What Is Faith?

Introduction

Good morning please open in your Bibles to Hebrews 11:1-7 that is Hebrews 11:1-7. If you are using a Bible scattered throughout the chairs that is on page 946/7. Faith can sometimes be a difficult thing to describe. You can’t hold it in your hand, you can’t point to it, but we all know that requires a little bit of Faith. Whether you are romantic like George Micheals in 1987 singing about the need for Faith to deny a seductive woman in the hopes of finding a real and lasting relationship, a USA soccer fan that chanted in the 2014 World Cup that popular fan chant “I believe that we will win!”, or you a political activists like MLK jr. who in his “I Have a Dream Speech” after listing various injustices of his time declared that he had a dream that one day things would change. That there would be peace between blacks and whites in America. What they all have is common is a faith, a belief, that the future holds something better than the present. This is an idea that permeates Western Culture. The idea that the future will be better than they present. And we can understand why, whether it is a hope for life long love, a sports team to win, or a more equitable world. You see in the human heart there is a desire for better things.

Why? I submit to you it because we are made in the image of God. That even non-christians desire a better world, and even the non-Christian must exercise faith if they are to hold on to any hope of positive change. Our text this morning comes to us after 10 chapters of the book of Hebrews in which we have learned that the original audience was under cultural pressure and open persecution for their faith in Christ. They were being tempted to fall away from the Christian faith and return to the Judaism. Specifically, the practice of sacrificing animals for the forgiveness of sins. Yet, our author has encouraged these Christians to remain steadfast in their faith, he has called them to persevere. In their current context they were imprisoned, had their possessions stolen from them, were publicly reproached and afflicted but they endured because they had faith. They persevered because they knew that had a better possession and an abiding one. The promised of God is to reward those who remain steadfast under trial. These Christians believed that their future would be better than their present. They had faith in God.

Today we look at Hebrews 11:1-7 which begins a section of the book often called the Hall of Faith. It is a recounting of Old Testament saints who because of their faith endured their trials and recieved God’s good reward. I pray as we study Hebrews chapter 11 in the coming weeks that your faith will be strengthened as we are reminded of the faith of those who have gone before us. Let’s read Hebrews 11:1-7

By Faith We See the World v. 1-3

Hebrews 11:1–3 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. 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.”

The text tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We want to be sure to not misunderstand the text. Faith is not the basis of that which is hoped for, but rather it is the subjective experience of assurance, the conviction that our hopes will come true. Our faith is not the basis of hope, but rather our basis of hope is the objective truth that Christ died for our sins and through him we will have eternal life. This is true whether we feel like it is true or not in any given moment. Christians will waiver in their felt affections for Christ, but our salvation is not contingent upon the quality of our faith in any given moment instead it is contingent upon the object of our faith, the one time sacrifice of Jesus. But, in this life as we strive to remain steadfast we must employ faith in that one time sacrifice of Christ.

Your affections may wane one day to the next as you continue to struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. But that is not to say that the Christian does not experience the internal assurance of things hoped for. Doubts may arise, yes. But God does provide for Christians the conviction of things not seen. This conviction that you do feel as a Christian is the gift of faith given to you by a merciful and kind God. In moments of doubt or waning affections, when you just don’t feel the presence of God we must remind ourselves of the truths expressed in Hebrews 1-10. Jesus is the better Moses, High Priest, Sacrifice, Temple, and brings us a better covenant. And these objective truths are used by the Spirit to stir our affections for Christ. God provides assurance to us as we are stirred up to love and good deeds by fellow Christians, as we meditate upon the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus, as we draw near to our sympathetic High Priest. Faith, at least the experience of it, is subjective. But that doesn’t mean that assurance of faith is nonexistent.

As the writer encourages these Christians to persevere he reminds them that they are people of faith. Hebrews 10:39 “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” Christians are those who have faith because it has been given to us by God. And so the writer teaches his readers that faith is being assured that God’s Word will prove true, even when in the moment it seems like the world is winning. This audience was a persecuted people, their circumstances did not testify to the superiority of Christ over Judaism. It was because of their allegiance to Jesus that their present experience was inferior, and it takes faith in God’s Word to believe that Jesus is better when your life experience is worse. But the author is going to explain in Hebrews 11 that these are moments when faith is most helpful. Faith is most needed when the temptation to doubt is most prominent. The light always shines brightest in the darkness.

