Faith That Works

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Introduction

What do a chair and a cell phone have in common? Feel free to shout out some answers.

You don’t think twice about trusting that it will work or in other words, you have faith that it will work.

You expect that chair your sitting in to hold you up without thinking about it.

You expect your phone to be able to make that call or send that text.

There are many other examples of things that we do our use everyday that we don’t think about. We just use them.

We just go on auto pilot when we use these things and have faith in those things to do their job and work.

Does your faith in Christ sometimes feel like that? Often we can live our Christian life on auto pilot and we do the things that the Bible says we should do. In one sense it is important to be obedient to Jesus but we do not go through the motions as Christians, that is not what faith in Christ is.

Your faith in Jesus is not the same faith you exert when you sit in a chair or send a text. Are you living your Christian life on auto pilot? Are you going through the motions of the Christian faith because you know it is the right thing to do. If that is you here tonight this sermon is for you. If thats not you here tonight, this sermon is still for you because all of us can be so easily led into living out our faith on auto pilot without understanding what true faith in God is and what it does.

This sermon tonight is meant to be a back to the basics for those of us who are believers. Let this sermon refresh you and renew your faith in God. If you are not a believer here tonight, please listen too because

*Our passage in Hebrews tonight will show us what true faith is and what true faith does.

Main Point: True Faith Fuels Faithful Living

Overview

Last week, David walked us through the end of Hebrews 10. In verse 39, the author of Hebrews says, “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

In our passage tonight, the author of Hebrews is about to unpack story after story of what God has done in the lives of those who have placed their full faith in God.

These examples in chapter 11 are stories that these Jewish believers would have been very familiar with but with that familiarity with these stories comes the temptation of fatigue or a lack of interest in the Bible.

What we will see in our passage tonight and throughout all of this chapter is that the main hero of the story is God who gives faith to these examples and he gives faith to us.

1. What is True Faith?

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Depending on your translation, the word faith is mentioned 24-27 times in Hebrews 11. Faith is the main star of Hebrews 11.

The Greek word for faith means that which evokes trust or confidence.

The Word for Assurance literally means, the way it is.

The author of Hebrews is saying to us is that we are those who have Faith, and the faith we have is a confidence in what is real!

We live in a world where truth is being redefined every day. And this isn’t a rant against liberalism or anything of that nature but the Christian faith claims to be the only truth that is real. John 17:17 says “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

There are many people who have faith in themselves. They believe in their own abilities to get things done. Others believe in false gods who falsely promise blessings if the person does these things but in the end the Christian Faith is the only kind of faith that will prove to be true!

2. The author of Hebrews also says that part of this confidence in what is real pertains to those things that are hoped for.

(Question/Illustration)-As a kid, did your parents ever promise to take you to Disneyland? I’m not at TMU, its safe to talk about Disneyland!

Do you remember how excited you would be when they made that promise to you? And when that day finally came, do you remember thinking, or feeling that all of that waiting and patience was worth it as you are at Disneyland enjoying it!

In a much deeper and divine way, that is the kind of faith the author of Hebrews is defining for us. It is a confidence in what is true even if that truth has not happened yet!

There are some things that the Bible says are true but the Bible may not fully describe how that thing works. We don’t always get a full explanation of how two seemingly contradictory doctrines actually work together!

There are two responses to these kinds of doctrines. One is to deny them and claim the Bible doesn’t teach them. Along that same line, you can be like Thomas Jefferson who just tore out pages of his Bible of all of the things he didn’t like and he was left with what he liked from the Bible.

The other response is to have this kind of faith in those teachings. We should seek to understand as much of Scripture as we can. We should seek answers to life’s hard questions because if you believe what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 you believe that Scripture is sufficient for every aspect of your life. It has all of the answers!

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

But one of those answers is you don’t know but God does! Deuteronomy 29:29 says that the secret things belong to God. He doesn’t ask that you know everything that he knows, you can’t! What he does say is for you and I to have faith in Him. The kind of faith that is confident in what is true, even if you don’t full understand how it all works together. That’s God’s job.

3. Faith is the Conviction For Things Not Yet Seen

Similar to things hoped for, faith is also for those things that we do not see.

We do not physically see God. God is Spirit. John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” But we have faith that he exists. That is Paul’s argument in Romans 1:19 that God has made himself known in creation.

We will see later examples of people having faith in things they could not see but one famous example is that of doubting Thomas.

Man do I feel bad for Thomas. To be known for your weakest moment for the rest of church history is kind of stinks. Read John 20:24-29

John 20:24–29 ESV

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

When Jesus tells Thomas to believe, that is the same Greek word for faith in our passage. Jesus told Thomas that blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

This is the faith the author of Hebrews is telling his audience that they have and brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the faith that we have.

