Faith Becomes Our Eyes

Welcome

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” (Psalm 63:1–3, ESV)

Announcements

Lunch today

LNI on Friday, RSVP to Chelsea and invite friends

Youth movie night on Friday

Hymn of Preparation #

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Psalm 130:5-7

Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.

Congregation: My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.

Minister: People of God, hope in the Lord! There is no darkness in him.

Congregation: There is no darkness with you, O Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plenteous redemption.

Minister: Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Congregation: Let us worship God!

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

Look upon us, O Lord, and let all the darkness of our souls vanish before the beams of thy brightness. Fill us with holy love, and pen to us the treasures of thy wisdom. all our desire is known unto thee, therefore perfect what thou hast begun and what thy Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer. We seek thy face, turn thy face unto us and show us thy glory. Then shall our longing be satisfied and our peace shall be perfect. Amen.

†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #219

“O Worship the King”

†CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

based on Psalm 116

Elder Craig Hoffer

Minister: Call on the name of the Lord! “O Lord,” we pray, “deliver our souls.” Before the Lord, we confess our sins.

TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION

Minister: Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple, and saves those who are brought low. Return, precious souls, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

Congregation: I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. Amen!

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Numbers 31:1-20

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

Pastor Austin Prince

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†PSALM OF PREPARATION #119M

“O How I Love Your Holy Law”

SERMON Hebrews 11:1-7 // Faith Becomes Our Eyes

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Guide us, O God, by your word and Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in you truth find freedom, and in your will discover your peace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

TEXT Hebrews 11:1-7

Hebrews 11:1–7 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 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. 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. 5 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. 6 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. 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.

AFTER SCRIPTURE

Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.

Intro

How is the work of Christ applied to us?

Throughout the book of Hebrews we have been treated to argument after argument and picture after picture of the supremacy of Christ. And it has it has culminated in these last chapters with a vision of the holy of holies being open to us — that the curtain was torn, as it were, in the tearing of Christ’s flesh, and now we can come to God in confidence and rest — to the throne of grace.

And really one question remains — how do we enter in? How do we draw near? How is all of this wonderful work of Christ applied to us? The answer is faith. Christ’s work is applied to us by faith.

But what is faith? It is just hope? Is it a hunch? A positive feeling? An optimistic outlook on life and the future?

Hebrews 11 gives us a premise for what faith is and then follows that premise up with lots of great examples of peoples’ lives that flesh out what faith looks like. Although it does give us the premise of faith (the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen), it’s not giving us a full definition in a nice and tight package. Faith is multi-faceted, as we will see and learn over the course of chapter 11 and consulting other texts on faith.

I bring this up because I want to say something about the nature of faith before we begin to walk through our text today.

Faith Is A Gift

Faith is not something that we can conjure up ourselves. And we are not asked to whip up, or maintain, or strive to inflate our faith.

The way that the Bible speaks about faith is that it is a gift that is given by God.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8, ESV)

God is the one who opens our eyes and our hearts to see Him and to love Him and to trust Him.

God’s word is preached and Jesus’ gospel is proclaimed, and you begin to respond to it. For some, they harden their hearts and refuse to repent and grow calloused. And you hopefully remember from the preaching so far in Hebrews how many times the author has said, “today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”. The call is to respond, and yet, what you are responding to is working on you, making you aware and alert and able to respond.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17, ESV)

Maybe you could think of an object in orbit. It is moving, being pulled or pushed by something much larger than itself. In a way, faith begins to look like that on your life. You are pulled in to seeing your sin and your need or a savior, you are affected by the blood and the love and the majesty of Christ, you are brought to humility, but not humiliation — you are raised and forgiven and rebuilt. You are redeemed.

Sometimes we think of faith as an argument to ourselves—how strong we are or how close we are to God. But faith is not an argument to ourselves, It’s God’s argument to us of His grace. Faith is a gift, and when we see faith in our lives, we should rejoice and know that He is acting upon us. We should pray that it increases. We should repent of sins and areas where we grow in doubt. But we should know that it isn’t something that we should stress ourselves over trying to cook up — we can’t and we shouldn’t. It’s a gift.

The Premise: Conviction and Assurance

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV)

The assurance of things hoped for

When the Bible speaks of faith, it isn’t speaking in the language of a hunch or an inkling or a suspicion that something might be true; it speaks of assurance and conviction. Faith isn’t an intuition; it’s a conviction—a belief.