The author explains that it is by faith that the people of old (Old Testaments saints) received their commendation, or praise, from God. They are commended and accepted by God not because of their works, but because of their faith in His Word. This is the theme of Hebrews 11: Believe in the word of God when it is least believable. Choose to trust the promise of God, especially when you cannot see how that promise would be fulfilled.

He begins by using creation as an example. No human being was present when creation took place and no human being can truly imagine what it was like for God to create the world out of nothing. Creating the world out of nothing is what is meant by the phrase “so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” The world was created by God and used “nothing” as he building materials. Before He created, there was nothing. We have no category for this. When I try to think of nothing the best I can do it think of a black void… but then I must remember that even black is a color. And the “void” I imagine still feels like a space of some sort. I can’t think of nothing, and I don’t believe anyone truly can. Yet, we believe that God created the world out of nothing because this is what the Word of God tells us. We know that in Genesis 1 God spoke and He created all things. We trust those words in Genesis, as did this Jewish-Christian audience, as an act of faith.

God’s word creating everything out of nothing takes that which is invisible and makes it visible. The nothingness of non-creation becomes the everythingness of existence. And no matter you are, when you go to make sense of the world you must do so according to the exercise of faith in something. You might believe the world was the result of the big bang and evolutionary processes, you might believe in a different religion’s creation account, you might not even care to know how we got here. But all creation accounts require faith. Faith in the ability to procure and interpret data correctly, faith in what your parents told you, or in the case of the Christian, faith in the word of God. Faith is required for us to see and make sense of our world. We all have a basic foundation of assumptions we must make before we can begin to make sense of anything. So, the author of Hebrews begins in his exhortation to faith by showing us the necessity of faith. The creation narrative of the Bible makes it clear, that if we are to know God we will have to have faith in His word. By faith we acknowledge that God is our creator and that shapes how we see the world.

T/S- But faith doesn’t just provide the building blocks of understanding our world and reality, it also is necessary for us to be commended by God.

By Faith We are Commended v. 4

Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”

Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve, the first two humans God created. His older brother was Cain. In Genesis 4 we read that the brothers brought sacrifices before the Lord. Cain was a farmer and brought a portion of his harvest as a sacrifice. Abel was a shepherd and brought the firstborn of his flock as a sacrifice. God has regard for Abel’s sacrifice, but he did not have regard for Cain’s sacrifice. Abel did well in God’s sight, Cain did not. Cain grew jealous of Abel and murdered his brother in a field. God confronted Cain for his sin of murder and banished him. Though he also put a sign of Cain as a seal of his protection.

In my life as a Christian I have heard many reasons as to why God regarded Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s. Perhaps Cain did not bring his firstfruits since the text does not explicitly say that, but it does say Abel brought the firstborn of his flocks. Perhaps God was an animal sacrifice for sin instead of a grain sacrifice. Maybe you have heard these reasons too. I would simply say we don’t really know what Cain and Abel were commanded to do by God. The sacrificial system we often think about was not given to the Israelites until after the Exodus as Mt. Sinai. We only know that the patriarchs did offer sacrifices to the Lord. I suggest we just stick to what the Bible clearly says: Abel’s offering was given by faith. Cain’s was not, and therefore Abel’s offering was more acceptable. He was commended as righteous because God accepted his gift. And His life still speaks even though his brother killed him.

But how does it speak? In Genesis 4:10 God speaks to Cain and says, “And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” God knows that Cain killed his brother though Cain was trying to hide it. His blood cried out to the Lord, and his voice was a cry for justice. Cain sinned, and Abel’s spilled blood cried out to God to reconcile the evil deed. In Hebrews 12:24 “… Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Jesus’ blood speaks a better word to sinners than the blood of Abel. Abel’s blood cries out to God and is swallowed up by the ground. Cain is confronted by God and will not longer be able to farm with any success. He is judged and separated from God and God’s people. But Jesus is killed and he is unjustly murdered. And he cries out in his dying breaths, Father forgive them! They don’t know they are doing. Through Jesus’ death sinners can live.

