30) The Righteous Live by Faith
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
We come today to the section of Hebrews that Christians are most familiar with. Chapter 11. Sometimes called the “Faith Hall of Fame”, of the “Faith Chapter” among other titles. In my experience, the chapter tends to be taught almost as its own book of the bible where it is taken out of the context of Hebrews and taught from.
Though the sermons I have been in have not been unbiblical in any way or false teaching there is a depth to this section and a purpose that God is communicating though this section.
Last week we heard the encouragement that God was giving the believers at this time of trial. He reminded them to remember the time that they had first believed. The willingness that they dealt with persecution. As they lived for Christ they were taunted and treated poorly by those that, in reality, they were close too.
To follow Jesus was to walk away and to turn away from the Old Testament sacrifices and systems. They endured the sneers, rejections, and alienation that came from there desire to follow Jesus.
They even accepted the confiscation of their possessions with Joy because they knew that they had a better possession, one that would endure forever and could never be taken away by the hands of men.
They were loosing their confidence and boldness in the reward promised by God. He reminds them that they are the ones who have been saved and saved by faith. They are the ones who will not draw back to the old but will hang on to the new. Who will draw near to God.
Who will live by faith. It can be said that this is the tipping point of the argument that the author is making. As he quotes Habakkuk
“But my righteous one will live by faith.”
This is a central point to the book of Hebrews. The Righteous would live by faith as apposed to living by works and specifically works of the Mosaic Covenant.
Paul wrote of the same issue to multiple churches. We read his words to the Church in Rome and the Galatian Church.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.
The struggle between works of the Law and living by faith was very real for the Jewish believers in the early church.
He has spent the first 10 chapters developing the comparison of the old and the new:
The high priests under the law verses the great high priest Jesus.
The uncountable sacrifices that could not accomplish perfecting men verses that perfect sacrifice Jesus.
The old covenant of the Law that was a shadow of the reality in the new covenant.
He explains the separation of men from the presence of God by the veil of the Holy of Holies with the Curtain of Christ that believers can boldly enter into the true tabernacle, the presence of God.
He has established all that was accomplished and put into effect through the Gospel of Jesus. Through the perfect work of God’s with through the death burial and resurrection of the Messiah, the savior, Jesus.
He says hear the words of the Prophet Jeremiah.
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. 33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
He has called them to this point and says let us continue forward into full assurance in the new covenant. Do not loose your confidence and turn back to the old covenant.
Those that will do this will do this by Faith. He says we are those who will live by faith as Habakkuk proclaimed.
Habakkuk 2:4 (CSB)
4 ... But the righteous one will live by his faith.
Let us, We, this is us and now we are to live by faith. He will now show how those in their Jewish history were also counted as righteous, not because of their works and conformance to the Law but to their faith.
And because of these examples be encouraged by focusing on Christ, the one who is the object of our faith. This way we may endure the hardships and trials of this life and not grow weary until we are united with God in heaven.
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
It is important for us to see where the purpose of this chapter in the context of the book. He is encouraging and extorting them to live in the context of their spiritual reality and not the physical reality.
This is a call to the church today as well. It is my prayer that we as a gathering of followers and believers in the good news of Jesus that we will be called to live in this same confidence as he calls the early church to do.
Turn with me to Hebrews Chapter 11.
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved.
Faith is the Reality
Faith is the Reality
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
This should not be taken as a complete and definition but the author is communicating some important characteristics of the faith the is exhibited in a believer's life.
hypostasis
Faith is the reality of what is hoped for. Your translation may say something like faith is the substance, the assurance, or the realization.
The word the author used here is only used in the new testament 5 times. Twice by Paul in 2 Corinthians and 3 times in Hebrews with this being the last of the three uses. The word is used 5 times but it has three different meanings in Greek depending on how it is used.
It can mean a confidence or assurance of the mind or firm belief in the truth and reality of a fact. This is to believe in something that doesn’t have a tangible proof but has full substance in the mind of the person.
In other words it can be described as a firm believe in something to the point that it develops substance in the persons mind.
Hebrews 3:14 (CSB)
14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.
The reality he spoke of was the reality the belief that they had at the start. They had believed that Jesus was who is was claimed to be and through that firm belief it became a reality to them.
It can also mean the substance of something. What something truly is.
For instance in Heb 1:3
Hebrews 1:3 (CSB)
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
This word is translated as the nature of God. That Jesus is the exact representation and expression of the reality of what God truly is.
It can also mean a legal document to effect a transfer of property and to show the legal right to posses it. Like a title or a deed. It shows a reality of what is promised or committed. Or a realization of a plan. It is an objective reality.
It is in the faith of the righteous that what is hoped for becomes a reality.
We hope for what will be in the future. Who hope that the dinner we had last night is good. We don’t hope for what is in the past or present. We hope for what has not come yet. That what has been promised will come to be a reality.
Faith is what makes the desires of tomorrow have substance in our lives today. without hope in the future there is just experiencing life as it comes to us day after day but we are called to live in the reality of the future. The reality that the promises of God will come to be true.
