not only to look for here and now, but to look beyond what is going on here and now in this earth, the temporarily time in which we live here on earth, we should look for more than what is going on here and now in this world. Turn with me to chapter 12 of Hebrew. Look at this verse. In verse 22, it says, Ye are come unto a Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable company of angels. You see what he is saying to these Hebrew believers?

Just like Abraham. Oh yes, this land will be given to the people of Israel, But you see, you have come to a city, as it says here, unto the heavenly Jerusalem. And to the innumerable company of angels. You know, it takes us to the new Jerusalem. It takes us to the eternal order that is found in Revelation chapter 21. The heavenly Jerusalem that comes out of God. And actually coming out and coming down to this earth. And that heavenly Jerusalem is the city of God. The city where God is the one that is the maker and the founder. Look at chapter 13 here of the same book of Hebrews in verse 14.

For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. There is a city that Abraham was looking for which has foundation whose builder and maker is God and this is the heavenly Jerusalem and we as it says in verse 14 of chapter 13 in Hebrews we have here no continuing city but we seek one that will come and that's the heavenly Jerusalem that will come and there will be communication between the heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly Jerusalem in the eternal order But the point that we're trying to learn here from Father Abraham, that he looked for a city, that the builder and the maker is none else but God himself.

So he went out not knowing where he's going to. He just trusted God and he just obeyed God. And that's what those Hebrews were challenged to do, to trust the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, to obey his word, and to move on into that present-day dispensation of what is known the body of Messiah, the body of Christ. And so now notice, not only that the word where is found in verse 8, 9, and 10, but in the next verses, and here is the second thing that we learn of Abraham and Sarah, is the second word how. Look, verses 11 and 12, we read, Then in these verses we learn Abraham and Sarah obeyed God even when they did not know how God will accomplish those promises.

Look, we read in verse 11 and 12. Through faith Sarah herself conceived or received strength to conceive seed and she was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised therefore verse 12 sprang there even of one this is Abraham 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. In those two verses, there are two statements to highlight in your Bibles. The first statement is past age, verse 11. And the second statement is good as dead, in verse 12. You see, what is the writer telling to those Hebrews?

He's telling them, look back. Not only did God answer Abraham, and Abraham obeyed God even when he did not know where he was going. But Abraham and Sarah obeyed God even if they did not really grasp how God was going to fulfill his promises. Look, he says, that even when Sarah was past age and when Abraham was good as dead, God had brought about his promises to this couple. This expression, past age, we know very well that Sarah, by the time, if you read Genesis chapter 21, finally, when she was pushing 90, can you imagine a woman at the age of 90 giving birth to a child? I mean, no wonder she left.

How could I ever have been a child when I am so old? It says here that she was past age. What about that? She looked at her husband, and she looked at him, and she knows, wow, he is good as dead. Good as dead! In other words, he is unable, humanly speaking, to be the one that will be used to give a seed to his wife to bring forth a child. And so, humanly speaking, by the way, not only did she left, Abraham himself left. And Abraham himself, in spite of his laughter, in spite of that which seemed to be unimaginable, he trusted God. And it says here in those verses 11 and 12, that through faith, Sarah herself received strength.

It is God who gives the strength. It is God who gives the ability to bear a child at any age. And she conceived seed. And she delivered a child when she was past age. You know why it says here? Because she judged him faithful who had made the promise. You see, she said, listen, God, I don't understand. I'm laughing because it's not possible humanly. And I'm laughing because I look at myself and I know myself and I'm past age, God. But God, he said, according to this passage, I judge you faithful. I declare you faithful. You are able, you are promised, and you are going to keep it.

And again, beloved, look at those Hebrews to whom the writer is writing. And they look around and they see everything seems to be falling apart. They believe in Yeshua the Messiah, but they look at their own brethren. They don't believe in the Messiah. They believe that he finished the work on the tree and he is the promised one, but they look back and they see their people, their brethren, still offering sacrifices. They tell them that he is the Messiah. They are being persecuted. What shall I do? What shall we do? Here is the writer telling them, in spite of the impossibility, God made a promise, and even if you ask the question, how?

