Grace and peace are yours through God the father who is not ashamed to be called our God, for he has prepared a heavenly city for us. Amen.

God of all grace, you sent your Son Jesus to open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Make us certain that because he lives, we too shall live. Even though we were not there at Christ’s death and resurrection, make us sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Give us the faith of Abraham who was looking forward to the city with foundations, the new Jerusalem in heaven that you promised him and your Son won for him. Help us to understand as Abraham did that we are but strangers here in this world. Heaven is our real home. Amen.

In 1957 an article appeared in an Arizona newspaper that contained a list of predictions about things that would happen by the year 2000. Some have come true and some haven’t. Here are just a few predictions from the list: 1. It predicted that housework would be totally mechanized, that we would just have to push a button and a robot would vacuum the carpet, clean the windows, do the dishes, and all the other household chores. My wife can attest that that one hasn’t come true yet. 2. It predicted that we would be living longer. It was right. The average life expectancy will soon be 80 and over. 3. It predicted that by the year 2000 the birth of babies would be completely controlled, that there would never be any unwanted pregnancies, and that conception would primarily take place through artificial insemination. That’s wrong, too. People are still conceiving the old-fashioned way, and will probably continue doing so for a long time to come.

Now, the list went on, but the point is this: In 1957, as people were looking forward to the year 2000, they compiled a list of things that they thought would happen. But in actuality, only a few were right and there were many that weren’t even close to coming true.

It’s difficult to figure out the future, isn’t it? It’s hard to pull back the curtains and see how things are going to be 10, 20, or 30 years from now. But we do wonder. The young couple wonders what the future has in store for their new child. The single parent wonders how he or she will be able to hold their family together in the future. The elderly wonder if their future includes health problems or a nursing home.

In order to help us better understand the future, we can learn a lot by looking into our past. That is really what the writer to the Hebrews was doing in our sermon text. He is encouraging the Hebrew Christians to have a strong faith like their forefathers did. By looking at their forefathers like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they would then be better prepared for the future. That is exactly what we are going to do today. Fellow Christians, have faith in the future, not depending on our experience, but trusting in God’s promises.

Our text begins: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. … By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." What does the author mean with the word "faith"? It is not some hunch-following, some blind leaping into the dark. Nor is it some hoping for the best, carelessly disregarding facts and assuming all will be well. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for," the author states. "Being sure" means having solid confidence. Faith brings the future into the present because it makes things hoped for as real as if we already had them. Christ’s second coming in glory and our full enjoyment of eternal salvation are not only hoped for, they are real to us. We are to live like they are already ours. They are our inheritance. Jesus already told us in our gospel lesson that the heavenly Father has been pleased to give us his kingdom. (Luke 12:32) It is ours. We are just waiting to take possession of it.

We are certain of what we do not see. Though we have not seen the creation or the crucifixion, we believe they happened. Though we did not witness the floodwaters rising above the mountain peaks or the Savior rising triumphantly from the Easter tomb, we believe they took place. Though we have not heard Jesus’ actual voice pardoning our sins and promising his return, yet we believe. For the believer, faith is a sixth sense making the invisible seen and certain.

So, you see, our faith in the future is not dependent on our experiences. If we had to experience things to actually believe they were true, then we could not believe in miracles, or God, or the resurrection on the last day. We couldn’t believe in the power of baptism or Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper. We have to take God’s Word on it. We must have faith. Faith is divorced from human experience. You just gotta have faith!

How does this apply to our daily lives? You can apply these wonderful verses in so many areas of your life, but one area comes immediately to mind – troubles. We must have faith in the face of troubles. Even though we are God’s children, we will still face trouble in the future. Job said, "As surely as the sparks fly upward, man is born to trouble." (Job 5:7) In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34)

So I am certain that the future, even for Christians, will not be trouble-free. But the question is, "How will we deal with the trouble?" We need to have the kind of faith of the one who wrote, "I do not know what the future holds, but I know Him who holds the future in His hands."

