Abraham, A Pattern To Believers

Abraham, A Pattern To Believers

(No. 2292)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 22, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"By faith he (Abraham) 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 has
foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Hebrews 11:9,10.

ABRAHAM'S life, taken literally, is full of instruction, but we shall
be wise to take the spirit of it and endeavor to make it our own. We
cannot live just as Abraham did, but we can carry out the great
principles which lay at the root of Abraham's life and, if the Holy
Spirit will work in us a like degree of faith to that of the holy
Patriarch, we may glorify God by our lives, even as he did.

The first point in which we must follow him is that our life must be a
life of faith. We cannot be children of believing Abraham unless we
live by believing. If you follow your senses, you go by what you see.
Now, by what this poor flesh would teach you to desire, you will know
nothing of the life of Abraham. He was a man who saw what eyes can
never see. He heard what ears can never hear and he was moved, guided,
actuated by motives which men of the world can never feel. He was a
great man, a very prince among men–first, chief and father of all
believing men–but he owed the preeminence of his character to the
greatness of his faith. We must have his faith and we must live by it,
as he lived by it– and then God will be able to make something of even
such poor, feeble creatures as we are.

Let me remind you of what we read in the sixth verse, "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." If
we would be like "faithful Abraham," we must begin by being Believers.

Abraham is, in three things, a pattern to us who believe, and those
three things will be the divisions of our subject tonight. He is a
pattern to us, first, in the mode of his living–"He sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents." Secondly,
Abraham is a pattern to Believers in the company he kept–"With Isaac
and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." And, thirdly,
Abraham is a pattern to Believers in the home he looked for–"For he
looked for a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is
God."

I. First, dear Friends, it should be our anxious desire to imitate
Abraham spiritually IN THE MODE OF HIS LIVING. How did he live?

Well, first, he lived as a man cut off from old associations. He had
dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, on "the other side of the flood," as the
Scripture says, and he was called to leave his family, his estate, his
country–and go to a land which he had never seen, and which God
promised, ultimately, to give to his family to be an inheritance
forever. Abraham was not disobedient. He left his country and he
journeyed to the land pointed out to him. Now, dear Friends, we are
not, as a rule, to leave our friends and kindred. We would be very
ungenerous and ungrateful if we did. There may, however, be occasions
when even that may have to be done, but we are really to leave our old
associations, our unspiritual, sinful, worldly associations and to come
right out. You who are born of Christian parents and live in godly
families, do not know much about this coming out, for you are
singularly shielded. But there are some here who, if they become
Christians, will get "the cold shoulder" from everybody in the house. A
man's foes will, in their case, be they of his own household. They will
have to quit their present business. They will have to cut the
connection between them and many ungodly men and women. They will have
to come right out from the old kith and kin of their ungodliness and
each one of them will have to say–

"I am on the Lord's side–

My old companions, fare you well, I cannot go with you to Hell."

Now, Abraham did this and he never went back again, as some do who run
away from their old master for a little while, and then go back to his
cruel service to their own destruction.

I suppose Abraham was called out from the place where he dwelt, to live
a separated life, because his kinsfolk and acquaintances were
idolaters. The Lord said to Israel, through Joshua, "Your fathers dwelt
on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of
Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods." Abraham
must, therefore, be taken away from that connection, that he might
serve the living and true God. "No," you say, "but when he went to
Palestine, he was among idolaters." Yes, but it is one thing to walk up
and down among idolaters, and quite another thing to be in the same
family with them! Abraham was safe enough from idolatry when he moved
about among the Canaanites and saw their obscene worship. But he was
not safe from it in a decent, respectable household like that of his
father, where the teraphim were slyly adored, and the worship of false
gods was carried on without the disgusting abominations that were
common in Canaan.

