"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:13-16

In last week's devotion we considered that Abraham believed God's promises long before those promises were fulfilled. Faith comes before the keeping of the promise.

Part two of the Abraham exhibit in our walk through the Bible's Hall of Faith shows us that the way Abraham walked with God by faith is the way all believers walk. Abraham lived over 2,000 years before the time of Christ. God had given the first promise of a Savior at least 2,000 years before that. So from the fall into sin until the birth of Jesus, at least 4,000 years (likely more) went by. In all that time, how many people looked forward to the coming of the Savior but died without ever seeing him? We can't begin to count the number, but they all had something in common.

The verses for today remind us that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who see this world as their home and there are those who view this world as a temporary stop on their way home. Some think of the world as their native land while others view the world as a foreign country which they are just visiting.

Which are you? Is life all about making a buck, moving up the employment ladder, saving up for that exotic vacation or building a bigger house? For people who are deeply grounded in this world, life is all about those things. And sooner or later those things disappear. The money gets spent, the vacation ends, the job goes away and the house gets sold. While those things can be gifts from God, they are not the building blocks of a believer's life. They are just perks of living in this temporary world.

The believer has an entirely different view of life in this world, which follows the example of Abraham. Abraham didn't mind living in tents and wandering from place to place while he waited for God to fulfill his promises. Because Abraham had something greater to look forward to, he was content to live a nomadic life and think of himself as a stranger to this world.

By the grace of God you and I believe and live like Abraham. Because God has worked faith in our hearts, we look to his Son Jesus Christ as the one who is taking us to a better country. We walk the path to heaven by faith in him who is the living way to heaven. Jesus laid that path when he laid down his innocent life on the cross and thereby paid our entry fee into heaven. Through Christ we are on the road to a better country--a heavenly country which, unlike our earthly home, will last forever.

In addition, God is not ashamed to be called our God. The LORD Almighty who made and kept his promises to Abraham and called Abraham his child is happy to call us his children too. The God who guided Abraham's footsteps during his wandering in the Promised Land and helped Abraham in every trouble before calling him to heaven is the God who does the same for us. He is always working to bring us to the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem that he has prepared for us. This is what we have in common with the believers in the Hall of Faith and with all believers of all time. We look forward to our heavenly country as they did and we look to God's promise and plan--fulfilled at Calvary's cross and empty tomb--to bring us there.

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore." Hebrews 11:8-12

How would you like to move out of your house right now and go live in a tent? Not likely? What if you knew that in the meantime someone was building you a brand new house--a house more luxurious than your current one? The idea sounds unbelievable to us, but Abraham, our own forefather in the faith, did something similar.

Abraham is one of the larger figures in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. His faith takes up more space in the Hall of Faith than any other single figure. For our purposes we will divide the Abraham exhibit into smaller sections. Today's section reminds us that faith comes before God's promises are fulfilled.

That may sound so self-evident, but it was no simple matter for Abraham to act on God's promises which he had only by faith. Abraham was from the land of Ur in Mesopotamia. One day God appeared to Abraham and told him to move away from his homeland and wander through the desert wilderness to a new land that God would show him. Not only did God promise Abraham a country of his own but also a great nation of descendants who would inhabit this land. God promised Abraham great blessings--blessings that may have sounded too great to be true. Perhaps to our ears the promises would have sounded too great to believe.

But by the grace of God this was no problem for Abraham. Abraham believed God's promises and he acted on them. The book of Genesis shows us no hesitation from Abraham. He packed up his tents and belongings and headed out across the desert just as God told him to. He even believed God's promise that he--a man of almost 100 years--would have a son of his own and eventually too many descendants to count. Abraham set a great example of faith for us because he didn't need to see God's promises fulfilled before he believed and acted on those promises.

Don't we try to do the opposite though? Often we would like to see God's promises kept before we believe them. When we have to make hard choices about our finances, we would like to see proof of God's promise to provide for us before we trust him to. When illness strikes or tragedy fills the news, we might believe God can make good come from it only if we can see the good with our own eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it" is the motto of the skeptic within us. But living that way is not living by faith. It's not the way Abraham lived, nor is it the way a child of God lives.

What can overcome our stubborn skepticism and give us a heart like Abraham's which trusts and acts on God's promises? The promises of God that gave Abraham faith in the first place. In fact we have an advantage that Abraham did not have. Abraham died hundreds of years before the land of Palestine was under the control of his people and he died thousands of years before the coming of the Savior whom God promised. And we have seen through Bible history how God kept his promise to Abraham to give him a son (Isaac) in whom all nations would be blessed. History shows us God's faithfulness in sending his Son Jesus to take our sins away and open heaven to us by his death and resurrection. God has an impressive track record of keeping the promises he makes.

We also have faith like Abraham when we think of what God has promised us and how God sacrificed his Son to ensure that promise. But we don't need to see God's promises fulfilled before we believe them. We can do as Abraham did and lift our eyes heavenward while we wait for God to keep his promise of a new land to us.

