We are in Hebrews 11, verse 16. Let me read this whole passage about Abraham’s forward-looking faith.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
We have noticed throughout this passage that it is faith produced by grace that redirects our affections from this world to the next, from earth to heaven, from now to them.
This is basically one way we can determine whether we are practical atheists. I’m not talking about theological atheists, who argue that there is no god, but rather Christians who live like there is no god. They value man’s authority over God’s authority, they believe more in the material world than the spiritual world, and they value this life more than eternity.
Abraham wasn’t like that. He took God at His word, by faith saw the rewards of heaven, and lived his life for eternity.
And this leads us to our second point in this text. First, faith produced by grace redirects our affections. Second, faith produced by grace also arouses God’s affection for us.
Look at verse 16b, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
“Therefore,” on the basis of this kind of faith that focuses our hearts and minds on God’s future, heavenly rewards, “God is not ashamed to be called their God.”
This is so incredible! To think that God not ashamed to be referred to as my God. It doesn’t bother him that I claim him as my God, rather it delights him!
When I served as a hospice chaplain I would sing hymns to my hospice patients. Over the years I sang many of the hymns in The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration. I found six hymns, and I never would have expected this, that talked about God’s smiling face.
For example, the hymn Jesus, I Am Resting Resting by Jean Pigott, begins the fourth verse with “Ever lift Thy face upon me As I work and wait for Thee; Resting ‘neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus, Earth’s dark shadows flee.” Yes, when we see His smile all the pain and heartache of life begins to disappear.
Or take the hymn He Keeps Me Singing, by Luther B. Bridgers, where the third verse joyfully exclaims: “Feasting on the riches of His grace, Resting ‘neath His shelt’ring wing, Always looking on His smiling face—That is why I shout and sing.” You can shout and sing and claim the sweetest name of Jesus because you keep your eyes focused on “His smiling face.”
In the hymn O That Will Be Glory by Charles H. Gabriel, he talks about the joys of heaven: friends will be there, joy will overflow, “Yet, just a smile from my Savior, I know, Will through the ages be glory for me.” That smile will be our joy and delight throughout eternity.
Other hymns that have that concept—the smile of God—are Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts, Sunshine in My Soul and Trust and Obey. Look them up and let these songs edify your heart.
Far too many Christians feel that God’s countenance towards them is a frown, not a smile, laboring under the false supposition that God in his wrath is about to rain down lightning bolts of anger toward them. Nothing could be further from the truth as a Christian.
There’s no doubt that God’s heart must be grieved by sin and evil in our world but that is not the main headline! God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son for us!
The image of God’s smiling face first appears in the priestly blessing of Aaron mentioned in Numbers 6:24-26: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
The image of God’s face shining upon someone paints a picture that signifies God’s divine favor. Like warm rays from the sun, God’s favor is shining upon his people. When we read “the Lord make his face shine upon you” it shows God’s radiance warming our lives with love, grace, compassion, guidance, joy, and all other attributes that flow from him. Again, we see the abundance in which God blesses his people.
To “be gracious to you” shows that this isn’t something we deserve; rather it’s unmerited grace that God is giving us. Because God loves us, he gives us what we need and not what we deserve. That’s grace.
God was not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham, even though Abraham faltered and failed numerous times. In fact, God later proclaimed to Moses, “I am [present tense] . . . the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). The most notorious weasel of them all was Jacob, and God delighted in calling Himself Jacob’s God. And did you know that God refers to himself three times more often as the “God of Jacob” than of Abraham or Isaac?
“Not ashamed” (cf. 2:11) is a litotes implying that God is willing and happy to be called their God. Our author uses this figure of speech in the negative “not ashamed” to emphasize the more positive: God is proud to be my God. He delights in associating His name with mine.
No higher tribute could be paid to any mortal. But God proudly claims whoever trusts and obeys him, and they can humbly insert their name in the divine proclamation, “I am the God of __________!”
We all have seen or heard of family members who turn their backs on a member of the family that is erring and rebellious and who has caused them shame. Do you realize that Jesus would never, never do that of you? He would NEVER do that to you.
Jesus said to Mary, after his disciples had all abandoned him, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17).
Did you hear it? “Go to my brothers…” My brothers! Even though they had abandoned Him in His greatest time of need, he still regards them as brothers. Back in Heb. 2:11 we read that Jesus Christ was “not ashamed to call us brothers.”
It is faith, not perfect obedience, that brings pleasure to God. It is our dependence upon Him, recognizing that we are weak and needy and powerless. It is trust that does manifest itself in obedience and endurance, but it is primarily the faith that pleases God. Remember Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please [God].” So the reverse is also true: God is pleased with our faith. That is what delights his heart.
On what basis does God delight in calling himself my God, or Jesus calling himself my brother? The answer is right there in v. 16. Notice that God “has prepared for them [and for us] a city” (v. 16b). This is the New Jerusalem that will come down upon the New Earth. This is a reference to our eternal home.
And what was their response to this marvelous promise of a New and Glorified City that would be established on the New and Glorified Earth? They “desired” it! The word “therefore” in the middle of v. 16 points back to the first half of the verse. In other words, it is because these OT patriarchs “desired” a better country that God is not ashamed of them. Faith focuses the heart and the mind on those future promises of God.
So how is it that God is not ashamed of us when we are so often ashamed of ourselves? It has to do entirely with His grace! I remember reading a few years ago about a pastor in his early 30s who was diagnosed with cancer. After many tests, the doctors gave him the worst possible news. He was dying of cancer—sooner rather than later. It turned out exactly as the doctors predicted. He lived for a few more years and then he died. But as long as he was able to preach, he spoke to his people about what he was learning. The young pastor was given an insight that he shared with his congregation. It went something like this.