And we of course don’t always feel that our faith is that strong. But there’s something that you need to see from this text, and it’s that the object of our faith is not ourselves. Our faith isn’t in our faith — it’s in the object of our faith. That’s what matters. The assurance of things hoped for — things in the future, and the conviction of things not seen (I think this is referring to the past - see v.3), is to hope in the work of God.

Our faith isn’t in our faith, it’s in Christ.

And it’s the object of our faith that matters.

You can have a teenage boy who has lots of assurance and conviction that the cardboard wings that he taped on his arms will make him fly as he jumps off the roof of the barn, but the object that he trusts in will fail him.

And you can have a man who is scared to death and is filled with doubts and nervousness who boards a 747 and makes it around the world. The object of our faith makes a difference. And for us, the object is Christ.

We feel that doubt and we feel those nerves sometimes, but we must see more of Christ. We must ask ourselves, like Paul does in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

We look at the work of Christ and the faithfulness of Christ. We look at the object of our faith, and we find more and more of that assurance and conviction in our lives. He who promised is faithful.

The conviction of things not seen.

The gift of faith changes the way that we view the world. Faith becomes our eyes. We see over the span of generations, over the calendar as we look across the next month, over the morning cup of coffee, and we know that God’s promises will be true and for our good and bankable. We are obedient to them now, because we see all of our time and circumstances in His hands.

Commendation - The Brotherhood of Faith

“For by it the people of old received their commendation.” (Hebrews 11:2, ESV)

The examples that we are about to see are all examples of faith. Interestingly, they are all examples from the Old Testament. You might think that we would get something closer to Christ that would inform a congregation from the New Testament, but they get these stories. But we should remember that we are united to these saints though our faith. They were looking forward to Christ and we look back to Christ, but what is commendable — what is to be learned and emulated—is their faith. We’ll look at three examples today.

But first, look at verse 3:

Faith And Sight

“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.” (Hebrews 11:3, ESV)

Here’s a great aid to faith, and it’s a bit of a play on words from our first premise.

We are told that faith is the conviction of things not seen. But here, what’s in focus is what is seen. We see the world. We live in it. It is where we are comfortable and we feel stable. We like sight. Faith is hard and feels uncomfortable, but the world feels tangible. But this thing that we touch and rest in now was created without us being there at the beginning when God spoke the words. But we believe that He did speak them and we are in His creation.

I mean, even those who reject God don’t know what to do with creation. They live in the world and can’t explain its beginnings — they must enter the realm of faith.

The addition of this line should help us to remember that faith doesn’t mean that our hopes never becomes sight, they do.

Faith shouldn’t be thought of as a raw deal, a weak consolation prize for religion when you can’t get what you want or are in times of trial — being told to just have faith.

No, the promises of God come true. Some soon, some daily, many over your lifetime, and some yet to come in the last day. But what we hope for becomes as tangible as the created world that you stand in and find so much comfort in.

Our faith becomes sight. How many times have you seen this play out in your life? When you get nervous about the promises yet to come, do you recount and touch and feel the comfort of the promises that He has already kept? Don’t feel that faith means far off and intangible and constant waiting. Faith does become sight.

Look at these three examples that also flesh out this definition of faith.

Abel

“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.” (Hebrews 11:4, ESV)

A lot of times you will hear comments on the Cain and Abel story which try to mark the differences of their offerings — perhaps Abel’s sacrifice of the firstborn of his flock, with its blood, is why God accepted it over Cain’s sacrifice of his harvest.

But the thing to notice from our text is that the difference was the presence or the absence of faith.

Abel gave in faith and in trust of God. I don’t know what Cain was thinking when he gave, but I do know what giving without faith looks like. It looks like appeasement. We can try to give our leftovers or what does not require trust. We can give to try and buy God or steer His decisions. We can give in order to flatter ourselves and commend ourselves. But what is commendable is faith.

From this story, we also begin to see some of the fruits of faith. For one,

Faith Divides

Cain couldn’t stand Abel’s faith. He didn’t like Abel’s obedience, or Abel’s peace with God, or Abel’s decision to go a different way than himself. Abel’s faith became a testimony against Cain’s independence and his flesh, and He knew it.

Our faith will do the same.

We saw this very thing this week in the killing of Charlie Kirk. When your life submits to Christ through your actions— your marriage, your parenting, your rhythm of Sabbath, your giving, and your living—and when your convictions submit to Christ — that Christ is Lord, that He made the world, that there is only one God and He makes the rules, that He made them male and female, there there is only one way to salvation and that is through Jesus Christ — you become a testimony against the unbelief of the world.

