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Colin Smith: Not yet are we free from sin’s presence or from its power. Not yet do we enjoy lives of perfect peace. Not yet are we free from sickness and from disease. Faith demands patience because of what we do not yet know and because of what we do not yet have.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, there is a lot that we are waiting for, a lot that is still unfinished. I think the question is then, how do we live in the waiting?

Colin Smith: That really takes us to the heart of what the Christian life is. We walk by faith and not by sight, and there are so many things that God has promised that we do not yet have. Here we are, we are still surrounded by temptation. We do not yet have justice across the face of the earth. These things await a time when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in glory.

When you ask the question, how are we to live with what we do not yet have, the answer is we have got to have confidence that one day what is not yet will be. We are looking at the story of Abraham, and he is the most marvelous example of this. The scripture tells us that he was looking forward to a city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God.

He did not see in the world around him, as we do not see in the world around us, the fulfillment of all the promises of God, but he knew that one day what is not yet will be. That confidence and that faith is going to be the basis of our perseverance, and it is the encouragement we need to live by faith in this world in which God has called us to honor him.

Steve Hiller: Let us continue to look at that today. If you can, grab a Bible and join us in Hebrews 11 as we continue Faith Obeys God. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Grow in faith and you will grow in obedience. The more you believe what God has revealed, the more you trust what God has promised, the more you will grow in obedience because that is what faith produces. By faith, Abraham obeyed. Here is something really important for a healthy Christian life: the obedience that faith brings.

Second, the patience that faith demands. Notice verse eight. It begins, “By faith, Abraham obeyed,” and then it ends, “and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Isn’t that very striking? When God called Abraham to a life of faith, he did not tell him what that would involve. He did not tell him where it would lead.

He went out, not knowing where he was going. God did not give him a map to show where he would go. God did not give him a brochure to say what his life would be like when he got there. Faith demands patience because we do not yet know what God has not revealed. What will a life of following the Lord Jesus Christ mean for you?

What does the future hold for you? There is not a single one of us who knows. Jesus says, “Follow me.” When you step out in faith and in obedience to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, none of us knows what that will involve or where that will lead. Luther said, and I love this comment, “This is the glory of faith: simply not to know.”

That is what faith is. The glory of faith is simply not to know. If you knew everything that was going to transpire, you would not so much be walking by faith; you would be walking by sight because you would know. But we do not know. Now we know in part; one day we will know fully, even as we are fully known. Right now, we do not know, and faith demands patience because of what we do not yet know.

Sometimes we will find ourselves asking the question, “Why do I have to go through this? What possible purpose does God have for me in this?” We ask why, and as we see from our Lord Jesus at the cross, the Father is under no obligation to answer the question. We walk by faith, not by sight, and that demands patience because of what we do not yet know.

Faith also demands patience because of what we do not yet have. Look at verse nine. “By faith, Abraham went to live in the land of promise.” That sounds wonderful until you read the next line: “as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.”

Living in the land of promise sounds absolutely marvelous. It sounds like heaven on earth. But actually, when Abraham gets to the promised land, it is anything but heaven on earth. He finds that it is already occupied. In Acts chapter seven and verse five, we read that God gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length. He did not give him a square foot of it.

But God promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. Those of you who know the Bible story will recall this remarkable fact: that God’s people actually had to wait 500 years before God gave them the land. It was only after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, 400 years in Egypt, and even the death of Moses.

Only then, in the time of Joshua, did God give the promised land to Abraham’s descendants. The promised land was not actually given to Abraham. He had the promise of it. When he was in the land, he did not own a square foot. He lived by faith on the promise. In fact, Genesis 23 presses this point home. When Sarah died, Abraham, though he was a very rich man, had to go to the Hittites and buy a plot of ground to bury his wife because he did not own a square foot.

That is the point of Acts chapter seven. It was only given years later. His whole life was lived by faith, and faith demands great patience because he died still not having received the thing that was promised. He lived in tents. He lived on a promise. He endured in the promised land, knowing that one day God would fulfill his promise.

One day God would give him a child. One day God would give to his descendants the land, but that day was not yet. It was by faith that Abraham journeyed to the land, and it was by faith that Abraham lived in the land all his life until the very day he died. Only then was faith turned to sight for Abraham.

Here is an interesting question. Which is harder: the journey of faith by which you go to the land, or the life of faith in which you live in the land? One commentator, Philip Hughes, answers that question. He says, “The situation into which Abraham moved on his arrival in the land of promise was a more severe trial of faith than was his call to leave home and family.”