Twenty seconds—and the clock is running!
When you begin your Christian life, you realize that you have a long way to go, but you think to yourself, “I’ve got a lifetime to grow in grace.” Even though you know that you’ll never reach perfection in this life, you assume that over the years, you will grow much closer to God. And while you struggle with various sins, bad habits, and a long list of negative tendencies, you think, “Someday I’m going to be a better person.” After all, when someone points out a weakness to us, what do we usually say? “I’m working on that,” which means, “Give me time and I’ll get better.”
But what if you don’t live long enough to make even the elementary progress that you planned on making? That’s the dilemma this young pastor faced, knowing that he didn’t have much longer to live. And it was precisely at this point that he gained wisdom from God.
He realized, “I’m not going to live long enough to get any better. I’m going to have to die the way I am right now.” That’s a shocking and sobering truth! Suddenly you look up at the scoreboard and where you thought you were in the middle of the second quarter, with plenty of time left in the game, to your dismay the clock shows 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. And the clock is running!
What do you do then? It’s either the grace of God or it’s nothing at all. The young pastor shared with his congregation a fresh insight from Romans 5:8, a verse we normally use in our evangelistic efforts with the unsaved, the Romans Road: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Did you notice the word “still”? “Still sinners.” Jesus gladly gave His life for us while we were “still sinners.” That word “still” comes from a tiny Greek word—eti. Christ died for us while we were “still sinners.” You and I, we were and still are “sinners.” The dying pastor got up and said something like this: “I realize for the first time that I’m going to heaven because of that little Greek word eti. I am still a sinner, and I don’t have any time left to get better, and when I die, I’m resting my hope on the fact that Christ died for me while I was still a sinner.”
Near the end, William Jay visited his friend John Newton (the composer of Amazing Grace), who was then barely able to speak. He wanted some advice on being a pastor, a successful pastor. But Newton said: ‘My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.’”
That is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what “being saved” really means. That is our entire hope of heaven.
All of us who believe in Jesus Christ, even the very best among us, have so far to go that we’ll never live long enough to measure up on our own. Someone else has to do the work for us. And the good news is that Jesus Christ did. He lived a perfectly obedient life and then died a sacrificial death in the place of those who did not and could never live that perfectly obedient life.
That is why Paul says, in Philippians 3:4-8, that all those things he had counted on and depended upon for righteous standing before God before, he now counted “as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [and then notice verse 9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith… (Phil. 3:7-9)
That is what pleases God, our faith, our total dependence upon His grace and goodness towards us. It is this kind of total dependence that brings a smile to God’s face.
And why is God smiling? What makes God proud to be called my God? He gives two reasons, one at the beginning of verse 16 and the other at the end. We’re going to look at the latter one first.
“God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared for them a city.” As John Piper says, “The first reason he gives why he is not ashamed to be called their God is that he has done something for them. He made them a city—the heavenly city “whose architect and builder is God” (verse 10). So the first reason he is not ashamed to be called their God is that he has worked for them. Not the other way around. He did not say: “I am not ashamed to be called their God, because they made for me a city.” He made something for them. That’s the starting point. The pride of God in being our God is rooted first in something he has done for us, not vice versa” (https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-unashamed-god)
We also called that “city” heaven, or the New Jerusalem. God has prepared it, but not for everyone, only for “them” who live and die in faith. All preparations have already been made, as Jesus promised His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3) It’s a “prepared” room in a “prepared” city” in a “prepared kingdom” (Matthew 25:34). It’s just like C. S. Lewis said, in The Last Battle, everything prior is but the title page. From the time of death or the rapture everything will just get better and better from this time forward.
But such is not the case for all people. For those who refuse to believe a different prepared ending occurs: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:41)
And that brings us back to the first reason why God delights in being called our God.
It goes like this: “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” “Therefore” signals that a reason has just been given for why he is not ashamed. The reason is their desire. They desire a better country—that is, a better country than the earthly one they live in, namely a heavenly one. This is the same as saying they desire heaven, or they desire the city God has made for them.
So two things make God unashamed to be called our God: he has prepared something great for us, and we desire it above all that is on the earth. So why is he proud to be the God of people who desire his city more than all the world? Because their desire calls attention to the superior worth of what God offers over what the world offers.
In other words, the reason God is proud to be our God is not because we have accomplished something so great. But because he has accomplished something great and we desire it. (John Piper, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-unashamed-god)
Heaven has been prepared for you and God delights in being your God IF you believe that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is sufficient for your forgiveness. If you go back to trusting in yourself and your own goodness, then it is not heaven that is prepared for you and God will say, “I never knew you.” If you don’t possess this kind of faith, then cry out “Help my unbelief.”
Let me summarize four lessons from this paragraph in Hebrews 11:13-16: First, see God’s promises fulfilled in the future tense. Bank on them. Second, embrace your foreignness on this earth. Remind yourself that this is NOT YOUR HOME. Third, redirect your conscious thoughts and yearning desires toward heaven. And fourth, revel in God’s delight in you…and delight in Him.
Each example of faith that the writer has cited so far is a positive one involving a believer who kept on trusting God and His promises in spite of the temptation to stop trusting. That is what the writer was urging his readers to do throughout this epistle: Keep on trusting and do not turn back. In every case God approved and rewarded the continuing faith of the faithful.
Grace Still Amazes 