I think that more people are lost through half-way Christians than
through profligates. Men seldom become drunkards through drunkards.
They become drunkards through–well, we will say no more about
that–you know what I mean. And I do not think that men often learn to
grow up dishonest by the example of great thieves, but it comes through
imitating people who are thought to be honest, and yet can pilfer. Ah,
Friends, it is a good thing to get a man right out from the world, even
from the best side of it, for the best part of the world is bad enough
and complete separation from it, with a deep abyss between it and
ourselves, is really necessary for our spiritual health.

Now, the next thing about Abraham was that while he lived away from his
country, he lived in the land of promise. That was an odd thing, was it
not, that he should be a stranger in the land of promise? God had given
it to him and to his seed by a Covenant of Salt, and yet he possessed
not a foot of it except what he bought from the sons of Heth for a
bury-ing-place. That is all he had. So, today, in this world, perhaps
all that some of you will ever have is about six feet of earth for a
burying-place, and yet it is all yours, it is all yours. You are living
in the land of promise. "The meek shall inherit the earth." They that
fear the Lord are the true possessors of the world and the day shall
come when even this poor world, itself, brought into subjection to the
Christ of God, shall be ours! Indeed, it is ours already and much more
than the world is also ours, as the Apostle says, "Things present, or
things to come, all are yours." Abraham was in the land of promise and
yet he was a stranger in it.

In this point you must be like he. Regard everything about you as yours
and yet consider that you have not anything in actual possession except
that little plot in the cemetery where sleeps one well-beloved and
where you, too, shall sleep, unless the Lord shall come. The point to
be remembered is that we are to be strangers in this world! We are not
to be mistaken for citizens of this world–we ought to be known to be
strangers in it. Abraham never blushed to say, even to the lordly sons
of Heth, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you." He did not want
them to think that he was a Canaanite. I do not know what he would have
done if they had fallen into that idea. Christian people, if you were
what you should be, men would know that you did not belong to this
ungodly race! You have been redeemed from among men. You have been
endowed with a new life to which they are strangers–and it ought to be
apparent in your daily walk and conversation that you seek another
country. This world is not your country and never can be!

Why was Abraham made to be a stranger in that country? I think it was
that he might be tried and that in the trial Graces might be developed
which could never have come out otherwise. And you are to be a stranger
in the midst of your own friends, that your patience may be tried, that
your faith may be exercised, and that your holy longings for the better
country may often break out.

Was he not put there, also, that, being absent from Home, he might
learn to look for it by faith? You are not to be in Heaven just yet. It
is not the time for you to be there. You are to be absent from Heaven
that you may long for it, that you may go there with a better appetite!
I think a boy who goes to school loves home the better when he comes
back for his holidays. Oh, what a Heaven will Heaven be to some of
God's people who spend the most of their time on a hard bed, made
harder by their lying long upon it, and who have none of the comforts
of this life and, perhaps, not too much of the comforts of the life to
come! One hour with our God will make up for everything we suffer here!
But our suffering will go a long way towards making Heaven more truly
Heaven when once we get there.

Abraham was placed in Canaan as a stranger, in this sense, that he had
nothing to do with many of the cares that vexed the sons of Heth. Nor
have you as a Christian anything to do with the cares that vex the
worldling. You ought to have no care to get rich. You are a stranger
here–why do you want to heap up the furniture when you are soon going
away? You ought not to know the worldings' fret and worry. They are at
home and they may well fret. That house is decaying, this furniture is
going out of repair–but what is that to you? It is none of yours! You
are only a traveler stopping at the inn and if the place should fall
down tomorrow, you will be away. You are on your journey Home–you are
not a fixture, as these men are–you take but little concern in the
things that they are most worried about. If I go to Mentone, I do not
trouble about French politics. I know who is the President of the
Republic, but I do not know the name of the great men who sit on his
right and on his left hand, and I do not want to know! If I hear
anything about politics, I like to know what is being done in my own
dear homeland.

So, you Christians, your citizenship is in Heaven. As to these things
which are down below, you take an interest in them so far as they
concern the Kingdom of God and the good of your fellow men, but you are
no partisan. Why should you be? You are a stranger and a foreigner–and
so you keep aloof from party strifes and from those cares and other
things of which the men of the world think so much.

