Go Back? Never!

Go Back? Never!

(No. 3478)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1915.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY
13, 1871.

"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 an heavenly country." Hebrews
11:15,16.

Abraham left his country at God's command and he never went back. The
proof of faith lies in perseverance. There is a sort of faith which
runs well for a while, but it is soon ended and it does not obey the
Truth of God. The Apostle tells us, however, that the people of God
were not forced to continue because they could not return. Had they
been mindful of the place from whence they came out, they might have
found opportunities to return. Frequent opportunities came in their
way. There was communication kept up between them and the old family
house at Padan-Aram. They had news concerning the family house. More
than that, there were messages exchanged–servants were sometimes sent.
There was also a natural relationship kept up. Did not Rebekah come
from there? And Jacob, one of the Patriarchs, was driven to go down
into the land, but he could not stay there. He was always uneasy, until
at last he stole away from Laban and came back to the proper life, the
life that he had chosen–the life that God had commanded him to
live–of a pilgrim and stranger in the land of promise. You see, then,
they had many opportunities to have returned, to have settled down
comfortably and tilled the ground which their fathers did before
them–but they continued to follow the uncomfortable life of wanderers
with weary feet, dwelling in tents, who own no plot of land. They were
aliens in the country which God had given them by promise!

Now our position is a very similar one. As many of us as have believed
in Christ Jesus have been called out. The very meaning of a Church is
called out–by Christ we have been separated. I trust we know what it
is to have gone outside the camp bearing Christ's reproach. Henceforth
in this world we have no home, no true abiding home for our spirits.
Our home is beyond the flood. We are looking for it among the unseen
things. We are strangers and sojourners, as all our fathers
were–dwellers in this wilderness, passing through it to reach the
Canaan which is to be the land of our perpetual inheritance. I shall
this evening first speak to you upon–

I. THE OPPORTUNITIES WHICH WE HAVE HAD, AND STILL HAVE, TO RETURN to
the old house if we were mindful of it. Indeed, in the text it seems to
me as if the word, "opportunities," were not, in our case, nearly
strong enough. It is a wonder of wonders that we have not gone back to
the world and to our own sin. When I think of the strength of Divine
Grace, I do not marvel that saints would persevere, but when I remember
the weakness of their nature, it seems a miracle of miracles that there
should be one Christian in the world at a single hour. It is nothing
short of Godhead's utmost stretch of might that preserves a Christian
from going back to his old unregenerate condition! We have had
opportunities to have returned. My Brothers and Sisters, we have such
opportunities in our daily calling. Some of you are engaged in the
midst of ungodly men. You have opportunities to sin as they do, to fall
into their excess, into their forgetfulness of God, or even into their
blasphemies! Oh, have you not often strong inducements, if it were not
for the Grace of God, to become as they are or if your occupation keeps
you alone, yet, my Brothers and Sisters, there is one who is pretty
sure to keep us company and to seek our mischief–the Destroyer, the
Tempter! And how frequently will even solitude have temptations as
severe as publicity could possibly bring? There are snares in company,
but there are snares in our loneliness. We have many opportunities to
return. In the parlor–in conversation, perhaps–in the kitchen about
the day's work or in the field, or at the market, on land and on sea.
Where can we go to escape from these opportunities to return? If we
should mount upon the wings of the wind, could we find "a lodge in some
vast wilderness" where we

could be quite clear from all the opportunities to go back to the old
sins in which we once indulged? No! Each man's calling may seem to him
to be more full of temptations than his fellows, but it is not so. Our
temptations are pretty equally distributed, I dare say, after all. And
all of us might say that we find in our avocations from hour to hour
many opportunities to return.