The author has brought many of the old testament promises into his exhortation to the believers. Scriptures that spoke of the future. Like Ps 102, Ps 8, Is 8, Ps 110, Gen 22, Jer 31, Ps 40, Hab 2
Promises of a Messiah, of a new creation, of a new high priest of a new order, of a new covenant, that one will come that will save the nation and rule over it. A priest king. Some of these promises were to Abraham or Moses, to the nation as a whole. All of these promises were hope to those in the old testament as they are reality to us today.
Their faith found its hope in the the promises of the old testament. They lived with the promises of God as a reality and surety.
Faith is the Proof
Faith is the Proof
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
It is the reality of what is hoped for and the proof of what is not seen. It is the evidence or the conviction of what is not seen. It is the convicting evidence of that which has not yet come to pass.
Faith takes the first part of the verse “the reality of what is hoped for” and adds a layer to it. It doesn just fill a person’s mind with sure truths, it convicts them and is shown in the actions of a believer. Faith becomes the evidence of the born again believer.
Jame spoke of faith and the results this way:
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder. 20 Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
The faith spoken of here is so assured that it causes men through the work of the Holy Spirit to live in a way that demonstrated the hope that is their reality. To live in the truth of the Spirit an not in the ways of the world. Faith is not just believing in something to be true it causes a change in a person. It will manifest itself in live of a person. For we live in a world that is full of things against righteousness.
Paul tells us this in Ephesians
10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, 15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
The flaming arrows of the evil one. The schemes of the devil that plague the world. This world is full of arrows. They come at us every day all day usually more than one at a time. But is the shield of faith that a believer is to take up in every situation. This is what extinguishes these worldly arrows.
The arrows of the enemy intend to draw a person away from the hope in God’s promises in the future to the pain and pleasures of today. Don’t listen to God. God is not here for you. Be your best self know. You deserve that promotion work hard at it. Don’t worry about you family. The more money you make today the better they will be.
These are but just a few of the voices we hear constantly drawing us to the here and now to the world around us.
The Faith that the author is painting in their minds is a belief that is so solid that is causes people to live for the unseen and not the seen. For the spiritual and not the physical.
18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
We see in the righting of Paul this type of Faith
Romans 8:18–30 (CSB)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. 26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
Foolish People
Foolish People
This type of faith will cause men and women to live in ways that do not make sense to the lost. To the unsaved. As a person in changed by the Holy Spirit and they are transformed by the renewing of their mind they will live in ways that are contrary to the world around them.
They will live for others and not themselves first. They will give time, money, and energy to people that will never return their generosity.
They will will have compassion on the less fortunate and will see people in light of their lostness and pending punishment from God instead of economic, racial, social, or age differences.
They will love in ways that does not make sense to the world. They will care without favoritism.
They will will define success differently. The treasures of this world will fall to the wayside in light of the treasures in heaven. The ones that will never fade. The rat race is not primary. The will of God is.
They will seek to raise their children contrary to what the world says. Marriages husbands and wives will interact in ways that make no sense to the lost. The complementary roles like that in Ephesians will be appalling.
These truths can only become a reality for those who have faith in God and his promises.
The righteous will live by this type of faith and it will cause them to be opposed to the world.
They will not pursue the pleasure of this world. To chose to refrain biblical from drugs and alcohol. To keep sex inside of a marriage between one man and one woman.
They may find themselves at odds against the systems of the world.
When I went to Romania in high school. There was much that God did in my life at that time. It was on that trip that I memorized my first bible verse. It was where I came to have saving faith in the hope and promises of God. And it was the first time some one sat down with me and shared their favorite story in the bible.
On the plane ride over the Atlantic ocean a gentleman sat down next to me and opened his bible and we read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
The account of some of the men taken into exile by the Babylonians. They were servants to the new king but still followed and acted accordingly to the will of God. This King set up a great gold statue of himself and he gathered these men and many others in front of this statue and told all of them when they hear the music they are to bow down and worship. Those that do not do this will be thrown into a furnace.
These men refused to worship this image of this king.
Daniel 3:13–18 (CSB)
13 Then in a furious rage Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bring in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar asked them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you don’t serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up? 15 Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. 17 If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king. 18 But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
These men’s faith was solid and they were assured. Their faith was demonstrated
The christian faith that the author describes is a faith that has solid footing. The Christian looks to the future and stands so confidently in the plan and will of God that they live differently today.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Church is weary and tired and they are turning to the voices that call them to turn back to the present ways. But the author say fix your eyes on our savior. The author of our faith. And do not go weary. He will continue with many examples.
2 For by this our ancestors were approved.
The readers of this letter would have seen that when they live this way there were what they would call consequences. Their families would have ostracized them and separated from them. They would be labled and persecuted against. They had property seized, they were thrown in jail, and many were put to death because of their Faith.
We see Steven calling out to God to forgive those that were stoning him. Or the apostles persecutions and martyrs.
Today is no different. To live for Christ. To live by Faith in assurance and conviction will separate you from this world and many times from the people that you love. They will not understand how you can think the way you do and believe the way that you do.
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.