I think, also, that Abraham was sent to Canaan as a stranger to be a
witness for God. These people were soon to be destroyed, but their
iniquity was not yet full, so they had another chance in the living of
a man of God, a Prophet of God, among them. You, my Christian friend,
are a stranger here, and you are living here for the good of those
around you. It may be that you may snatch some brand from the burning.
Be content to stay if such is the case.

Abraham lived there to show the people what God could do for those who
trusted in Him. He was a mere gypsy in the land, moving about with his
tent, and yet he came to be the richest man among them! Abraham was
very greatly blessed in flocks and in herds, for God took care of
him–and I think He did it to say to these Canaanites, "You see, with
all your fret, and all your worry, God's servant, Abraham, gets on
better than you do." So, when the king of Sodom offers Abraham wealth,
he grandly says, "I will not take from a thread even to a shoelace, and
I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have
made Abraham rich." Yet the man was prospered and by his prosperity he
taught men this lesson–that he who trusts in God is no fool. He who
trusts in God shall find, even in this life, as far as he is able to
bear it, and God thinks fit, that the Lord "is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him."

Still, Abraham was, to all intents and purposes, a foreigner in the
land that belonged to him, even as you are strangers in a world that
belongs to you. And as your Lord came unto His own, and His own
received Him not. And as God, Himself, is a stranger in the world He
made, even as David said to the Lord, "I am a stranger with You, and a
sojourner, as all my fathers were."

To make this point still more clear as to Abraham's mode of living, I
want you to notice that Abraham lived in tents. He never erected a
house, he built no booths–he simply had his tent–he pitched it, or
shifted it as he moved from place to place. Why was this? What did it
mean? Not that you should go in a tent, but that you should feel that
everything you have, all round about you, all your possessions, are but
frail things and are apt to change. I know that you begin to look upon
that little property as a very sure thing–be not deceived, the only
sure thing is your God! You are beginning to look upon your worldly
income as pretty certain and you rest upon it. The only thing you may
rest upon is the faithful promises of your God! So you think your wife
will live? Ah, me, I do not wish to grieve you, but if I could
prophesy, I would not tell you how soon she may be taken. You look upon
your children as young immortals–but they are not. You will have to
bury them, or they will have to bury you. All things here pass away.

I cannot tell you the strange joy I felt after the earthquake at
Mentone. I had been to see many of the houses that had been shaken down
and the two churches that were greatly injured, and I was full of the
earthquake. I had quite realized its terrors and its power, and when I
went up the stairs of my hotel, I thought, "Well, at any moment this
may all come down with a run. When I go to bed, it may all slip away."
And I felt a great delight in thinking that I actually realized, not in
a dream, but as a matter of fact, the shakiness of this poor earthquaky
world and how everything in it is without foundation, but is just a
mere tent which might come down at any moment–a gust of wind might
blow it over! When we are most comfortable in it, we may hear a voice
saying, "Up and away! Pack up your tent and journey somewhere else."

Sit loose by this world, I pray you! Let not your roots strike into
this accursed soil. Live here as those who are soon to live there–and
tarry here as men who only tarry till the trumpet sounds, "Boot and
saddle! Up and away, for this is not your rest." When we live so, we
shall live as Abraham did, and as God would have us live.

II. Now, very briefly, in the next place, we must imitate Abraham IN
THE COMPANY HE KEPT–"Dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs
with him of the same promise."

What a fortunate, no, what a gracious circumstance it was that Abraham
could find the best company in his own neighborhood! There are some men
I know that are fine company out of doors, wonderful company, I have
heard say, in the bar-parlor, or at a banquet, but they are no company
to anybody at home. Short, gruff, sharp barks like a wolf–this is all
their family can get out of them. When they are once inside the house,
they are not at home. When they are outside, and far away, then they
are quite at home.