But, dear Brothers and Sisters, it is not merely in our business and in
our calling–the mischief lies in our bones and in our flesh!
Opportunities to return in our own nature. Ah, who that knows himself
does not find strong incentives to return? Ah, how often will our
imagination paint sin in very glowing colors–and though we loathe the
sin and ourselves for thinking of it, yet how many a man might
say–"Had it not been for Divine Grace, my feet had almost gone, my
steps had well-near slipped." How strong is the evil in the best man,
how stern is the conflict to keep under the body, lest corruption
should prevail! You may be diligent in secret prayer and, perhaps, the
devil may have been asleep till you began to pray, but when you are
most fervent, then will he also become most rampant! When you get
nearest to God, Satan will sometimes seem to get nearer to you.
Opportunities to return as long as you are in this body will be with
you to the very edge of Jordan! You will meet with temptations when you
sit gasping on the banks of the last river, waiting for the summons to
cross–it may be that your fiercest temptation may come even then! Oh,
this flesh, this body of this death–wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from it? While it continues with me I shall find
opportunities to return.

And, dear Brothers and Sisters, these opportunities to return are
prepared for us in any condition of life and any change through which
we may pass. For instance, how often have professors, when they have
prospered, found opportunities to return? I sigh to think that many
that appeared very earnest Christians when they were struggling for
bread have become very dull and cold now that they have became rich.
How often does it happen that the poor earnest Christian has associated
with the people of God at all meetings and felt proud to be there, but
when he has risen in the world and stood an inch or two above others in
common esteem, he could not go with God's people any longer? He must
seek out the world's fashionable church and join in it to get a share
of the respectability and prestige that will always gather there– and
he has turned aside from the faith–if not altogether in his heart, at
least in the defense of it in his life. Beware of the high places–they
are very slippery! There is not all the enjoyment that you may think to
be gathered in retirement and in ease, but, on the contrary, luxury
often puffs up, and abundance makes the heart to swell with vanity! If
any of you are prospered in this world, oh, watch, lest you be mindful
to return to the place from where you came out.

But it is just the same with adversity. Alas, I have had to mourn over
some Christians–at least I thought they were–who have grown very
poor. And when they have grown poor, they hardly felt they could
associate with those whom they knew in better circumstances. I think
they were mistaken in the notion that they would be despised. I would
be ashamed of the Christian who would despise his fellow because God
was dealing with him somewhat severely in Providence. Yet there is that
feeling in the human heart–and though there may be no unkind
treatment–yet often the spirit is apt to imagine it and I have known
some absent themselves by degrees from the assembly of God. It is
smoothing the way to return to your old places. And, indeed, I have not
wondered when I have seen some professors grow cold when I have thought
how they were compelled to live! Perhaps they lived in a comfortable
home, before, but now they have to take a room where there is no
comfort and where sounds of blasphemy meet them. Or in some cases,
perhaps, they have to go to the workhouse and are far away from all
Christian communion or anything that could comfort them. It is only
Grace that can keep Grace alive under such circumstances.

You see, then, whether you grow rich, or whether you become poor, you
will have these opportunities to return. If you want to go back to sin,
to carnality, to a love of the world, to your old condition, you never
need to be prevented from doing so by lack of opportunities! It will be
something else that will prevent you, for these opportunities are
plentiful, indeed! Opportunities to return–let me say just this much
more about them–are often furnished by the example of others–

"When any turn from Zion's way, Alas, what numbers do! I think I hear
my Savior say, Will you forsake Me too?"

Departures from the faith of those whom we highly esteem are, at least
while we are young, very severe trials to us. We cannot think that
religion can be true if such a man is a hypocrite. It staggers us–we
cannot understand it. Opportuni-

ties to return you have now, but ah, may Grace be given you so that if
others play the Judas, instead of leading you to do the same, it may
only bind you more fast to your Lord and make you walk more carefully,
lest you also prove a son of perdition!