Charlie Kirk was not someone who was an advocate for violence. But His faith, and the convictions of His faith about life that he brought into the public square, that Jesus Christ is Lord and therefore we must obey Him, highlighted for many their rebellion and their guilt and their shame that comes with unbelief.

Where hearts are hardened to the gospel, they want God to shut up. They want the witness of God’s authority to shut up and stand down. They want their parents and their pastor to shut up. The hardened heart curves in on itself and what it was made for, often driving the person to ugliness in dress and speech and art and it would strangle the moon and the stars just so they would stop testifying that God made the world and they did not, that they are subject to Him.

We need more of this public testimony of faith. We need more of the salt that preserves against the corruption of our society where we are seeing such evil and the loss of the fear of God. When Christians enter the public sphere, we do so by our faith, by our assurance and our conviction — with our belief.

Our testimony is not that people should consider Jesus to be the Lord, but a testimony that He is the Lord.

God’s commands for holiness, His design for marriage, His hatred of lying and of unjust weights and measures, His hatred of our culture of death (abortions) and His demand for us to take care of the least of these that are made in His image, are not equally valid options among the options in the public square. He is Lord. We believe Him. Christians should not cede any ground here. We do not need to tuck our faith into our hearts and minds where it takes no stand with our neighbor. We do not agree to disagree, our faith testifies that you are wrong and against God. Our faith also testifies that God is gracious and sent His son to live and die and rise from the dead to take away our sins.

Our faith divides, but it speaks.

Faith Speaks

“… And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” (Hebrews 11:4, ESV)

Faith leaves a legacy. Though Abel died his faith continued to minister and testify. It seems that same could be said of Charlie Kirk. It is horrible to think of him being taken from raising his children, but I pray that his faith speaks and continues to speak to them.

Will your faith continue to speak, though you die? What will be remembered by your grandchildren? Was there anything different about your actions and convictions and decisions? Was there assurance and the conviction of things not seen? Will your faith continue to speak?

Enoch

“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.” (Hebrews 11:5–6, ESV)

Faith Pleases God

First, faith believes that God exists. Again, our faith is conviction, not a hunch. God isn’t pleased with us if we are rolling the dice and hoping that trusting in Him is a safe bet. We don’t buy God or work for God—He needs nothing from us. He delights in our faith. He delights in our trust.

And, like Enoch who walked with God, He delights in those that draw near and seek Him. He rewards those who search Him out. He delights in our prayer and our prayer without ceasing. We talk with God because we need him all throughout the day. We seek out the wisdom and the comfort of His word. Our ambitions are to do His will.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. God does not want or need lip service from us or a few dollars in the plate—He delights in you.

Noah

“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.” (Hebrews 11:7, ESV)

Faith Requires Action/obedience/works

Noah didn’t see the clouds of that storm for a long time, but he acted and built. Again, faith becomes our eyes

Noah wouldn’t be said to have faith if he didn’t act. Faith demands action.

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:17–18, ESV)

Our faith cannot be merely a feeling or a personal assent to God — it demands action.

You cannot be said to have faith if it doesn’t control your hands and your mouth and your wallet and your time.

Faith Condemns The World

“…By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7, ESV)

Noah said like Joshua ‘for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’. Though everyone else goes a different way, or thinks belief is foolish, or gets swept up in a trend or a time, we will follow God.

It is said that by faith, Noah saved his family.

Faith looks ahead and trusts when obedience goes against the grain. When it is not popular to believe, or difficult to obey—when everyone else spends their time a different way or laughs at other jokes or indulges the flesh or speaks or dresses or does business in a way that may be popular, faith stands contra mundum (against even the world).

It may be that these hard years of the angularity of faith — the awkward that doesn’t fit in, leads to a future that protects and saves your family. God saves them, of course, but He gives grace to them through your actions of faith.

Conclusion

As we start our study of Hebrews 11 and explore the theme of faith, let’s hold fast to these truths: Faith is a gift from God, not a product of our own strength. Our trust rests not in the intensity of our faith but in its object—Jesus Christ. Faith may set us apart and divides the world, but it pleases God. It calls for action and is never isolated from obedience in our lives. Faith becomes our eyes as we live not by sight. And God rewards those who earnestly seek Him through faith.

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH

Nicene Creed p. 852

Congregation is seated.

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

As we have just been studying from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says,“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”” (Mark 10:14–15, ESV)

What do children have to commend themselves before God? They don’t have what we think commends us — our works, our reputations, our jobs, or our pride. Children are dependent and must receive. And as we come to the table this morning, we are to be reminded that we must all receive the kingdom of God this same way.