But here is Abraham, who lives in a tent, and has the happiness of
finding his best company in his own family. I suppose that he lived
with Isaac about 75 years. If you calculate, you will find that that is
about the time. Did he live with Jacob? Yes, he must have lived at the
same time as Jacob for about 15 years. He saw his dear son Isaac
married, and twin children born, and he marked their life long enough
to see that Jacob was of that kind that would make a plain man dwelling
in tents–and Abraham found the sweetest company with his own dear
family. May the Lord in mercy convert all our children, and their
wives, and their children–and may we have a church in a house, as
Abraham had a church in a tent! Happy are men who can find their best
company at home!

But that is not the point I want to mention. Abraham dwelt in tents
with those like-minded with himself. We know a man by his company–and
a man is blessed or cursed by his company. Abraham dwelt in tents with
Isaac and Jacob– men of the same spirit as himself, quite different
men, but men saved by the same Grace, men who worshipped the same God,
men who lived for the same end, men who were actuated by the same
principles, men who were co-heirs with him of the promised land! This
is the company I keep. These are the dearest friends I know. If you
need a merry evening, child of God, get together half-a-dozen who are
like yourself–God's children! If you need an evening that you can look
back upon with delight, gather such a company together! Never mind how
poor the Believers are–perhaps the poorer they are the better it will
be, for they will talk more freely with God, often, than some of what
we call the better class–the worse class, I have often had to call
them. Children of God, who really have to look to Him for daily bread,
are often more full of faith than any other class of society. People of
God who know the rough and tumble of the world, those who have stood
its hard usage, those who mix from day to day with ungodly men who
scoff at them–these are the men who come to God in real earnest! They
do not play at religion–they live it! Never mind their station or rank
in life. If they are in good favor with God, let them be in good favor
with you and make your choicest companions among the people of

God.

I have seen some, who call themselves children of God, turn up their
noses at God's best people because they did not put their H's in the
right places, or they spoiled the Queen's English. Bless the dear
souls! If their hearts are right with God, what matters it about the
faultiness of their speech? Ah, how often have our souls been carried
up to Heaven by prayers that violated all the proprieties! And how
often have I been made to feel as dull as death by a prayer that was
wonderfully beautiful in its wording–cold moonlight, no sunshine–a
pretty picture, but no life in it! Give us the life of God and let us
get into our tent with Isaac and with Jacob, and there let us find
Isaac's God, and Jacob's God, and we shall do well!

Dear young Friends, who have lately come to Christ, mind that you keep
company with God's people. I do not want you to have a lot of
acquaintances to talk to, but have one or two. Perhaps two may be
better than one, but one is good enough–one godly Christian to whom
you can go and tell your troubles–one older than yourself who has been
a little farther on the road than you have been. Talk with such saints,
as Jacob probably talked with father Isaac, and Isaac with father
Abraham, while they lived together in the same encampment and dwelt in
tents.

III. Now, lastly, I wish to say something that may lead your hearts
away from this poor, dead, dull world. Let us imitate Abraham IN THE
HOME HE LOOKED FOR–"for he looked for a city which has foundations,
whose Builder and Maker is God."

Note, first, that all saints live with an eye beyond time. You know,
the horse and the cow are quite satisfied as long as there is something
in the rack or the manger–they make no provision for future months.
Young men, when they begin

life, often spend in waste all they get and make no provision for old
age. We do not commend you for your wisdom if you have done so, but we
beg you not only to think of all that may be needed while you are here,
but to think also of the hereafter. Can we live through this transient
span of time and never remember that we have to live forever? Can we
spend all our time upon time and have no view to eternity? FOOLS,
FOOLS, FOOLS, written in capital letters, are they who can use this
life and never regard it as the hinge upon which must swing the great
door of their eternal state! Children of God have an eye to the world
to come. They do not live "like dumb, driven cattle," but they think of
the changeless state into which death, or Christ's coming, may speedily
plunge them–and they live with an eye to that state.