And oh, my Brothers and Sisters, if some of us wished to return, we
would have this opportunity to return in a certain sense. We would find
that none of our old friends would refuse to receive us. There is many
a Christian who, if he were to go back to the gaiety of the world,
would find the world receive him with open arms. He was the favorite of
the ballroom once. He was the wit that set the table on a roar! He was
the man who, above all, was courted when he moved in the circle of the
vain and frivolous–glad enough would they be to see him come back!
What shouts of triumph would they raise and how they would welcome him!
Oh, may the day never come to you, you young people, especially, who
have lately put on the Lord Jesus Christ and professed His name, when
you shall be welcomed by the world–but may you forever forget your own
kindred and your father's house, so shall the King greatly desire your
beauty, for He is your Lord, and you worship Him! Separation from the
world shall endear you to the Savior and bring you conscious enjoyment
of His Presence–but opportunities to return I have now shown you, are
plentiful enough.

Perhaps you will say, "Why does the Lord make them so plentiful? Could
He not have kept us from temptations?" There is no doubt He could, but
it never was the Master's intention that we should all be hothouse
plants! He taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," but at the
same time He leads us there and intends to do it–and this is for the
proving of our faith to see whether it is true faith or not. Only He
also bids us pray, "Deliver us from evil." Depend upon it, faith that
is never tried is not faith! It must, sooner or later, be tested. God
does not create useless things. He intends that the faith which He
gives should have its test and should glorify His name. These
opportunities to return are meant to try your faith and they are sent
to you to prove that you are a volunteer soldier. Why, if Grace was a
sort of chain that manacled you so that you could not leave your
Lord–if it had become a physical impossibility for you to forsake your
Savior–there would be no credit in your abiding faithful to Him! He
that does not run away because his legs are weak, does not prove
himself a hero, but he that could run, but won't run–who could desert
his Lord, but won't desert Him–has within him a principle of Grace
stronger than any fetter could be–the highest, strongest, noblest bond
that unites a man to the Savior! By this you shall know whether you are
Christ's or not–when you have opportunity to re-turn–if you don't
return, that shall prove you are His. Two men are going along a road
and they have a dog behind them. I do not know to whom that dog
belongs, but I'll tell you directly. They are coming to a cross road.
One goes to the right, the other goes to the left. Now which man does
the dog follow? That is his master! Now when Christ and the world go
together, you cannot tell which a man is following–but when there is a
separation, and Christ goes one way, and your interest, your pleasure
seems to go the other way–if you can part with the world and stay with
Christ, then you are one of His. So that these opportunities to return
may serve us a good purpose by trying our faith and helping us to see
whether we are, indeed, the Lord's or not. But we must pass on (for we
have a very wealthy text tonight) to notice the second point.

II. WE CANNOT TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO BACK BECAUSE WE DESIRE
SOMETHING BETTER

than we could get by going back. An insatiable desire has been
implanted in us by Divine Grace, which urges us to–

"Forget the steps already trod, And onward press our way."

Notice how the text puts it, "But now they desire a better country,
that is, a heavenly." Brothers and Sisters, we desire something better
than this world Do you not? Has the world ever satisfied you? Perhaps
it did when you were dead in sin. A dead world may satisfy a dead
heart, but ever since you have known something of better things, have
you ever been content with the world? Perhaps you have tried to fill
your soul with worldly things. God has prospered you, and you have
said, "Oh, this is well!" Your children have been about you. You have
had many household joys and you have said, "I could stay here forever."
Did you not find, very soon, there was a thorn in the flesh? Did you
ever get a rose in this world that was altogether without a thorn? Have
you not been obliged to say, after you have had all that the world
could give you, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity"? I am sure it has
been so with you. All God's saints will confess that if the Lord were
to say to them, "You shall have all the world, and that shall be your
portion," they would be brokenhearted! "No, my Lord," they would say,
"don't put me off so. Don't give me these husks, though You give
mountains of them.

You are more glorious than all the mountains of praise. Give me
Yourself, and take these all away if so it pleases You, but don't, my
Lord, don't think I can fill myself with these things." We desire
something better!

