Your True Home Address

Dr. Michael Youssef: God intended for humanity to live in a garden. But because of sin, Cain chose a city. And if you compare the garden with the city, the contrast is incredible.
Guest (Female): Bible teacher on Leading The Way, Dr. Michael Youssef.
Dr. Michael Youssef: In the garden there was no loneliness because they fellowshipped together and they fellowshipped with God. In the garden there was no worry and anxiety. In the garden there was no hatred. There was no envy, there was no malice, there was no evil. God was there.
Guest (Female): Hello and welcome to Leading The Way. When God saved you, your eternal address immediately changed from a dark corner in hell to a bright mansion in heaven. But what does it really mean to have a home in heaven? Coming up next on Leading The Way, Dr. Youssef helps you understand through his message your true home address. Hey, where do you listen or watch Leading The Way? Be sure to tell the team when you call: 866-626-4356. Or when you go to LTW.org. More later. Right now, listen with others across six continents to Dr. Michael Youssef.
Dr. Michael Youssef: My text comes from the Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 13, verse 14. The word of God said, "For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come." In the context of this epistle, the writer is talking about the men and women of faith of the past. How they lived the life of a pilgrim, a life of a sojourner, a life that looked forward to that city that is not built with hand like Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Moses. There were men and women of faith looked forward to that day. And he turns around and he challenges the Christian of his day, and he said, "You too need to be like that." For we have not here in this life, a city, an abiding city, a permanent city, a city that would go on forever. But we are looking forward. We are seeking the city that is not built with hand. For we have here no abiding city. And yet, when you look around at what's happening anthropologically in the world and sociologically, you find that people love the city. They love city life. There is a lure to the city. Cities may be crime-riddled, pollution-filled, drug-infested, rampant immorality. Yet millions of people migrate into the great cities of the world every year, every single year. And cities are indeed a paradoxical. And by that I mean, they contain two opposites. You find in the city creative vitality and decay at the same time. You find in the city masses of people, and yet there is massive loneliness. You find in the city there are vibrant hope, and yet there is dull despair. Big mansions and homeless people. They attract the opposites. What does the scripture say about the city? That concept of the city. How did the city come about and became a reality? Why does the scripture insist that for the men and women of faith must affirm that we have here no abiding city, no permanent city? I want to answer these. The first time we ever hear about a city in the scripture is in Genesis chapter 4. In Genesis 4:17, the Bible said, "Cain built a city." Walked out and built a city. After murdering his brother, after sheathing hatred toward his brother and ultimately killed Abel, Cain went out of the face of the Lord. He went out to hide from the Lord and he built a city. It is his way to escape from God. It is his way to run away from God. In the city he hoped that when he builds a big city, that he might meet people, varieties of people. They might have amusement parks to help take his mind off the guilt and the pain of guilt. In the city he hoped that he might find a strong drink that might deaden the pain of his heart. In the city he saw there might be night clubs, there might be some entertainment, there might be all kinds of things that would divert my attention from the voice of God that is haunting me and saying, "Where is your brother?" You see, listen very carefully. God intended for humanity to live in a garden. But because of sin, Cain chose a city. God intended for humanity to live in paradise. But Cain went out and he built a city. He opted for the city. And if you compare the garden with the city, I mean, the contrast is awesome. The contrast is incredible. In the garden there was no loneliness because they fellowshipped together and they fellowshipped with God. In the garden there was no pollution. In the garden there was no fear of crime. In the garden there was no worry and anxiety. In the garden there was no economic recession. In the garden there was no hatred, there was no envy, there was no malice, there was no evil. God was there. Cain built the city. But the scripture said that we have no abiding city. For the very founding of the city, the very foundation of a city is built upon a rebellion against God. It had the purpose of running away from God, of rejecting God, of turning away from God. By the time you get to Genesis 11:4, it gets even stronger. While at least initially Cain had in mind running away from God, while in his mind he thought he could hide from God. By the time you come to Genesis 11:4, you read them say this: "Come, let us build ourselves a city." But not just a city, with a tower. You see, they have become so sophisticated now, so they're not just building a city, they're building, that's a high-tech stuff now. I mean, they're building a tower. They want to reach up to heaven. They want to reach up to God. Isn't that the stages of sin? First you try to run away from the guilt, you try to deaden the pain of guilt, and you try to cope with guilt. And the next thing, what do you do? You don't want to deal with God, you don't want to deal with the people of God, you don't want to come to church. You don't want to meet with any Christians because they're constantly reminding you. And the next thing you put yourself as God. That's what the stages. Historically, that's how it happened. They wanted to make a name for themselves. That's what they said. "Let us make a name for ourselves by building a city." With a tower that reaches up to heaven. Their glorification, their self-centeredness. They wanted to build a city, and yet the scripture said, "We have here no abiding city." But you know what God did? God just let