Saints have good reason to live thus. They have not much here, as a
rule. "If in this life, only, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable."–

"Alas, for us, if you were all, And nothing beyond, O earth!"

Alas, for the believer in God, if all he had could be had here! Surely,
we are to be greatly pitied as having missed the grandest end if this
world contains our all! But it does not contain our all–Christians
have a hope beyond the grave! What an awful thing it must be to
everyone here who must die, but who has no idea, yet, of what will
become of him, or, if down deep in his conscience there is an idea of
what it will be–it is, "a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation!" How can you go home happy? How many die in the
streets! How many die in their sleep! I pray you, be not so unconcerned
as to be upon the brink of eternal ruin and yet never to think of it!
God give you to look beyond the grave and make sure work for eternity!

We are told, here, that Abraham expected a city. That is an Inspired
description of Heaven. On earth Abraham had no city. Lot went away to
Sodom to seek a city and that city was burned with fire and brimstone,
and Lot barely escaped with his life. Abraham kept to his tents–he
knew nothing about city life, but, "he looked for a city."

Why is Heaven called a city? Because it is a place of fellowship where
men meet one another! You know, away in the country, there is sometimes
a lonely cottage where they only see a man pass once in six weeks. They
never even see the postman–they must go to get their letters. Heaven
is not like such lonely places. We look upon Heaven, not as a spot
where there will be half-a-dozen people of our own views and
sentiments, but as a great city where there will be a wide fellowship
among a multitude that no man can number!

It will be a city for security, within walls that never can be
attacked, and with streets where there shall never be known an
adversary. Heaven is a city because it is a place of splendor!
Countries glorify themselves by the greatness of their cities. There is
no city like the New Jerusalem!

It is a place of store. Cities have great wealth and great
accumulations of useful things which are not found in villages and
hamlets. In Heaven there is everything that a heart can desire–fruits
new and old laid up by the great Lord for His well-beloved. Heaven is a
place of freedom and, therefore, it is called a city. Men get "the
freedom of the city," here, and they are as proud of it as they well
can be. But, oh, to be liverymen of Glory, freemen of the company of
the perfect, citizens of the New Jerusalem! This is what we look for.
We are looking for a city. We think all this so-called city of London
to be but a dissolving view. We count this great country of England to
be but like a pack of cards which will soon be knocked over. We reckon
the whole world to be but a dream! There is a city, and we are looking
for it!

The text said that Abraham "looked for a city which has foundations."
Saints look for something abiding. Abraham used to pull up the tent
pins and his men would take down the big tent pole and roll up the
canvas, and they were soon away, always moving about that country with
their flocks and herds. The tents had no foundations, but Abraham was
looking for a city that had foundations. There is nothing on earth that
really has a foundation. Even those buildings that seem most firm will
be dissolved and burned up in the last general fire. They are all "such
stuff as dreams are made of," and will be gone before long. But we look
for a city that has foundations. Eternal love, eternal faithfulness,
infinite power, endless bliss, immortal glory make the foundations of
the city to which we are now wending our way, where all is peace and
joy and nothing can ever disturb it! When I think of some of our dear
friends who are already there, who have gone from this city to the city
that has foundations, could I wish them back again? Could you wish them
back to all the sorrow and grief of this poor trying life, back to the
tent which has been dissolved, now that they have gained "the building
of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"? No,
Beloved, stay where you are! We are hoping soon to join you. We can
hear the sound of the coming chariot and we shall soon be with you
where Jesus is!

This was Abraham's way of living, counting everything around him to be
no more fixed and settled than an Arab's tent, and looking for a city
which has foundations.