Notice, next, that there is this about a Christian, that even when he
does not enjoy something better, he desires it How much of character is
revealed in our desires. I felt greatly encouraged when I read this,
"Now they desire a better"–the word, "country," has been inserted by
our translators–they desire something better. I know I do. I do not
always enjoy something better. Dark is my path. I cannot see my Lord, I
cannot enjoy His Presence, and though it may be a little thing to
desire, let me say a good desire is more than nature ever grew! Grace
has given it. It is a great thing to be desirous. They desire a better
country. And because we desire this better thing, we cannot go back and
be content with things which once gratified us!

More than that, if ever the child of God gets entangled for a while, he
is uneasy in it. Abraham's slips–for he made one or two–were made
when he had left the land and gone down among the Philistines. But he
was not easy there–he must come back. And Jacob, he had found a wife,
no, two, in Laban's land, but he was not content. No, no child of God
can be. Whatever we may find in this world, we shall never find a
Heaven here. We may hunt the world through and say, "This looks like a
little paradise," but there is no paradise this side of the skies–for
a child of God at any rate! There is enough out there in the farmyard
for the hogs, but there is not for the children! There is enough in the
world for sinners, but there is not for saints! They have stronger,
sharper and more vehement desires, for they have a nobler life within
them and they desire a better country. And even if they get entangled,
for a while, in this country, and in a certain measure become citizens
of it, they are still uneasy–their citizenship is in Heaven–and they
cannot rest anywhere but there. After all, we confess tonight, and
rejoice in the confession, that our best hopes are for things that are
out of sight. Our expectations are our largest possessions. The things
that we have, that we value, are ours today by faith! We don't enjoy
them, yet, but when our heirship shall be fully manifested and we shall
come to the full ripe age, oh, then we shall come into our wealth–to
the mansions and to the Glory and to the Presence of Jesus Christ our
Lord!

So, then, you see the reason why the Christian cannot go back, though
he has many opportunities, lies in this, that through Divine Grace he
has had produced in his heart desires for something better. And even
when he does not as yet enjoy that something better, the desires,
themselves, become mighty bonds that keep him from returning to what he
was. Dear Brothers and Sisters, cultivate these desires more and more.
If they have such a separating effect upon our character in keeping us
from the world, let us cultivate them much. Do you think that we
meditate enough upon Heaven? Look at the miser. When does he forget his
gold? He dreams of it! He has locked it up tonight and he goes to bed,
but he is afraid he heard a footstep downstairs, and he goes to see. He
looks to that iron safe to be quite sure that it is well secured–he
cannot forget his dear gold! Let us think of Heaven, of Christ, of all
the blessings of the Covenant, and let us thus keep our desires wide
awake. The more they draw us to Heaven, the more we shall be separated
from earth. But I must close with the sweetest part of the text.

III. WE HAVE FOR THIS REASON GREAT BLESSEDNESS.

"Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has
prepared for them a city." Because they are strangers and because they
will not go back to their old abode, therefore God is not ashamed to be
called their God! He might be. What poor people God's people are–many
of them poor in circumstances, but how many of them I might very well
call poor as to spiritual things? I do not think if any of us had such
a family as God has, we would ever have patience with them. We cannot
even have, when we judge ourselves rightly, patience with ourselves!
But how is it that God bears with the ill manners of such a forward,
weak, foolish, forgetful people as His people are? He might well be
ashamed to be called their God if you look upon them as they are!
Acknowledge them–how can He acknowledge them? Does He not, Himself,
sometimes say of them, "How can I put you among the Children?" And yet
He does. Viewed as they are, they are such a rabble in many respects
that it is marvelous He is not ashamed of them–and yet He never
is–and to prove that He is not ashamed of them we have this fact–that
He calls Himself their God! "I will be your God," and He oftentimes
seems to speak of it as a very joyful thing to His own heart. "I am the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," and while He
calls Himself their God, he never forbids them to call Him their God!
And in the presence of the great ones of the earth they may call him
their God anywhere. He is not ashamed that it should be so.