"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." Hebrews 11:7

Do you know what it means to fear God? Not be afraid of God but to fear him. The Bible often talks about the fear of God. Our next stop in our walk through the Hall of Faith shows us godly fear in action as we look at Noah.

You probably remember Noah. At a time when almost no human beings believed in the true God, Noah was one of a handful who worshiped and served the LORD. God didn't overlook faithful Noah and his family in those dark days. When the smell of human sin had grown too offensive to God's nostrils, God announced to Noah that he was going to destroy life on earth with a great flood. In mercy the LORD instructed Noah to build an ark in which Noah's family would be saved along with enough animals to repopulate the earth after the flood.

That story sounds familiar and so simple to those of us who have known it ever since childhood, but have you ever thought about the faith it took for Noah to follow God's directions? To build an ark (which was designed as a big, floating crate, not a boat as is often imagined) when there was no sign of a flood was an act of faith on Noah's part. All the evidence was telling Noah that life on earth was going to go on just as it had with sin growing more rampant every day. Unbelievers who knew Noah must have wondered about their lunatic neighbor who with his sons was building an ark while he warned others about the wrath of God that was to come.

And don't forget that this went on for 120 years! God waited more than a century between the first warning of the flood and the first flood rains. For over a century Noah no doubt suffered ridicule from his unbelieving neighbors while he worked feverishly to follow God's instructions. (The scorn of Noah's neighbors would have been even more intense if the world of that time had developed a very high level of technology as some believe it did. Just imagine what you would think in this scientific age if your neighbor was building an ark in his backyard because he said God told him to.)

But in those 120 years, Noah's faith didn't waver. By faith he built an ark out of holy fear. Noah wasn't afraid of God, but he did fear God. Even when almost all of the people on earth were shaking their defiant fists at their Creator, Noah acknowledged the LORD as the Maker of heaven and earth. Noah still trusted the promise of a Savior that God had made centuries before. Noah respected God's position as the rightful ruler of the universe and knew better than to defy him. And so, out of faith in God and respect for God, Noah lived by God's words even when those words told him something so seemingly ludicrous as to build an ark.

Do we fear God's words as deeply and follow them as faithfully as Noah did? Do we follow God's words even when we can't understand the reasoning behind them? It's easy to trust and follow God's words when we like what he has to say. After all, we like to hear that he loves us and forgives us. Christians gladly listen to that. But what is our response when God's words tell us what we don't like to hear and when his words require us to do the hard things? For example, most people just ignore what God says about the purpose for which he created sexuality and that he intended it for husbands and wives only. Most people disregard what God says about the roles he designed for men and women to fill in the home and in the church. And we don't see too many Christians following Scripture's directions to watch out for those who hold to false teaching and to keep away from them, do we? Those words of God are hard to live by these days because doing so will make us unpopular or will mean giving up sins we don't want to give up.

Surely Noah must have felt the pressure to join in the sins of the world rather than follow the LORD, but Noah remained faithful. And the day came when Noah's faith paid off. How quickly public opinion of Noah and of God must have changed when the first rains of the flood fell from the sky! Did people who had mocked Noah for 120 years suddenly run for cover from the flood, terrified that Noah was right? By his faith, Noah condemned the world, the writer of Hebrews tells us. Noah believed what most others refused to believe--that the LORD is God and that he means what he says. In a tragic way, Noah condemned those who refused to believe as he gazed out from the ark and watched the wrath of God sweep away those who didn't fear the LORD.

At the same time, Noah became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. This righteousness is Christ's righteousness. Noah by faith looked ahead thousands of years to the time when God would keep his promise and send the Savior who would live a sinless life and provide for all people the righteousness that counts before God. Noah by faith embraced the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world one day. Because Noah believed the promise of God, he already had the saving righteousness that Jesus Christ would eventually provide. And so Noah stood holy and righteous in the eyes of God. That was why Noah showed such godly fear.

We who trust in Christ are also heirs of the same righteousness as Noah. Looking back on the promises that God made and kept about the Savior, we too serve the LORD out of holy fear. There's no doubt that living in godly fear of the LORD means we will have to do things that will make us unpopular or which we find hard to do. Jesus promises us that. But like Noah we serve the LORD while looking patiently to the fulfillment of his words. Jesus once said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man" (Matthew 24:37-39). People may laugh at us and make fun of us now for our faith. But public opinion will change in an instant when the day of judgment breaks, the dead are raised and Christ appears on his judgment throne.

So, be patient, follow believers! Listen to God's words! Hear them, believe them and live them with holy fear as Noah did. The day is coming when we will be delivered from this world of suffering and will stand with Noah and all of God's people in glory.

"By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:5-6

In this third entry in the Hall of Faith, we meet a little-known believer whose life has become an example of one of the great truths of our faith. This man is Enoch.

Genesis 4:17 tells us that Enoch was the first son born to Cain after Cain murdered Abel. How did the son of a murderer make it into the Bible's Hall of Faith? It wasn't because Enoch was without sin. Enoch is here, however, because his faith sets an example for all of us and has something to teach us.