The Romans had a legend about a man who longed to attend the King’s banquet. Finally the day of the banquet came and he took his seat at the banquet table. But as he sat down, he looked up and saw above his head a sword suspended by just a thin thread. Throughout the whole banquet he just sat there, afraid to move, frozen in fear that the sword would fall upon him. The legend said that because he feared the future, he was not able to enjoy the present.

We cannot let our future troubles paralyze us. If you have an unshakable faith in the Lord, then I can promise that, with God’s help, you will be able to handle the troubles that come your way. Then you can enjoy the present.

In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon wrote: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot." There is a positive and a negative. Do you hear it? "A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

He is saying that it is all going to be there – glory and gloom, tragedy and triumph, the good and the bad, the positive and the negative. Search for the balance and handle trouble with God’s help when it comes your way. Don’t depend on your own experience. Let God’s invisible hand guide you and comfort you. Have faith in God for your future.

You can certainly have faith in the future as you trust in God’s promises. We can learn a lot by looking at and learning from the faith of Abraham. "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."

Abraham consistently trusted God, taking him at his word and following his direction even when there was nothing to see and even when what he saw seemed impossible. Not knowing the direction, but trusting God’s directive, he left his homeland in Mesopotamia. With no map in hand, but with God’s call in his heart, Abraham went out into the unknown. Faith is that way! It is content to go forward blindfolded because it trusts God’s leading.

By faith Abraham saw the invisible. In fact, it is amazing just how far Abraham’s faith saw. He even looked beyond the earthly Canaan to the eternal city in heaven. God is the architect and builder of this city. With the "eyes of faith," Abraham saw his real home as the new Jerusalem in heaven. (Hebrews 12:22).

Abraham was "looking forward" to this heavenly home. He was living and finally dying in expectation of it. How shortsighted we are at times! How foolish we are when we turn the binoculars around and focus in on earth’s sand rather than on heaven’s shores.

"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."

Abraham trusted that although he was 99 years old and his wife was barren, still God would miraculously give them a child. Abraham trusted a God who could never be unfaithful and a promise which therefore could not remain unfulfilled. When it comes to God and his promises, the word "impossible" does not belong in a Christian’s vocabulary.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph never saw God’s promises of the Land of Canaan or the great nation that would grow from them or the promised Messiah that would come from their line. Yet they believed! Like Moses on Mt. Nebo, viewing the Promised Land from a distance (Dt 32:52), they saw God’s promises from afar and believed them. Faith’s telescope brought God’s promises into view so that these faithful forefathers are pictured as waiting in joyful anticipation of them.

They admitted, "that they were aliens and strangers on earth." They were "strangers," people residing temporarily someplace other than in their real home. Can you read this section without being both rebuked and encouraged? We love to sing, "I’m but a stranger here, Heav’n is my home," but in life’s reality it is often so different. Eyes that should be tramping toward Canaan’s shores are mired in earth’s swamps. Hands that should be reaching for eternal treasures are wrapped around gaudy marbles. Backs that should be straining in kingdom effort are bent over in valueless pursuit.

If we allow ourselves to be chained to the earth we will miss God’s blessings for our lives. One night, two heavily intoxicated men went down to their boat to return to their homes across the bay. They got in and began to row. They rowed hard all night, wondering why it was taking them so long to get to the other side of the bay. When the sun came up, and as the two became more sober, they discovered that their tie down had never been loosened, and that their anchor had not been raised. Many people are trying to live by faith in similar fashion. But they have a problem. They cannot believe because they are tied to this world. Cut the cord! Set yourself free from the burdensome weight of earthly things, and you will soon go forward like Abraham.

As Jesus told us today: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:33-34) In order to have faith in Jesus, we must be willing to give up all that we have, and cut the cord that anchors us to the world.

What a rebuke these this section of Scripture gives to us. But also what encouragement. "Go forward," it tells us, "it’s worth it. The God you trust is absolutely reliable. He means what he says and does what he promises. He said that heaven is your home and there you will surely stand at his right hand. Have faith in the future, not depending on your own experience, but trusting in God’s promise. Then you, too, can live in that heavenly city that God has prepared for you." Amen.

We, like our forefathers of old, are longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Amen.