We have sometimes heard of a man who has become great and rich in the
world, and he has had some poor brother or some distant relative, and
when he has seen him in the street, he has been obliged to speak to him
and acknowledge him,

but I dare say he wished him a long way off, especially if some rich
acquaintance happened to be with him who should say, "Why, Smith, who
was that wretched seedy-looking fellow that you spoke to?" He does not
like to say, "That is my relative," or, "That is my brother." But we
find that Jesus Christ, however low His people may sink, and however
poor they may be, is not ashamed to call them brethren, nor to let them
look up to Him in all the depths of their degradation and call Him,
"Brother born for adversity." He is not ashamed to call them brethren!
And one reason seems to me to be because He does not judge them by what
they are, but by what He has prepared for them. Notice the text,
"Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has
prepared for them–He has prepared for them a city." They are poor,
now, but God, to whom things to come are things present, sees them in
their fair white linen which is the righteousness of the saints! All
you can see in the poor child of God is a hard-working, laboring man,
who is mocked at and despised, but what does God see in him? He sees in
him a dignity and a glory second only to Himself! He has put all things
under the foot of such a man as that, and crowned him with glory and
honor in the Person of Christ–and the angels, themselves, are
ministering servants to such a one as that! You see his clothes–you
see not him! You see but his earthly tabernacle, but the Spirit, twice
born Immortal and Divine, you see not that! God does. Or if you
spiritually perceive that part, you see it as it is, but God sees it as
it will be when it shall be like unto Christ, without spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing. God sees the poorest child of God as he will be in
that day when he shall be like Christ, for he shall see Him as He is.
It seems in the text that God looks to what He has prepared for these
poor people–"He has prepared for them a city." And I think that by
what He has prepared for them, He esteems them and loves
them–esteeming them by what He means them to be rather than by what
they appear to be!

Now let us look at this preparation just a minute. "He has prepared for
them"–them.I delight to preach a free Gospel, and to preach it to
every creature under Heaven, but we must never forget the
specialty–"He has prepared for them a city." That is, for such as are
strangers and foreigners, for such as have faith and, therefore, have
left the world and gone out to follow Christ! He has prepared for them,
not for all of you, but only for such as He has prepared for the city,
has He prepared the city. But note what it is. It is a city, which
indicates, first, an abiding happiness. They dwelt in tents–Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob–but He has prepared for them a city. Here we are
tent-dwellers, but the tent is soon to be taken down. "We know that
this earthly house of our tent shall be dissolved, but we have a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." "He has prepared for them
a city.'" A city is a place of social joy. In a lonely hamlet one has
little company, but in a city much. There all the inhabitants shall be
united in one glorious brotherhood–the true Communism, Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity in the highest possible degree! There shall be
delightful communion. "He has prepared for them a city." It is a city,
too, for dignity. To be a citizen of the City of London is thought to
be a great honor, and is it sometimes conferred upon princes–but we
shall have the highest honor that can be given when we shall be
citizens of the city which God has prepared!

But I must not dwell on this, delightful theme as it is, for I must
close by noticing you, who are the children of God. Don't wonder, don't
wonder if you have discomforts here. If you are what you profess to be,
you are strangers. Don't expect the men of this world to treat you as
one of themselves–if they do, be afraid! Dogs don't bark when a man
goes by who they know–they bark at strangers. When people stop
slandering and persecuting you, be afraid! If you are a stranger, they
naturally bark at you. Don't expect to find comforts in this world that
your flesh would long for. This is our inn, not our home! We tarry here
a night–we are away in the morning. We may bear the discomforts of the
eventide and the night, for the morning will break soon. Remember that
your greatest joy, while you are a pilgrim, is your God. So the text
says, "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God." Do you
need a greater source of consolation than you have got? Here is one
that can never be diminished, much less exhausted. When the creature
streams are dry, go to this eternal fountain, and you will find it
always springing up! Your God is your true joy–make your joy to be in
your God.

