Sermon Tone Analysis

Hebrews 11:1-10

Sermon Title: Confident Faith AND Radical Obedience

Introduction

Good morning once again.

We are thankful to have you with us today.

At this time any children that would like may be dismissed to our children’s ministry time out the doors there at the back of the sanctuary.

I invite the rest of you to open your Bibles or devices to Hebrews chapter 11.

The last time I preached Hebrews five or six years ago I covered this entire chapter in one sermon.

Today we are only going to cover the first ten verses.

The amazing story of Charles Blondin, a famous French tightrope walker, is a wonderful illustration of what true faith is.

Blondin's greatest fame came on September 14, 1860, when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet (over a quarter of a mile) across the mighty Niagara Falls.

People from both Canada and America came from miles away to see this great feat.

He walked across, 160 feet above the falls, several times... each time with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and blindfolded.

One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope!

A large crowd gathered and the buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank.

The crowd “Oohed and Aahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across - one dangerous step after another - pushing a wheelbarrow holding a sack of potatoes.

Then a one point, he asked for the participation of a volunteer.

Upon reaching the other side, the crowd's applause was louder than the roar of the falls!

Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?"

The crowd enthusiastically yelled, "Yes!

You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world.

We believe!"

"Okay," said Blondin, "Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow."

As far as the Blondin story goes, no one did at the time!

This unique story illustrates a real life picture of what faith actually is.

The crowd watched these daring feats.

They said they believed.

But... their actions proved they truly did not believe.

Similarly, it is one thing for us to say we believe in God.

However, it's true faith when we believe God and put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Faith is central to all of life.

For example, you go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce and whose degrees you have never verified.

He gives you a prescription you cannot read.

You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen before.

He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand.

Then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle.

All in trusting, sincere faith!

When it all goes bad… for most of you, at some point things are going to go bad…

What is it that holds you firm?

Today we come to the famous Hall of Faith passage of scripture.

For many, this is a quite familiar passage.

Part of the issue when we come to a familiar passage is that we may become so used to hearing the particular words of a passage that it might cause us to lose sight of the meaning and function in the larger context of the section.

Just prior to this, in chapter 10, the author of Hebrews admonishes and exhorts his audience to persevere and endure amidst “hard struggle”, suffering, persecution, and trials.

He reminds them in 10:39

Hebrews 10:39 (ESV)

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

The theme is perseverance.

Perseverance is the demonstration of faith.

Faith, according to Mohler, is “grounded in what God has done for us in Christ.”

We have our author encouraging them toward endurance and persevering in their faith because Jesus is better (the main theme of Hebrews), and here in chapter 11 he’s going to give them some examples from their past.

Follow along as I read Hebrews 11, verses 1 through 10.

Read Passage:

This is the Word of the Lord.

Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand and apply it to our lives.

I have mentioned this a few times in the last several weeks and months as we have walked through Hebrews, but the author has as one of his primary goals, teaching us how to read the Old Testament.

He wanted his initial audience of Jewish Christians who were tempted to fall back into their old religious ways of worship to read the Old Testament Christologically.

He wants Christians today to also read the Old Testament Christologically.

What do I mean by that?

Throughout the history of redemption in scripture there are shadows and types purposely placed by God that pointed forward to Jesus Christ.

Then entirety of the Bible truly tells one story.

It is the story of the grace of God found only in Jesus the Christ.

As we read the Old Testament we should be careful that we are not imposing something on it that isn’t there.

However, as we look back we see that the true people of God, even in the Old Testament understood the old covenant to point forward to a coming Messiah.

They recieved it by faith.

Just as we look back and receive by faith the effective, saving, grace of God looking back to Christ’s life, death, and resurrection they looked forward through the shadows of the old covenant and recieved it by faith.

I.

An Eternal Commendation (v.1-2)

Their commendation

This isn’t talking about temporary blessings but a final, end of time, eternal commendation instead of condemnation.

These are the only two options for our eternity.

It’s either commendation (approval) or condemnation.

On the day of judgement you we all will fall in one category.

We will either be approved in Christ Jesus or we will stand condemned without Jesus.

It’s that stark and that serious.

There’s not another way out.

The natural question for a Jewish Christian that would have been reading Hebrews or hearing it read for the first time would be to think about their ancestors and wonder, what about Moses?

What about Abraham?

How do they get brought into this story of forgiveness and grace in Jesus Christ.

They were alive on earth and died before the earthly ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

The author aims right for this question because he knew they would have wondered this.

I was even asked about this several weeks back as I preached through Hebrews.

He gives them a plain answer.

They recieved approval from God because they exercised faith.

In Romans 4:1-12, Paul makes a consistent point that is really the same here.

Al Mohler explains it this way, “These passages demonstrate the consistent and clear New Testament teaching that the redeemed from Israel who lived before the death and resurrection of Christ were saved because they trusted God to be faithful to his promises.

Their faith was a messianic faith.

They had an assurance that they invested in the promises of God.

They hoped in things yet unseen, in a deliverer that had been promised but had not yet come.”

As I said earlier today, they looked ahead to the savior just as we look back to his sacrifice and resurrection.

And their faith was exercised.

They demonstrated their faith by the way they lived.

II.

Faith Walked

Several times in chapter 11 you see these two words, “by faith...” I don’t want us to speed past these words because doing something by faith is important.

We can live by faith or not by faith.

In the very beginning, in verse 1, our author describes faith.

It is described as:

The assurance of things hoped for...

The conviction of things unseen...

Assurance: Greek *hypostasis* also translated “confidence.