“It was easier for him to live by faith as he journeyed toward the goal than to do so on reaching the goal and finding that the fullness of all that he had been promised was not yet.” I think that is a marvelous picture of the Christian life. Coming to faith is like Abraham setting out on the journey to the promised land. The Christian life is like Abraham living by faith in the promised land.

I expect that when Abraham set out on his journey to the promised land, he would have thought that this is going to be some kind of heaven on earth. Maybe when you became a Christian, you thought that all of your problems were going to be solved, all of your prayers were going to be answered, and all of your hard days were going to be behind you.

But when Abraham got into the promised land, he had to live by faith because the fullness of all that was promised was not yet. Not yet are we free from sin’s presence or from its power. Not yet do we enjoy lives of perfect peace. Not yet are we free from sickness and from disease.

Not yet is the church without stain and wrinkle. Not yet have the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, not yet do we live in a world of righteousness and justice and peace. Faith demands patience because of what we do not yet know and because of what we do not yet have.

How do you find that patience? How do I grow in the patience that faith demands as I live as a Christian in this difficult world? Well, that is just to ask the question: how did Abraham have the patience? How did he have the endurance? How did he have the strength?

How did he manage to endure going on day, week, month, year after year, living in tents and knowing that he was a stranger in a foreign land? How can you find the patience? How can you find the endurance that you need in a life of faith in which you will experience many frustrations, many struggles, many disappointments, and losses too?

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Faith Obeys God. We have to pause here, but we will get back to this message in just a moment. This message was originally part of a series called Living by Faith, but it has been one of the most requested, downloaded, and listened-to messages of this past year.

We went back and we took a look at what had been the most listened-to messages, and we have taken the top 10 and put them together in a series called Listener Favorites, which is airing all month long on the radio. If you ever miss one of these broadcasts, you can always listen online at openthebible.org or get a copy of Listener Favorites 2026 when you visit our website, openthebible.org. You can also order over the phone when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That is 1-877-673-6365, or again online at openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: I want us to look finally and very briefly at the future that faith anticipates. Here is how Abraham did it. Verse 10: “He was looking forward.” He was looking forward to what? “To the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” You see what this is telling us?

When Abraham got to the promised land, he realized that God had more in store for him than he would ever experience in this world. God had given him great success when he was still worshiping idols. He had made a fortune in those days. We know that from Genesis chapter 13 and verse two. Abraham was very rich in livestock, silver, gold. He had been wonderfully blessed. He was a very rich man.

Then God had given him these marvelous promises that began a whole new chapter of his life, a whole new journey of faith. It is about more than money. He had to walk with God, listen to His word, and put down deep roots into faith in Him, the God who has revealed Himself to me. So he goes to the land and by faith he lives in the land.

Every day of his life in the land was spent looking forward. Notice what he was looking forward to: the city, not a city. The city whose designer and builder is God. Just in case there is any confusion, verse 16 makes it absolutely clear. What he was looking for is the heavenly city.

That is what sustained him: keeping his eye on the heavenly city. That is how he found the patience to endure the world in which he lived. I think if Abraham could come here today and take a look at our world, he would be astonished at the endless arguments that are tearing people apart, radically different visions of what life in our cities and in our country and in our world should be.

I guess that he might say to us something like this: “You are all arguing about how to build your own cities, and I was seeking the city whose builder and designer is God.” The city that Abraham was looking forward to is not created by human progress. He is not thinking that somehow we can shape a brave new world where all human dreams will be fulfilled and all human desires will be satisfied. Only God can do that, and it will only happen in His city.

All of us have goals in our lives in this world. All of us have things we want to achieve: to get to a certain point in your career, to be married, to have a family, to get a certain amount of money that will give you financial security. Maybe you are thinking more broadly, that it is to see certain changes in this world or to see growth in the church. Whatever it is, here is what we learn from the life of Abraham, the man of faith: when you get there, it will not be what you thought.

Listen to these words of C.S. Lewis: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” I guess when Abraham started out on his journey of faith, he really thought that God’s promise would be fulfilled in his lifetime. A life of joy and peace in the promised land is what he was heading for.

But all his life he was looking forward to it, and he died in faith, verse 13, still not having received the thing that was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar. Brother, sister, what we have in Jesus Christ in this life is a taste of what God has in store. It is just a glimpse of what one day we will see in all of its beauty and in all of its glory. It is in looking forward that we are sustained in patience as we live by faith in this world today.