Now what shall be said to those who are not strangers and foreigner?
Oh, you dwell in a land where you find some sort of repose, but I have
heavy tidings for you! This land in which you dwell and all the works
thereof, must be burned up. The city of which you, who have never been
converted to Christ, are citizens, is the City of Destruction! And as
is its name, such shall be its ends The King will send His armies
against that wicked city and destroy it–and if you are citizens of it,
you will lose all you have–you will lose your souls, you will lose
yourselves! "Wither away?" asks one. "Where can I find comfort, then,
and security?" You must do as Lot did when the angels pressed him and
said, "Hasten to the mountain, lest you are consumed." The mountain of
safety is Calvary. Where Jesus died, there you shall live! There is
death everywhere else, but there is life in His death. Oh, fly to Him!
"But how?" asks one. Trust Him! God gave His Son, equal with Himself,
to bear the burdens of human sin–and He died a Substitute for sinners,
a real Substitute, an efficient Substitute for all who trust in Him. If
you will trust your soul with Jesus, you are saved! Your sin was laid
on Him–it is forgiven you! It was blotted out when He nailed the
handwriting of ordinances to His Cross. Trust Him, now, and you are
saved! That is, you shall henceforth become a stranger and a pilgrim,
and in the better land you shall find the rest which you never shall
find here, and need not wish to find, for the land is polluted! Let us
stay away from it. The curse has fallen. Let us get away to the
uncursed and ever blessed, where Jesus Christ dwells forever! God add
His blessing on these words for Christ's sake. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 11:1-26.

VERSES 1, 2. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good
report The names of those who lived in old time are handed down with
commendation because of their faith. If they had had no faith, we would
have had no report of them.

3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear The world was not made out of the world. There was nothing to
make it out of. It was created simply by the Word of God, and our faith
knows that. I question whether we should ever get in the matter of the
Creation beyond what is revealed to our faith. Reason is all very well,
but faith mounts upon the shoulders of reason and sees much farther
than reason, with her best telescope, will ever be able to see. It is
enough for us who have faith that God has told us how He made the
world, and we believe it.

4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts: and by it, he being dead, yet speaks. He spoke by faith when
he lived. Faith makes him speak now that he is dead. What wonders faith
can work! The first saint who entered Heaven entered there, it is
certain, by faith! It was faith that enabled him to present an
acceptable sacrifice, and it was faith that presented him to Heaven. If
the first who entered Heaven entered there by faith, rest assured that
will be true to the last–and none will enter there but those who
believe.

5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was
not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation
he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Beloved, if we cannot get a
translation as Enoch did, let us not be content without getting God's
good pleasure as he did! Oh that it may be said of us that we pleased
God! Then we shall, one way or another, conquer death, for if we do, we
shall triumph over the grave, and if Christ shall come before we die,
we shall triumph in the coming of Christ. Anyhow, faith shall be more
than a match for the last enemy.

6. But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that comes
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Do we not sometimes fail in this matter? We try to
come to God without believing that He is. We seem to pray to nothing,
or to nobody, to a specter, to a phantom. But that prayer which is
accepted is prayer to a real God, of whom we are assured that He is. Do
we not also fail in our belief as to the success of prayer? We do not
fully recognize that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
He that prays, believing that God will be found by him, shall not pray
in vain. Tonight we may well say, "Lord, increase our faith."

7. By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear For there is a fear which comes of faith–a fear which is the
strength of faith's arms, by which it moves us into action. It is not
slavish fear. It is a fit and proper, and reasonable fear, such as any
man must have that believes God's threats. "Moved with fear."

7. Prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned
the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Every act of faith condemns the world. Men who did not believe in God
were, some of them, made to feel condemned, and others were condemned,
even if they did not feel it, when they saw this holy man building a
great ship upon dry land–a ship which he never would launch, but to
which God would bring the sea, so that he would float over the deep
waters, absolutely secure, while others perished. If you want to judge
the wickedness of men, you need not

set yourself to do it in the first place. Live a holy life, and you
will judge the ungodly. I have heard it said that if there is a crooked
stick and you want to show how crooked it is, you need not waste words
in description–place a straight one by the side of it, and the thing
is done immediately! Noah condemned the world and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith.