Or like before they asked the question, where? God is able to fulfill the promises that he had promised. Sarah received strength from God, and Abraham, good as dead, was able to do what he needed to do, and God, as a faithful God, it brought about the promises that he promised him. And the promise, by the way, is more than just to have a child, Isaac. But the promise is that through this child, a nation will be born, namely the nation of Israel. And blessings going to be dispensed to the rest of the nations of the world. So precious, these beloved brothers and sisters. And this is really challenging us.

You sometimes ask, where should I go? God says, you trust me. And I tell you, trust me, stay close to me and I'll show you the way to go and where to go. You might ask sometimes, how is it possible, God? Everything looks so difficult and so gloomy around me. And God says, listen, I promise you I'm going to keep you. I promise you, doesn't matter how, I will deal with the how. You just stay close to me and I will lead you and I will bless you and I will give you a fruitful life here until the time that I'm going to take you to be with me in heaven.

Now let's move down to the third question that may be asked, when? And here we are in verses 13, 14, 15, and 16. Look, we continue to talk about Abraham's obedience. Abraham obedience even when he did not know when God will fulfill the promises. And here we read verses 13, 14, 15, and 16. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and they were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that there were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And 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 a heavenly, where God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Now I want us to look at this for a moment. You see, in those verses 13, 14, 15, and 16, we see Abraham obedience, even if he did not know when God will accomplish the promises to them. And so, first of all, in verse 13, we see that expression, afar off. You notice that in verse 13? These all died in faith, not having received the promises, having seen them afar off. You see, what we learn here from this verse is that, by the way, it says that now they have all died.

They didn't receive the promises that God had given to them. They didn't have sinned, but you know how they already received them, but by faith they have sinned them afar off. You remember what was the expression, what is faith? Faith, as we have here in chapter 11, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. And you see, they didn't receive them, and they died already, but they have seen them afar off. You see, sometimes when we talk about the things of the Lord, we talk about the messianic age. We talk about the eternal order. We have never received our promises because we are still waiting for those days.

But by faith, we look at them afar off. We see them in the coming day. We imagine what we're going to be like. We muse over that. We're looking forward and we see what will it be when we are going to be with the Lord? What will it be when the messianic age is going to come? What will it be when the heavenly, the eternal order, where we're all going to be around Yeshua, the Messiah, with no sin any longer, no hurt any longer, no death, no tears, no sorrow, no trying. You see, they looked at them afar off. They look at them. It says here, they have seen them afar off.

And then it says, they were persuaded of them and they embraced them and they confessed that there were strangers and pilgrims on earth. Do you know what's happening when a person trusts God? In any dispensation, in any dispensation, when a person believes and trusts God, he or she becomes like a stranger and a pilgrim. No wonder those early Hebrew believers became strangers to their own brethren. No wonder you and I, many times find ourselves around the people which we work with as strangers. We have no common goal. We have no common hope. We have nothing in common. We want to speak about the Lord and they want to speak about the world.

We want to talk about the Bible and they want to talk about something else. We want to talk about Yeshua, the Messiah. And they don't want to hear about Him. And you feel like a stranger and a pilgrim. What a pilgrim. We are on a journey. Actually, beloved, this place is not our home. We might have beautiful homes here. We might have many good things. We might have all kind of beautiful cars and beautiful clothes and all kind of things we may have. But actually, beloved brothers and sisters, everything is temporary. We are surgeoning. We are heading. We have a home that we are going to go soon.

We are going to be in a place that nothing is going to get rusted and corroded and decay. We are heading towards the Father's house. And you know, that is exactly what Abraham and his children have been in, Isaac and Jacob and so on, even though they were promised a land. And yes, eventually he did give them the land, but they didn't get all the land because it is awaiting the future day. But even that, the land itself without God, without the Messiah, something was missing. But even beyond that, to go and to look into the eternal order in which ultimately no sin and no wrong and no harm and no sorrow is going to be here in this world.