The Christian is always looking forward. You were made for another world, and the deepest thirsts of your soul cannot be satisfied here. They can only be satisfied there in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. To bring this together in these last moments, we have looked at the obedience that faith brings, the patience that faith demands, and the future that faith anticipates.

Someone just might be saying that this is really a very old story. You are talking to us about something that happened 3,000 years ago. You are telling us that God appeared to this man, that God called him, that God gave him these marvelous promises, that he lived in tents, and that he was looking for a city. What in the world does that have to do with us living today in this city and the suburbs of Chicago?

Let me just try and press this home in these last moments. Listen: God has appeared to you. God has appeared to you. Titus says the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. God did not simply appear as a man; He became a man. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He appeared.

God has made Himself known to you in Jesus Christ more clearly than He ever did to Abraham. And God calls you. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, calls you to a life of faith and obedience when He says, “Follow me.” That is for you. It is for each and every one of us. He lays claim to your life, your love, and your loyalty. He calls you as clearly as He called Abraham.

God gives you great and precious promises in Jesus Christ. If you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, peace will be yours, forgiveness will be yours, His righteousness will be counted as yours, the Holy Spirit will be yours, and everlasting life will be yours. And you do, by the way, live in a tent.

In fact, the Bible is very specific about that. That is how the Bible describes the human body. It is a fragile structure that one day will be taken down. Every time we get sick, we are reminded of the fragility of the structure in which we live. We live in a tent. That is what my body is. That is what the human body is like.

Thank God that if you are in Jesus Christ, you can say with the apostle Paul, “We know that if this tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a foundation from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” God has prepared a city for you. Hebrews says of people who believe what God has revealed and trust what God has promised, that they desired a better city, a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. Which is why Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God,” He says, “believe also in me. Here is why: I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again to take you to be with myself so that where I am, you may be also.”

Steve Hiller: That is Pastor Colin Smith wrapping up our message Faith Obeys God here on Open the Bible. What a way to wrap up, thinking about the fact that God has prepared a city for you. He invites you to come. He invites you to receive His love, His forgiveness, and eternal life with Him. I hope that you have accepted that relationship with Christ, that you know Him in that personal way, that you know that your sins are forgiven, and you know His love.

If you do not but you would like to find out more about how you can receive the love and forgiveness of Jesus in your life and how you can receive the free gift of salvation that He offers to you, I hope you will contact us here at Open the Bible. Our toll-free number is 1-877-OPEN-365. That is 1-877-673-6365, or again online at openthebible.org.

As you give a gift of any amount this month, you are going to receive a copy of Pastor Brad Wetherell’s book called Saved to Sin No More. Colin, who is this book for?

Colin Smith: It is really for every Christian who wants to make progress in his or her battle against sin, and that has surely got to be everyone who knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ. I think one of the greatest struggles that we have is just discouragement, and the doctrine of union with Christ is the most encouraging truth that I know in all of the Bible.

Faith unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ so that His presence is in us through the Holy Spirit. When Christ is in us, there is something of the power, the peace, and the joy of the Lord Jesus that is actually in us too. When that is the case, it makes what would have been impossible for us on our own possible because His power and His presence are with us.

Getting hold of what it means to actually have Christ in us and for us to be in Him—that is union with Christ—is going to be the most encouraging thing for moving forward in the battle against stubborn sins that often defeat us.

Steve Hiller: We would love to send you a copy of this book. Again, it is called Saved to Sin No More, and it is our thank you for your financial support this month. You can give a gift online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-673-6365. That might be easier to remember as 1-877-OPEN-365. Again, our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I am Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you will join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: A single conversation can change your life, and that happened to me at a conference many years ago. Over lunch, I sat next to a pioneer missionary. He told me the story of how he had made contact with an unreached tribal group in northern Thailand, how the tribal chief had invited him to make his home there, how he built his own home and then learned the tribal language and began to serve these people. It was jaw-dropping stuff.

At one point in the conversation, I asked him, “Where do you begin in explaining the gospel to people who do not even know who God is?” And he said, “We tell them the Bible story.” Now, I am convinced that we need to learn from the approach of pioneer missionaries in reaching lost people today. That is why I wrote Fly Through the Bible.

Fly Through the Bible is short, simple, and shareable. It is a place where someone in your life can begin. So who is there in your life who needs to know the God of the Bible and might be willing to open the Bible with you if you ask them? For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That is openthebible.org/fly.