8. 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 where he went Very easy to read about that, but not so easy to
do it–to tear yourself from home and friends–to go into a totally
unknown country, swarming with enemies, solely on the promise that one
day that country would belong to his seed! It might be hundreds of
years afterwards, but God had called him and Abraham raised no
question, but away he went!

9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange
country. Not building a house there–not becoming a citizen of it, but
always dwelling there in gypsy fashion.

9. Dwelling in tabernacles. That is, in tents.

9, 10. With Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker
is God. He did not build a city. He did not try to do so, "for he
looked for a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is
God."

11. Through faith also Sara 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.And that was good judgment, was it not?
There is no mistake about that. Whatever difficulties may lie in the
way, we may always know that He is faithful who has promised. You are
not past age, my Brother. God will bless you in seeking to do good. You
are not past age, my Sister. Have but faith in God, and then in your
old age you may bring many to the Savior's feet. He is faithful who has
promised.

12. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead. For he
was ordered to be sacrificed. There sprung from one, and him as good as
dead.

12. So many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which
is by the seashore innumerable. Or if this text means Abraham, then his
body was dead and yet there sprang of him a seed "so many as the sand
which is by the seashore innumerable."

13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises. By which
is meant, not that they did not receive the promises, but they did not
receive the thingspromised.

13, 14. But having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek
a country. They have not come to it yet, nor will they as long as they
are here below. They are still seeking a country.

15. And truly, iftheyhad been mindful ofthat country from where they
came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. Abraham, if
he wanted to settle down, might have crossed once more the river and
gone back to Ur of Chaldee. But he did not look for a city upon earth.
He was evidently looking for one somewhere else. The country that he
sought was not beyond the Euphrates, but beyond the narrow stream of
death!

16. But now they desire a better country. Do you feel those desires
within your heart? If not, surely you have no faith, for they that have
faith in the better country desire it.

16. That is, an heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God: for He has prepared for them a city. He might be ashamed to
be called their God if He had unsettled them, and made them long for
another city, and yet had never prepared one for them. The longings of
the saints are but prophecies of the benediction of God! That which He
makes us hunger for, is prepared. The Bread of Life shall be given us,
and that country which He makes us seek, exists, and will be found by
us! Therefore keep your face that way, and let every longing and pining
for the home country reassure you that this is not any dreamland, but
that there is such a place!

17-19. 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 your seed by called: Accounting
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead: from where also
he received him in a figure. Faith does not always account. She is
satisfied with God's Word. But when she does account, then she is great
at accounts, for here is a man who had not heard of the resurrection
from the dead, yet believed in it! Christ had not risen from the dead.
There had been no such Chapter for Abraham to read as that wonderful
one, the 15th Chapter of the first Epistle to Corinthians–and yet his
faith seemed to have a Revelation within itself! God must keep His
promise. Therefore, if I, in obedience to Him, put the promised seed to
death, God can raise him up, for He must keep His promise. He cannot
lie.

20. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Blind as he was, he could see more than many that have good eyes, for
he had the eyes of faith. There is no end to the blessing that faith
can bestow upon others. A believing man can bless his children. I
believe in the blessings of good men. Why should I not? If they are
Believers, they have power with God. Their wishes are prayers. Their
prayers are heard. Their blessings, then, are realities.

21. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of
Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff That wonderful
staff on which he leaned when he came out of Jabbok–that wonderful
staff with which he crossed this Jordan in his poverty, but after which
he became two bands.

22. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the
children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. Faith
touches all sense of things–even a funeral and bones, too–for faith
is good at everything. She can sweep the house and seek diligently. She
can enter Heaven. She can go to the gates of death. Oh, for more of it!

23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his
parents because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not
afraid of the king's commandment Their faith made them hide him, for
that faith laid hold of God, and they were not afraid of the king's
commandment.

24-26. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the
reward