Abel also speaks through the Word of God, the Genesis 4 account. Abel was unjustly murdered because of his offering of faith. He leaves no genealogy, no legacy through children. The righteous one died and though Cain is exiled, he does live. He has children who have children. Abel’s legacy only lives through the word of God. He still speaks because Moses records his story. A story that is makes clear that faith makes us acceptable to God, not sacrifice alone. Abel, though dead and with no lineage, still speaks as a testament of faithfulness. The author of Hebrews isn’t saying if you remain faithful everything will turn out well here on earth. His first example of a faithful life is the very first martyr. Abel dies because he offered his sacrifice by faith. If your desire is to live a good life here, then you will forsake the faith at the first sign of trouble. But if you desire to glorify God with your life and be used to speak of His behalf, then not even death can silence you. Faith brings commendation even if you die. The lack of faith brings condemnation even if you should live.

T/S- What is you chief die to live a long and prosperous life? Or do you desire to please God? Because by faith we please God.

By Faith We Please God v. 5-6

Hebrews 11:5–6 “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Enoch is some sense is a minor character. He appears in the middle of genealogy in Genesis 5 and is quoted later in Jude 14-15 from an extra-biblical book as someone who prophesied against the evil men of his day. Genesis 5:21–24 “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” The life of Enoch leaves us with more questions that answers. He gets 3 verses in the book of Genesis and what is recorded of him is interesting to say the least. He has son, walks with God, and then was not for God took him. It best to concentrate of what is most clear. What is most clear is that Enoch walked with God. This is a saying that means he lived according to God’s ways. He obeyed God and had close communion or fellowship with God. And how did he do this? He did it by faith. He lived a life that was pleasing to the Lord and God rewarded him by taking him. Enoch did not experience death because God chose to take him. God rewards those who through faith please Him.

The author of Hebrews elaborates for his audience that it is impossible to please God without faith. Enoch, like Abel, was commended by God. He was commended as having pleased God. The author is pointing back to his audience when he says “for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. “ In Hebrews 4:16 he tells this same audience “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” He is reminding them again, that in times of struggle draw near to God. When you are trouble you need mercy and grace and God will give it. But the only way you will draw near to God is if you believe he exists and you believe that he rewards those who through faith please Him.

You won’t draw to someone if you don’t believe they exists that part is obvious. But there is something else you must believe about God if you are going to draw near to Him. You must believe that He is good. If you are going to draw near to God then you have to believe that rewards those who through faith please Him. And brothers and sisters if you are in Christ through faith then you do please Him. Not because of what you have done, but because you are united with Christ, and God is pleased with Christ.

If you don’t think God is giving you the good you deserve then you will pull away from Him. If you think God is shorting you on blessing then you will resent Him. Does God reward those who please Him? Did he reward Job when took his family, possessions, and health from him? Did God reward Joesph when his brothers sold him into slavery and when he was unjustly thrown into prison and forgotten about? Did he reward Paul when in Lystra he was stoned and thought to be dead? Did he reward the audience of Hebrews when their families turned them over to their governing authorities to be imprisoned and when their possessions were plundered?

Does he reward you when your loved one dies? When the diagnosis is bad news? When you get laid off? When your child walks away from the faith? When the womb is empty? When you feel lonely and without friends? When you get broken up with? Does God really reward those who through faith please Him? It doesn’t always look like it does it? Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Faith is required to see. It is required to see the existence of God and the goodness of God. How do you determine the goodness of God? Do you look at your circumstances and then make your judgement on God’s goodness? If things are going the way you like, then he is good. If not, they he is not. Or do first say, God’s word is true. He always keeps his promises. God is good not matter what my circumstances are. He is good because His word, by which he created the world, says He is good.

That is faith. Faith says I will will choose to believe in the existence and goodness of God even when my circumstances are bad.