You see, we're longing for this day. And here we see of Abraham and his descendants, and they became strangers and pilgrims in this world. You know why? Because this earth and this world rejected the Son of God, the Messiah himself. Look, if you turn with me, please, to the book of Peter, the first epistle of Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1. Look, I'm going to read of 1 Peter. By the way, Peter also wrote to Jewish believers, to Hebrews. And they became believers. And they suffered. And they were rejected. And they became like strangers scattered around. Notice it says, 1 Peter 1, verse 1, Peter, an apostle of Yeshua, the Messiah, to the strangers, scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and bithynia verse 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus the Messiah grace unto you and peace be multiplied you see he called them strangers and scattered but those people who were strangers and scholars are actually are Hebrew believers who were scattered abroad look at chapter 2 of 1st Peter 1st Peter 2 verse 11 and look what he's telling them in verse 11 1st Peter 2 11 he says to them dearly beloved i beseech you as strangers and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul but you notice he called them beloved he called them strangers and pilgrims you see what happened they became strangers and pilgrims by virtue of their faith in the Messiah the faith in God and they've been scattered abroad and they became strangers wherever they have gone.

They really did not have a place to be called as their home because they have been all scattered all as pilgrims moving from place to place because of persecution and rejection that they have experienced and really what we learn here from this passage and I'm back to Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 14 is they became strangers and pilgrims on the earth misunderstood by the people around them they were moving from place to place anticipating the time where God is going to give them what he had promised them. And he says, listen, in verse 14, then he generalizing, he says, they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

See, when you call yourself a stranger and a pilgrim and you declare that you are a stranger here in this world, that this is not your home, you're actually saying, I'm waiting for another city, I'm waiting for another country. And that city and that country is the city of God. The city where God has his rightful place in the midst of his own. And so you and I can say definitely that we are strangers and pilgrims. Listen, it doesn't matter who you're going to vote for today, whether it is here or whether it is in Israel or whether it is in Canada, whether it is in the USA, whoever you're going to vote for, it's still not going to be a home for the people of God.

The one that we are waiting for, the one that we have voted for, is waiting to come very soon. And those, Abraham and Sarah and his descendants, were strangers and pilgrims, they were moving about, they declared that they are looking for a country, And the country that they are looking for, the city that they are looking for, is the city that God is the one that is the builder and the maker. Where He has His rights, where He has authority, where He is the one that's filling the soul of His own people with joy and with blessing. And so it says in verses 15 and 16, look, God is not a shame to be called those people's God.

It says in verse 15 and 16, And truly, if they had been mindful of that country for whence they came out, they might have had an opportunity to have returned. You see, they were not mindful to go back to where they came from. But if, they might want to go back, but they didn't want to go back. They could have gone back. Abraham could have gone back, but he did not go back. He looked forward, and that's why, look at this, it says in verse 16, but now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly. And you see, even though Abraham was looking for the city in the land of Canaan, looking to be in a promised land, but he looked beyond it.

He looked for the heavenly city, the heavenly place, the heavenly country, and you see, look what it says, he looked for a heavenly, And then, no, because of this, it says, God is not a shame to be called their God. You notice this? How many times we read, or at least we are a shame of God and a shame of the Lord. How many times? To our own shame. How many times we are a shame? You know, there is a song that I love to hear and it's been sung by a Hebrew believer. Jewish Jews for Jesus wrote that song. It's called, I am ashamed of my sins and the sins of my people, but I am not ashamed of the gospel.

And you see, Abraham, Isaac, Abraham and Sarah, they were not ashamed of God. They were not ashamed of the God who called them out. And that's why He's not ashamed to be called their God. He's not ashamed to be called their God. He's not ashamed to be called their God because He has prepared for them a city, we read in verse 16. He's not ashamed to be called their God because they have trusted Him. They have followed His instruction. They were moving on in spite of difficult and those questions that they've asked, they obeyed him even if they did not know where they are going. They obeyed him even though they didn't know how he's going to accomplish what they promised.

And they obeyed him even if they did not know when he's going to give them what he promised to them. And that's why it's not a shame to be called their God. What a wonderful statement to come in the Bible. God called Abraham the friend of God. What a precious truth to get a hold of. When you sometimes feel discouraged, when you sometimes feel disappointed in yourself, just look away from yourself and look at Jesus the Messiah and see how much He loves you and how much He cares for you and what He has done for you and how He wanted to draw you to follow after Him and to obey Him.