them carry on. You want to build a tower, build a tower. And you know what? With a click of his finger, what did God do? He created the first United Nation. That's the greatest confusion you ever met. That came about in Babylon. He confused them so much. He said, you know, they couldn't even talk to each other, they couldn't understand each other, they couldn't communicate with each other. But it gets even worse. By the time you get to Genesis 18, you find that Satan has tightened his grip on the city. You find that he, Satan, has enlarged his influence, and you find that he has expanded his stronghold upon the city. Not only over those who voluntarily surrendered to him, but that's where the heartbreaking comes in. But he has extended even to the believers. In Sodom the tragedy was not just the unbelievers have become perverted and they have become immoral. But the believers got caught in that lifestyle too. And you would have a hard time distinguishing between the believers and nonbelievers. They all looked alike. They all thought alike. They all dressed alike. They all behaved alike. They all lived alike. You see, believers find it difficult to resist the pressure of the permissive culture. And they too get bogged down like Lot. Friends, here's the tragedy of our modern day. The believers, even in the church institution, have bought into the permissiveness of modern culture. And like Sodom and Gomorrah, they got mixed. And nobody can tell the difference. That does not break a heart of a believer. I don't know what will. You see, the city teaches everyone to be self-centered. The next step is that it is only me that I need to take care of. Listen to some of the commercials on television. It may be expensive, but I'm worth it. The world is at your fingertips. All you need to do, you have a key, you open the world to happiness and joy, and it's called a little plastic card. Never tell you that this little key can open a big hole that buries you if you're not careful. It is time for us to wake up. What we don't understand that these commercials are not just about products. Listen, our spiritual warfare is not against the executives on Madison Avenue. Our spiritual warfare is with the devil in his high places, with the spirituality. And they're the ones who are using those executives as their tools. And the devil comes in and he teaches our generation, our younger generation, that in commercials you can have three things. Number one, that all problems are solvable. Number two, that all problems are solvable quickly. Number three, that all problems are solvable quickly through an agency of technology. It might be a drug, it might be a detergent, it might be a computer, it might be a piece of machinery of some sort. The essential message is this, that any problem that besets us, whether it is lack of self-confidence, whether it's boredom, whether it is to do with money problems, they're all solvable. If only we allow ourselves to be ministered to by technology. Who needs God? Well, in 30 seconds you got all the problems are solved, whatever it may be. Who needs God? You have to understand that this is what this is doing to the minds of our young people. Scripture said we have no city here, abiding city. And they spend so little time with the word and in prayer to help combat the pressure that is building in their minds. And the scripture said, "We have no abiding city here." And whether it is the city of Cain, the city of Babylon, the city of Nineveh, the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, whether it's the city of Tokyo, the city of New York, the city of San Francisco, London, or Atlanta, Georgia, there is one basic problem with the city, any city. It is designed, it is founded upon one principle, upon one premise, and that is self, me. And that's why we have no abiding city here. It was Bismarck, the German Chancellor, who said that the great cities are a great source upon the body politic. We have no abiding city. As men and women of faith, we have no abiding city here. Now, why doesn't the Christian have an abiding city? Why? I tell you why. Because there can be no harmony between the principle of self-death, which is the foundation of the Christian faith, and the principle of selfishness and self-love and self-centeredness. There can be no harmony between the method of the sacrificial service and the mastery of covetousness. There can be no harmony between the determined proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world and the determination of a self-centered lifestyle. There can be no harmony between those who know and believe and practice the biblical doctrine that we have here no city that is abiding and those who live a life that there is no hope beyond the grave. There can be no harmony. There can be no harmony between those who are awaiting the coming of Christ and those who are hoping for some sort of a utopia, some sort of a blissful, elusive happiness that's going to come. There can be no harmony between those who look forward to the city that is not built with hand, as we're going to see in the next message, and those who are awaiting the reincarnation to be a reptile, a cat, or a dog, or something. There can be no harmony. There is no harmony. You can't bring them together. We have no city, no abiding city here. For we are men and women of faith. Are you a man, a woman of faith? Can you say, "We have no abiding city?" You see, we belong to another place. We really do. This is not our home. We are here ambassadors of that planet, of the King of Kings. For we are men and women of holiness and righteousness. We don't belong to this world. And let me tell you something, if you do not have that tension in your life, there's something wrong. You either have never surrendered your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, or you never understood the Christian faith. Those two have to stand in tension until the day we close our eyes in death or the day when the Lord returns back. That tension has to be there. Because you don't belong to this world and yet you live in this world. The cities are built not by faith but by sight because they are in their essence an attempt to run away from God. Here we have no continuing city because we are men and