That city was to have a Builder and a Maker, as all cities have.
Hundreds and thousands of names would have to be mentioned to describe
this city of London and to say who the builders and makers of it were.
You need not be anxious to know them, for they are not good for much,
most of them. The builders and makers of the streets that we go through
had better be forgotten and, I think, their houses, too. But there is a
city that is all built by one Builder, it is the City of God. There
will be nothing there that is trumpery or temporary–everything there
is the best of the best, most suitable for the inhabitants and most
glorious to behold! The very streets are paved with gold, exceedingly
rich and rare. The best builders of earth cannot be compared to the
great Builder above, the eternal Architect, the everlasting Chief Mason
who has built those many mansions where His saints shall dwell forever!

I cannot tell you anything about Heaven. If I could come back for a
while after going there, I would like to come and tell you, but that
must not be. You must read this Book and study it. Above all, you must
get Heaven into your own heart, for you will never have your heart in
Heaven till you have Heaven in your heart. You must have Heaven in you
before you will be in Heaven–and you can learn about Heaven by the
experimental knowledge of the Word of God, by living near to the Lord,
and by an experience of His deep love and His eternal faithfulness.
Thus, there is a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is
God.

Are you going there? Why, there are some of you who have everything
that you own here. You are like the man, when the ship was sinking, who
had all his property round his waist in pieces of gold–which sank him
to the bottom of the sea! Everything that you have is here and it is
sinking you down to Hell! As for us who have believed in Christ, we
have only a trifle of spending money just to pay the toll-gates on the
road–our treasury is up there, on the other side of the river, in the
land of the hereafter, on the hilltops of Glory with the
Ever-Blessed–where we hope to soon be!

Saints look for their Home at the end of their pilgrimage. When a man
goes on a long journey, he likes to have thoughts of his home. How
often have I told you how quickly my horses go home! They seem to know
when their heads are turned homewards–and away they go. They pull up
even the highest of Norwood's hills with all their might because they
are going home! They do not go so fast when they are coming here and I
do not blame them. They know where there is a good feed for them and a
place to lie down–and even a horse goes best with his head towards
home. Come, Beloved, our heads are towards Home, as many of us as
believe in Jesus! We do not need to be lashed as we go up the
everlasting hills! We will pull against the collar with all our might
to get Home as soon as we can!

Oh, but I wish you were all going with us! I wish you were all going
the way that leads to the city that has foundations. Trust Christ!
Trust Christ! He is the Way! Come out from the world. Lead the
separated life. Live upon an unseen God and as surely as there is a God
in Heaven, you shall be in Heaven in His good time, for He will never
leave one Believer outside in the cold! God bless you, for Jesus' sake!
Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. HEBREWS 11:1-21.

This is the triumphal arch of faith. Here we find the names of many of
the heroes of faith and a brief record of some of the battles in which
they fought and conquered. May you and I possess "like precious faith"
as that of which we have here the story! We cannot enter Heaven without
it! We cannot fight our way through the world without it.

Verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. It gets a grip
of what it hopes for and holds it in its hand.

1. The evidence of things not seen. We see by faith. We see by faith
what cannot be seen by our eyes. We grasp by faith what cannot be
grasped with our hands. A strange mystery is the simple act of faith.

2. For by it the elders obtained a good report. All the godly of the
olden time had a good report of God and of holy men as the result of
their faith.

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. They were not evolved out of something else that existed
before–evolution is a rank lie against Revelation! The worlds were not
made, not one of them was made, out of something pre-existent, but they
were framed by the Word of God, and the things which are seen were not
made of things which are seen.

4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
He was a better man than Cain and his offering was a better offering
than Cain's was. But at bottom here was the difference between the two
brothers–Abel had faith and Cain had none. It was "by faith" that Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain presented.

4. By which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks. What wondrous faith
this is! Here is a dead man speaking! Here is a man who is slain by his
brother, yet the one who is killed receives the approbation of God!

5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Faith
has conquered death, itself, or else avoided it. There is scarcely
anything which faith cannot do, for faith ranks itself on the side of
the Omnipotent God, and becomes all but Omnipotent. "By faith Enoch was
translated that he should not see death."

5. 6. And was not found, because God had translated him: for before his
translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without
faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must
believe that He is. He cannot come to a God who, to his own mind, is
non-existent! He must believe that He is.