T/S- Because while you circumstances may be bad, they probably aren’t as intense as the circumstances of our final OT saint’s Noah.

By Faith We Are Righteous v. 7

Hebrews 11:7 “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.”

Noah’s story occurs in Genesis 6-9. He lives during a time of extreme depravity in the world. Sin continues to master humankind and Genesis 6:5–8 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

The Lord commanded Noah to build an ark, a large boat, so he and his family plus two of every animal could survive a great global flood that God would send to destroy the earth. The flood was God’s righteous judgement against sin. It was something of colossal scale that Noah could never have imagined. It’s not something we could really imagine either. It would hard to believe that any human being could build something that would survive a global flood. Yet, building this ark was the only way Noah would survive. It was the only escape from the judgement of God. He did not have a concept of a global flood. It was an event the was yet unseen by Noah. But, out of reverent fear Noah constructed the ark to save his family. He built the ark not being able to see the flood or his own salvation. He built it because he trusted the word of God.

And his act of faith resulted in the condemnation of the world but in the commendation of himself. He became an heir of righteousness that comes by faith. Noah was not sinless we know that from his actions after the ark landed when he gets drunk and naked. He is not righteous because of his works. He is not like Jesus. He is considered an heir of righteousness because of his faith. He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. His actions display his faith. Choosing to build the ark was an act of faith because he only had the word of God to go on. And his faith made him righteous.

So what about us? As we contend for our salvation this week in this life. What do you rely upon to make you right before God? The answer to this question is often revealed by the answer to this one: Where do you run when trial comes? When our audience faced trials some were tempted to run back to the old sacrificial system. Why would they do that? Their return to the old way is a manifestation of where their faith was. Did they return to the sacrificial system because they doubted the effectiveness of Jesus’ sacrifice? Then their faith was in the old system not in Christ. Did they return to the old way because their possessions were stolen? Then their faith was in material possessions, not in Christ. Did they return to the old way because they were imprisoned? Then their faith was in their freedom, not in Christ. Did they return to the old way because they wanted to fit in with their Jewish family again? Then their faith was in family, and not in Christ.

Where we run when trouble comes shows us our true god. It puts on display our functional theology, or our pragmatic understanding of who God is! If you think God is shorting you on reward because you are good person. And you don’t deserve this pain… Then your faith is in your works, not in Christ. If you shrink back from doing what is right because you fear disapproval, then your faith is in approval, not in Christ. If you don’t confess your sin, if you would rather make money than be with God’s people, if you would rather numb your mind through reels, if you worry and fret over things out of your control, if you get angry when your comforts are infringed upon, the list can go on and on, but our sin shows us where our faith rest. If we are to perserver then we must deny the false gods that surround us. And we must place our faith in Christ.

Conclusion

But how do we actually do this? How can we grow in our assurance of things hoped for, the things not yet seen? How do we become more and more convinced that the promises of God will come to pass? The author Hebrews has told us and is telling us. If you want to grow in your reliance upon the word of God you must grow in your knowledge of the word of God. The hall of faith in Hebrews 11 is meant to ignite your passion for Christ. It is like a adding oxygen to a fire. A small flame will burn bright when you blow on it. Tend the flame of your faith when it dies down to nothing but coals. Remembering the saints of the Old Testament stirs up the flame. The answer to growth in assurance is to exercise your faith when you can’t “see” or perceive God. Read your Bible when you don’t feel like it, pray even when you’re bored, share the gospel with someone, even if you’re scared, determine to attend church even when it is inconvenient, be willing to risk your career for the cause of Christ, don’t fall into sinful gossip at work, be willing to lose so that someone else might gain, start a friendship with a neighbor and invite them to church, offer your help for free, pray for lost people with other Christians who know them, have someone you don’t know well over for dinner, give generously to your church, get baptized, join the church, be a regular attender of the same church, let another Christian know you deepest struggle… and more that I didn’t think of… each step of faith will fan the flame of faith. You can increase in your assurance of the things hoped for… God promises this to us. (Let’s pray)