women of faith who are continuing. You see, you don't begin your eternal life when you die. You begin your eternal life, you already become a citizen of heaven, and you become a stranger to this world and become an ambassador in this world representing another, another realm the day you surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. Your eternal life already began. Because we put on incorruption right now. Though we live in a corruptible world, but we already put on incorruption. We are those who believe that only way to deal with sin, the only way to deal with the cancer of sin, the only way to deal with the leprosy of sin is by bringing it at the feet of Jesus Christ, to the foot of the cross. He alone can give you that peace. He alone can give you the forgiveness. A trip away is not going to do it. A cruise is not going to do it. Running away is not going to do it. Doing whatever you want to do is not going to do it. Burying yourself in your business is not going to do it. Nothing is going to do it as Cain himself has experienced. Only when you come and surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ and, "Lord, I blew it and I need your forgiveness." He will cleanse you. And you know at that time, as you get rid of the city, figuratively speaking, God begins to plant a garden in your life, in your heart. He gives you a garden and gives you joy and gives you excitement and looking forward to being with him in that city that is not built with hand. Here we have no abiding city. Yet we've been placed in cities. We are placed in the cities for one reason, and that is to make him known. To call out to men and women to escape from the judgment to come. They may make fun of us as they did of Noah. They may ignore us as they did in Sodom, but that's our calling. We're placed in the city to warn, but also to express the love of God. Are we not been placed here in order that we may get bogged down with the world and what the world is doing? We are not placed here to get bogged down in materialism. We are not placed here to get bogged down like they are. Oh, it's so easy to get bogged down in the city. Think their thoughts, live their lifestyle, become like them. Christians, that's what's happening to you and to me. Often in trying to tell others that we have no city here, we let them convince us that, yes, we do. Instead of raising their hopes up and lift them up, they pull us into despair. Instead of lifting them up from the mire of materialism and covetousness, they weigh us down with the love for the world. Instead of enthusing them about the ultimate city, they infect us with the burden of covetousness. We have no abiding city here. Some of you have been living, figuratively speaking, in the city with all its self-centeredness, with all its me-ism. Your heart is conforming to the concept of the city, and God has been calling you and saying, "I want to give you a garden." "I want to take you from this city. I want to give you peace. I want to give you joy. I've been trying to speak to you Sunday after Sunday, day after day, through your friends and your loved ones, and you're not listening to me." "Get rid of the city, receive my garden." Your hope is so tied and kneaded in the city. God said, "Get entangled." I want to give you a garden for you have no abiding city here. Will you surrender the city in your heart? And will you receive today from the Lord Jesus Christ, the garden of joy, the garden of peace? His own presence. It not only begins here but continues on forever.
Guest (Female): Thank you for being a part of this episode of Leading The Way. Learn more about Dr. Michael Youssef and the impact of Leading The Way's gospel reach at ltw.org. Hey, are you still looking forward to a little downtime this summer before the fall comes? Won't you consider reading Dr. Youssef's timely book offering insight into the unique time in which we live? Here's more information. Before your feet hit the floor, your mind is flooded. Unfinished responsibilities, unresolved personal battles. In moments like these, praising God may be the last thing you want to do. But it's exactly where you need to begin. In his foundational book, "Empowered by Praise," Dr. Youssef reveals how you can look to Jesus in the midst of life's trials. He reveals practical, biblical ways to live a life of praise each day, including four ways to invite God to set up camp in your life, five ways praise renews you, a profound exploration of 11 names of God and what they reveal about his nature, plus a bonus chapter-by-chapter reflection guide in the back of the book. Experience the deep, abiding joy of glorifying God with all you are. Request your copy of "Empowered by Praise" for your gift of any amount to Leading The Way. "Empowered by Praise," you will read several personal stories about how praise led Dr. Youssef to experience God's presence and God's power in new ways. And you'll discover some very practical ways to focus your eyes and your heart on joyfully pursuing God and his glory. These ways will change your life. I love this book. Get your book on the way today when you call us at 866-626-4356. That's 866-626-4356. You can also go to ltw.org. Dr. Youssef is offering to send you a copy of "Empowered by Praise" when you give a gift to Leading The Way for any amount. That's ltw.org. When you become a Frontline Mission Partner, you become part of a family of brothers and sisters in Christ who share the same heart cry, "Lord, send me, use me." And each month, God will use your prayers and gifts to advance his kingdom in ways you could never imagine by recurring monthly gifts, ensure uninterrupted ministry outreach. Consistent monthly gifts allow us to forecast resources and maximize kingdom impact. Monthly giving allows us to respond quickly to new opportunities. Your monthly commitment fuels life-changing gospel ministry. As a token of Dr. Youssef's appreciation for joining as a Frontline Mission Partner, you'll receive a special photo booklet of your gifts at work and 20% off all biblical resources in our online store. To become one of Dr. Youssef's Frontline Mission Partners, visit ltw.org/frontline. This program is furnished by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world. Learn more at ltw.org.