6. And that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You must
believe that God hears prayer. You must believe that He will punish the
guilty and that He will reward the righteous. Without this sure faith
you cannot come to

Him.

7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. You see, faith
and fear can live in the same heart–and they can work together to
build the same ark. Faith and fear are very sweet companions when the
fear is filial fear, a holy dread of disobeying God. When we are moved
with that fear, our faith becomes practical.

7,8. By the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called
to go out into a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed. He did not hesitate to leave his family, to leave
his property, to leave his country–he obeyed–"when he was called to
go out into a place which be should after receive for an inheritance."

8. And he went out, not knowing where he went. Faith puts her hand into
God's hand and follows where He leads, with sweet contentment, knowing
that if she cannot see, God can, and He will not lead us wrong. Do you
not remember that hymn that our Brother Chamberlain sings so sweetly?–

"So on I go–not knowing, I would not if I might.

I'd rather walk in the dark with God, than go alone in the light.

I'd rather walk by faith with Him, than go alone by sight.

Where He may lead, I'll follow, My trust in Him repose.

And every hour in perfect peace I'll sing, 'He knows! He knows!'" 9,10.
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 has foundations, whose
Builder and Maker is God. There have been many here in this House of
Prayer who have looked for this city and they have gone to it. Others
of us sit waiting here till our Lord's dear hand shall beckon us and
His voice shall say, "Come up higher." We are looking for the city!
Keep looking, Beloved, there is nothing here worth looking for, but
look 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 this holy woman is enrolled
among these saintly ones. Her faith was not all it ought to have been,
but God saw that it was true faith, and He loved it, and He wrote the
record of it.

12. 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 sea shore innumerable. This is true, literally, of Abraham's seed
according to the flesh. It is also true in a spiritual sense, for he is
"the father of all them that believe," and they are a multitude whom no
man can number.

13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
them. What long arms faith has! The promises are afar off and yet faith
embraces them tonight! Embrace the promises, dear Friends, and stretch
out your hands by faith to hands that have gone before–

"Even now by faith we join our hands With those that went before! And
greet the blood-sprinkled bands

On the eternal shore."

13. And confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
They not only were strangers and pilgrims, but they confessed it!
Confessed faith is requisite. Oh, you who, like Nicodemus, come to
Christ by night, be ashamed that you are ashamed–and come out and
boldly confess what you are!

14. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
country. They were strangers and pilgrims here, and they sought a
country elsewhere. Every man needs a country and if we have not one
beneath the stars, we seek it somewhere else.

15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence
they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. Ah,
but God's people are not mindful of that country from whence they came
out! They have opportunity to return, but they have no wish to return.
May God's Grace always keep any of you from turning back, for it is to
turn back unto Hell! Your faces are heavenward today–keep them so.
Remember the doom of any that apostatize. It is impossible, "if they
shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance." "If the salt has
lost its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good
for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."
Lord, keep Your servants! Hold us up and we shall be safe!

16. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:
therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He has
prepared for them a city. They are not ashamed to be called God's
people, and He is not ashamed to be called their God. They are looking
for a city and He has prepared a city for them. Evidently He and they
are well agreed. They need a Heaven and He is preparing Heaven for
them, and preparing them for Heaven!

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 be called: accounting
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also
he received him in a figure. This was one of the grandest achievements
of faith! It was also a figure or type of God's offering up His
well-beloved Son almost on the same spot!

20, 21. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to
come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of
Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. The staff
which had helped him so often in his early pilgrimage, the staff on
which be leaned when he came back from the place of his wrestling,
halting on his thigh. He leaned on it as he sat upright on his death
couch and pronounced the parting blessing. So, you see, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, all lived by faith and did their works by faith, and distributed
blessings to their children by faith. Friend, have you this faith, or
have you not? If you have it, you are blessed among men, blessed among
women! If you have it not, what hope is there for you either in this
life or in eternity?