We did not earn this faith. We were given this faith as a gift and this faith that we have must be put to action. Which brings us to our second point. But before we go to our second point, I feel obligated to further define faith for you. Briefly, I want to talk about what true faith is not.

B. What Faith is Not

Faith is not just knowing things about God! Here’s a crazy truth.

The devil knows more about God than any one of us. If faith was just knowing things about God, then the devil would have amazing faith wouldn’t he?

With the world we live in today, there is no shortage of information about God that you can intake. Youtube is the main platform where sermons and theological debates are watched and listened to, but that is not the same as true faith in God. The quantity of knowledge in your head will not save you. It is the quality of your heart before God as you recognize that you are a sinner and you need an Almighty savior to fully forgive you. That is Jesus Christ. He offers full forgiveness of all your sins if you would repent and turn from your sins and run to Jesus in true faith. He promises that he will never turn away anyone who comes to him in true faith.

Faith is not something we earn to gain material wealth or more favor from God.

Story of Justin Peters in American Gospel

If you hear any so called preacher tell you that you are sick or poor because you don’t have enough faith, they are 100% lying to you. If you have ever been told that, please do not believe that because the Bible does not teach that. I wish I could talk more about this but we don’t have the time tonight.

We have seen what true faith is as well as a brief look at what faith is not. Our second and final point is titled

What True Faith Does

The simple answer to what true faith does, is true faith acts in the present with a hope of the future. (Repeat)

We will briefly look at some of the examples in this passage of true faith acting in the present

Explain verse 2. Hebrews 11:2

Hebrews 11:2 ESV

2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.

Creation Hebrews 11:3

Hebrews 11:3 ESV

3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Like many of you, I also went to a community college. I went to a school in the bay area called San Jose City college. I sat through my gen eds just like many of you are, so I know the grind of getting through those classes. One of the classes I had to take was a Bio class. I loved my teacher, she was very nice, but she said was adamant that the Big Bang Theory and evolution was absolute truth. She said that not all scientists agree that is why both of those are called theories but I was so surprised by her faith in the Big Bang Theory and evolution so much so that in her mind, they shouldn’t be called theories at all.

The reason I bring that up is not to disprove the Big Bang Theory or evolution for you tonight. Rather it is to show you, that if my Bio teacher who was an unbeliever to my knowledge can have faith in a theory, how much more real is our faith in the truth that God spoke the world into creation as verse 3 says.

We take this truth for granted every day. When was the last time you stopped and looked at the beauty of God’s creation and worshipped Him for it?

Psalm 19:11 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2. Noah

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Put yourself in the sandals of Noah. I don’t think they had shoes like we do today.

Imagine God audibly telling you out of the blue to construct a huge floating zoo. That is what the ark became. According to Genesis 2, it had never rained upon the earth until the days of the flood.

What kind of faith did Noah have to exercise to believe what God had commanded Him to do? Not only to build the ark, but that he and his family were going to be the only human survivors.

I don’t want to read too much into the text but I think all of us agree that to be Noah at that time must have been tough. The world was extremely wicked according to Genesis 6 and Noah would spend anywhere from 40-70ish years building this ark.

But once God told Noah to get into the ark and when Noah and his family saw that first rain drop, imagine their response. Their faith in what God had told them had become sight and God preserved them from danger for 40 days and 40 nights in the ark.

3. Abraham

Hebrews 11:8–13 ESV

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

Most of us know this story well. Abraham was called by God to leave the comforts of his father’s household and to go to a land that God would reveal to Him. At that time, to leave your family’s household, especially without any children was similar to becoming homeless with nothing. It was a huge leap of faith for Abraham and Sarah to do that.

God gave the promise of land, that God would make a great nation from the line of Abraham and that Abraham would be a blessing. Abraham was 75 when he received that promise and Genesis 21:5 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.” Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for the promised son.

Abraham ‘s descendants wouldn’t received the promise land for hundreds and hundreds of years. One author says it was about 500 years after Jacob died did Israel receive the promise land.

. My point and the point that the author of Hebrews is trying to make is that by these examples of faithful men and women living out their faith in God, they acted in the present with hope for the future.

Were they faithful at all times? No of course not! Noah sinned by getting drunk. Abraham lied and Sarah doubted God, but they still acted based upon the faith of God’s promises.

Hebrews 11:13–16 ESV

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

These faithful examples died in faith as verse 13 says. The fought the fight, and they finished the race, and have kept the faith as Paul says 2 Timothy 4:7.

And we are called to that same faith. True faith fuels faithful living.

Our faith is a gift from God that enables us to live a life pleasing to him. Never forget what kind of faith you have if you are a Christian and never forget what your faith is for. It is for living a life pleasing to God, not on auto pilot, but with full awareness and thankfulness to God for the gift of faith.

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.- CS Lewis

Our Faith gives us eyes to see the way the world truly is and it enables us to live fully for God right now!