Very little is known of Enoch. But the writer of Hebrews alludes to a cryptic statement in Genesis 5:24 which reports: "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." Although we know nothing specific about his life, Enoch is remembered as one of the very small handful of believers who entered a blessed eternity without first tasting the bitter cup of death.

But what does this have to do with faith? Enoch walked with God, as Genesis tells us. In other words, Enoch had such a strong faith that it was obvious to others. His faith showed by his works. Every day of his life, Enoch was conscious of the fact that he was a child of God, and he walked or lived in such a way that it showed.

What made Enoch's life so pleasing to God that God would commend his faith and even spare him the painful experience of death? Not Enoch's works themselves but the faithful spirit in which he did those works.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, the writer of Hebrews tells us. Any human work, no matter how noble and selfless it may appear to the world, is filthy and worthless to God when it is not done by a believer. Only those people can truly please God who trust in him and in his promises--particularly the promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through the Savior whom he sent.

Faith is what makes the difference between the works of a Christian and the works of a non-Christian. Faith makes otherwise detestable works beautiful and pleasing to our heavenly Father. Which would you rather hang on a bulletin board at home--a vibrant Michelangelo painting or a messy, smudged finger painting by a child? No contest--the finger paint. Why would you be happier with a messy work of art than with the work of a master? If it was YOUR child's painting, you'd understand. God our Father looks at our works that way. Even though the works are not intrinsically pleasing and may be not even valuable in the eyes of the world, our good works do please God because the people who do them are his children--people whose hearts have been renewed and have become his dwelling places through the gospel.

Isn't that amazing? Our holy and righteous God is actually pleased with our works! He is pleased with them because we who do them are covered in Jesus' perfect righteousness. All the flaws and faults that sin has put into our works have been smoothed out by the Savior's blood. Therefore, our holy God commended Enoch's works just as he commends our works. So as we strive to do what pleases God--and as we fall short of perfection every day--God delights in our works and finds them pleasing for Jesus' sake. What an inspiration Enoch's example is for all of us to walk with God day by day.

Hebrews 11:4

"By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."

Moving along to the second exhibit in the Hall of Faith, we come to Abel.

Do you remember Cain and Abel from your Bible history? Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, was a farmer. He worked the ground while his brother Abel tended flocks. Both Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God, but only Abel’s sacrifice pleased God.

So jealous was Cain that he murdered his brother, but the murder of Abel is not on display in this exhibit. The writer of Hebrews recalls only the sacrifice that Abel made. What was the difference between Abel’s sacrifice and Cain’s? It wasn’t that God likes flocks more than crops. Fruits of the field would have made a suitable sacrifice too. The difference between the sacrifices of these two brothers wasn’t in what was sacrificed but in how those sacrifices were made. Abel offered his sacrifice “by faith” as the writer tells us.

Without faith it is impossible to please God (as we will be reminded in a later exhibit). Abel had faith while Cain did not. No matter how many fresh fruits and vegetables Cain may have brought to the LORD, that sacrifice would never be acceptable to God because the heart of the giver wasn’t in the right place. Cain was an unbeliever. But Abel was a child of God. He was a righteous man, which means he looked forward by faith to the Savior whom God had promised his parents on that dreadful day when they sinned in the Garden of Eden. Abel was righteous because of the righteous Savior, God’s own Son who would one day live a righteous life for him and for us all. By faith Abel looked forward to the Savior and thereby had the righteousness of Christ as his own. Because Abel was covered in the righteousness of Christ, Abel’s works were pleasing to God. Only the works of God’s people are pleasing to him, and so God was pleased to accept Abel’s offerings and even praise him for his offerings.

But what about that curious statement at the end of the Bible verse—“And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead”? What is that all about?

Genesis 4:10 tells us that Abel’s blood cried out to the LORD. God in his justice could not ignore Cain’s heinous crime against his brother. But Abel didn’t just cry out for justice. To this day Abel’s faith cries out to us as an example to follow. It shows us how a faithful child of God gives his first and finest offerings to the LORD. Even though Abel became the world’s first murder victim, he lives forever in the Bible as a righteous man who put his faith and love for God into action. And so Abel still speaks to us believers today.

How will people remember us after God has called us to heaven? Will our faith continue to speak even after we have left this life? Our children and grandchildren and all our loved ones will remember us for something. Will it be that Grandpa was an avid fisherman or that Grandma was a wonderful cook? Will people remember us for all those years we put in at the job and for how much we loved football? Or will they remember how much we loved God’s word and spending time in his house and living his word in our lives? Wouldn’t it be great if people remembered us with comments like, “She was in church every Sunday,” “He taught his family God’s word” or “They really loved the Lord”?

If people are going to speak that way about us, they need to hear our faith speak to them now. People will remember us for the fruits of our faith just as we still remember Abel for his. That will only happen because the Holy Spirit feeds our faith with word and sacrament and draws our hearts to the cross of Christ where we find the forgiveness of sins.

So, what will people say about your faith one day? How will you speak to the world after you are gone?