“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 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 hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Hebrews 11:8-10 (Read Genesis 12)

James wrote (James 2:18): “Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” And most certainly, we see Abraham’s faith by his works.

It is as we read in Genesis 12:1-3, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

And how did Abram respond? Genesis 12:4-5 says: “So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”

After going as far as Haran and staying there until his father died (Acts 7:2ff.), Abram heeded God’s command and promise and traveled to the land of Canaan, where he lived as a stranger – never possessing more than a field and cave for a burial place – but trusted God’s promise that his descendants would possess the land and that God would fulfill His promises to make of him a great nation and through his Seed to bless all the nations of the world (cf. Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14ff.; 15:5-6; 17:3-8; 22:15-18).

It was by faith that Abraham moved to this new, foreign land and dwelt there – because he believed God’s promises and trusted that God would fulfill all His words and promises and send One who would redeem him and all mankind from sin and its punishment. As we read, Abraham “believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

Do you have faith like Abraham? You say you have faith in God and His promises, but what has that faith moved you to do? You say you believe that Christ Jesus died for all your sins and rose again; does that faith move you to live in the confidence that God is merciful and forgives you all your sins through faith in Jesus’ name? Cf. Romans 1:16-17; 5:1-2. You say you believe that Jesus will come again and raise up all who died to give to all who trust in Him eternal life in heaven, but do you fear death? Cf. 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4:13ff.

You say you believe that God will provide for all your needs. Do you fret and worry? Cf. Matthew 6:25ff. You say you believe that God will care for you and bless you if you trust Him and give generously and sacrificially to the work of His kingdom, but do you give as He has blessed you? Cf. Proverbs 3:9-10.

You say you believe God’s commandments and the teaching of His Word are good and right, but do you trust God’s Word enough to shun sin and resist evil and false doctrine to walk in His ways? Cf. Proverbs 3:5-8; 8:13.

Perhaps God has called you to enter into His service as a pastor, teacher or missionary. Perhaps He has called you to leave your family and homeland and travel to some faraway place to serve Him and bear witness to Christ Jesus? Do you follow His leading, trusting that He will care for you and provide for all your needs?

Indeed, the list could go on. Abraham had faith in the LORD God and His promises, but that faith also moved Abraham to act. He left his homeland and his people and sojourned in a foreign land, trusting that God had a better plan and that God would fulfill His promises. As the writer to the Hebrews states, Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

And so, the question follows: “What about you and me?” We trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood shed for us upon the cross for our salvation. We look forward to our eternal home in heaven which is given us for Jesus’ sake. Do we live out our faith? Do we live for the kingdom of God? Or, do we live for this world and the pleasures of this world? Are we living in accord with our professed faith? Are we looking “for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”? Cf. 1 John 2:15ff.; James 4:4.

Once again, the Bible tells us: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). And when we do, we see our sinfulness, our failings to live and walk by faith. We see our need to repent and look to Jesus and His cross for forgiveness, and then also for the help and strength to amend our ways and walk by faith.

And, in Jesus there is forgiveness, and in Jesus there is life. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2). And God tells us: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye” (Psalm 32:8; cf. Psalm 32:1ff.).

O dearest Jesus, forgive us for our failures to truly trust You and live our lives in that faith. Have mercy upon us for the sake of your shed blood. Cleanse us from our sin and move us to live by faith, trusting in You alone for forgiveness and life, and living our lives here in this world in faith, looking “for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Amen.

Centered paragraph.

“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Hebrews 11:7 (Read Genesis 6-9)

When the number of people grew upon the earth, so also did the wickedness and rebellion against the Lord God. The believers (sons of God) intermarried with unbelievers (daughters of men) and the result was more and more people who did not walk in the ways of the Lord but followed after the imaginations of their own hearts — after their own evil thoughts and desires.

Genesis 6 says, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them’” (v. 5-7).

The account continues, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord … Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God” (v. 8, 9).

God told Noah, in days when the earth was yet watered by a mist (Genesis 2:6), that He would send rains and a flood upon the earth to destroy man and beast. And God commanded Noah to build an ark to save himself, his family and two of every kind of animal from the coming flood (Genesis 6:14ff.).