How much you want to see obedience in our lives. That's the most difficult thing in our lives, is to obey. You know that sin came by disobedience. That's how sin came into this world. And so we see, God is not ashamed to be called their God. He's not ashamed. Precious, isn't it? Amazing how wonderful the writer encouraging the Hebrew believers here. And now look at this, and I'm going to move to the last verses here that we have read today. Verses 8, 9, and 10, Abraham obeyed God, even if he didn't know where he was going to. Verses 13 to 16, Abraham obeyed God, even if he didn't know when God would fulfill his promises.

Verses 11 and 12, Abraham and Sarah obeyed God even if they did not know how God is going to do that. And now let's look at the last verses, verses 17, 18, and 19. Abraham obeyed God even if he did not know why God does what he does. And look at this, verse 17. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it is said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence he also received him in a figure. Two things here that are very precious you remember we had just the other day Genesis chapter 22 really those verses connect us with Genesis chapter 22.

And where God asked Abraham to offer up his son his only begotten son and God says take now thine son thine only son whom you love Isaac and offer him up on one of the mountains which i will tell they off. Genesis 22 and verse 1. And can you imagine the thought that God, after he had finally fulfilled the promise of giving him a son, and finally the son has come, now God is asking Abraham to offer him up as a sacrifice on one of the mountains. Now it is immediately gives a dilemma to a person, such as Abraham would give to anyone a dilemma. On the one hand, you finally give him a son, and my old age, hundred years of age.

On the other hand, you're asking me now to offer him and to kill him. Well, what's the point? How is it possible, God? Why is it that it is expected from me? And why are you asking me such a difficult question? And you and I, and perhaps those Hebrews that the apostle write to, they ask, God, why? Why our people are not all believers right now in Yeshua the Messiah? Why should we leave them and why should we not continue with certain things? And he had to explain to them. But they still needed to obey the Word of God. And here we see Abraham, it says here in verses 17 and 18, that by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, he offered up Isaac, his son.

He that he received the promise offered up his only begotten son, and listen, verse 18, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy sin be called. If in Isaac shall thy sin be called, why do I need to go and offer him? Abraham had the only solution that he had to this problem is to trust God. That if God said that he's going to give through Isaac thy sin be called and blessing a nation going to come And if God expects for me now to slay my son, I'm going to trust God that he's going to do the best that he knows how. And he's going to fulfill the promises that he had promised.

And that's where the trust in God that was needed by Abraham. And that's why it says in verse 10 and 19, it says, accounting that God was able to raise him up. What Abraham really said is simply this. If God asked me to offer up the very son whom he had given to me and promised me that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, then I believe that God is able to raise him up from the dead. So he, the seed Isaac, will bring forth the seed Jacob and the nation of Israel will be born as a nation. He trusted God. And you see the point here in verse 19, he accounting God that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead.

He is the God of the impossible. He is the God who can do all things. And the lesson, beloved brothers and sisters, that the Hebrews of all that you and I are learning from this is that in Abraham we see the life of faith. Waiting on God in every situation of the life of the believer, of the child of God. Many things, I'm sure, you ask in your life and asking about your family, your friend, your Job, your health situation. And you ask, well, how, when, why? And you and I ask that. But in every situation, really the answer here is simply trust God, obey His Word, and He's going to answer every question that you have in His time.

Sometimes we sing, in His time, He makes all things beautiful in His time. And that's the lesson that we learned from Abraham and Sarah. Faith waits on God at all times. And when we fail, and when we have lapse on our lives, the thing to do is to confess it before the Lord. And say, Lord, I fail you. To brush up, if you will, ourselves, and to get up, and to continue to go. Don't look within, because within you see disappointment. Don't look without, because without you'll see a lot of discouragement. But to look upwards, where the person of Yeshua is and to see "delightness".

He is such a delight to look at. A man that loved us, gave himself for us, a man that have done everything for us to give us hope, to give us a future, to give us a reason for living. And so we can live our life like, in some small measure, like Abraham, the life of faith. Living for our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah. Can we say Amen to that? Amen.