Even though a flood like that of which God warned was unheard of in Noah’s day, Noah believed the Lord and prepared an ark, warning others around him to repent of their wickedness and turn back to the Lord (cf. 2 Peter 2:5). By so doing, Noah forsook the present world and became an heir of the righteousness of God which is by faith.

Similarly, God calls upon all mankind today to repent and return to Him, warning that “the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). God will once again judge this world and all mankind. As He was, at the time of the flood, forced to destroy those who would not repent and turn to Him for mercy, so He will soon condemn all who reject Him and the salvation He offers in the cross of Jesus. This present world and all of man’s evil works will be burned up on that day when Jesus Christ returns.

Those who heed God’s warning and repent, trusting in Christ Jesus and His shed blood for forgiveness and life, forsake this present world and look forward to another in which there will be everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness. They are forgiven and accounted righteous through faith in Jesus and walk in fellowship with the Almighty God by that faith and confidence in Jesus and His sacrifice for the sins of the world.

And God’s judgment is coming. But He is being patient with us, not desiring that any perish, “but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He calls us to turn from our evil ways, looking to Jesus and His cross in faith for forgiveness and life everlasting!

O dearest Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us, forgive us and grant us a place in your everlasting kingdom. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned.” Lamentations 3:40-42

The book of Lamentations is the tearful cries of the prophet Jeremiah as God’s judgment fell upon His people and as the nation and the holy city of Jerusalem were destroyed and those who survived were carried into captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah had testified against the wickedness and rebellion of God’s people and he witnessed the judgment which came upon the people and nation because they failed to heed God’s calls to repent.

The situation today is much the same. Our nation and our people are in rebellion against the Lord God who has so richly blessed us. As a nation, we seek to cast off all ties to God and His Word. We reject Him and His Anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Psalm 2).

And God’s judgment is beginning to fall but people don’t consider it and heed the warnings of God’s Word to repent of their evil ways and return to the Lord God who gives us life and all blessings and who won for us forgiveness of sins and eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son, Christ Jesus, in our stead. Cf. Psalm 10:5; 2 Chronicles 7:14.

This, of course, is true for our nation and people as a whole, but it is also true of our churches and those who profess to be Christians. Churches and their ministers have turned aside from the God of the Bible and have attempted to mold God into their own image and likeness. They have rejected God’s Word given to us in the Bible and have substituted their own words and opinions. Instead of preaching God’s commandments and condemning sin as sin, they have preached their own words of tolerance and acceptance of all manner of sin and say nothing of God’s judgment. And, instead of preaching salvation by God’s grace alone and through faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ and His bloody atoning sacrifice upon the cross, they preach a multitude of other ways to obtain heaven and eternal life.

These words most certainly apply to each of us as individuals. We may assume that all is well with our souls because of our religious worship and works, or we may assume that we can live as we please as long as we go to church, confess our sins and hear the absolution and partake of the Supper of our Lord. But God urges each of us to consider and heed these words: “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned.” Cf. Isaiah 1:1ff.; 55:6-7.

We may like to imagine that we are not living in sin, that we are not in need of self-examination and repentance, but God’s Word warns against such self-confidence and urges us to consider our ways and repent! God tells us: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). We are to examine ourselves in the light of God’s Word and repent, looking to Jesus and His shed blood for pardon and forgiveness.

Our catechism (The 1943 “A Short Explanation of Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism,” Question 324) offers us this guidance: “We should examine ourselves to see — A. Whether we truly repent of our sins; B. Whether we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior; [and] C. Whether we have the good and earnest purpose with the aid of God the Holy Spirit henceforth to amend our sinful lives.”

David, in Psalm 139, prayed: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (v. 23-24).

God’s Word urges us to compare our lives with what God says in His Word and to repent of all that is sinful and evil, looking to Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness and then seeking, with God’s help, to amend our ways and to walk in His ways, continuing in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting!

Reveal to me my sinful and erring ways, O Lord, and move me to repentance and true faith in Christ Jesus, my Savior. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.