Today, we also recall this to mind as we welcome our brother Woods to the table. As he comes to receive with simple faith, may we be encouraged to partake in the same way.

This is also a good time to recall what is happening and what the elements are saying. We do not partake of them as if the grace is in the elements themselves, treating the bread and wine like some sort of charm. They are a testimony to us of the work of Christ, and in this way the grace of the gospel is given to us, much like it is in preaching.

For our brother Woods, who may not be able to articulate so much about the gospel, I’m reminded of what the Heidelberg Catechism says on Lord’s Day 28, Q75:

Q. 75. How are you reminded and assured in the Holy Supper that you participate in the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross and in all his benefits?

A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of this broken bread, and to drink of this cup in remembrance of him. He has thereby promised that his body was offered and broken on the cross for me, and his blood was shed for me, as surely as I see with my eyes that the bread of the Lord is broken for me, and that the cup is shared with me. Also, he has promised that he himself as certainly feeds and nourishes my soul to everlasting life with his crucified body and shed blood as I receive from the hand of the minister and actually taste the bread and the cup of the Lord which are given to me as sure signs of the body and blood of Christ.

How are we ministered to? We eat, we see with our eyes, we receive the cup shared, we taste the bread.

The gospel of Christ is communicated to all of us in ways that we can understand and partake in. We receive as children and we respond in gratitude.

It’s been a delight to hear from Lauren so much of how Woods responds to Jesus, of his belief that God is “with me”, as he says. To see and hear of his repentance and sorrow for sin, and to see his love for all of us.

We are all blessed today to partake of the supper with Woods. In 1 Corinthians we are told to consider the body as we come to the table. Right after that, we are also reminded about how every member is a rich blessing to the church.

What should we think of these little ones, or of our brother Woods who comes to join us at the table:

“If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” (1 Corinthians 12:19–25, ESV)

As God shows His care for all of us, may we also show the same care to our brother Woods and taste and see that the Lord is good.

Prayer

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

//once all elements are received//

The Lord has prepared this table for all who love him and trust in him alone for their salvation. It is for those who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church.

“O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.”

[motion to partake]

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” This cup is the new covenant in the blood of Christ, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Drink of it, all who believe.

PRAYER

†OUR RESPONSE #572

“Gloria Patri”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen, amen.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

Peace be to you, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord with love incorruptible. Amen.

Grace Notes Reflection

Hebrews 11 is an extended argument about faith and what it looks like in practice. It’s important to focus on the subject at this point because faith is what connects us to all of Christ’s magnificent work that we have seen through the book of Hebrews thus far. Faith is how the gospel is applied to us.

Sunday’s sermon highlighted many of the premises of faith that we should meditate upon.

Faith is a gift We can often feel that we need to conjure up our faith and produce more of it. But we are to remember that faith is a gift. When we see belief and trusting repentance working upon us, we should rejoice at the evidence of faith. Perhaps you do feel that your faith is weak, but even that is a sign that your heart sees the hand of God and desires more of it. Faith is not our argument to ourselves to make us feel good. Faith is not our argument to God of how good or faithful we are. Faith is God’s argument to us that He is working in our lives.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen Faith should be confident and solid. This is not possible if our faith is in our faith (experiencing stability only when we feel strong). Our confidence and assurance can come because of the strength and the reliability of the object of our faith. Since our faith is in Christ, our hope can rest secure. He will not drop the ball. Has He ever? Where is His work flawed or lacking? Trust Him today.

Faith divides When Abel’s gift was accepted by faith and Cain’s was not, Cain hated and lashed out with guilt against his brother. In a world of darkness, the light is uncomfortable. Faith drives a wedge between those who submit to God and those who won’t. Often, it brings a spotlight to the very core of unbelief, which seeks to silence any testimony of God’s authority. From Cain and Abel, to the shooting last week of Charlie Kirk, to the friends that you will lose, and to potential persecution, faith testifies to the world that all must one day bow to Christ.

Faith pleases God Enoch walked with God, and it pleased Him. God is not bought with a few ritualistic prayers or offerings. He delights in fellowship with His creation. Faith that pleases Him seeks Him out, delighting in prayer, worship, Bible reading, and fellowship among the church. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Faith acts By faith, Noah built the ark. Though it seemed ridiculous and all of his peers mocked him, he trusted the Lord and worked faithfully, ultimately saving his family. Actions must accompany our faith. Faith isn’t true if it doesn’t have any bearing on the work of our hands, our mouths, our wallets, and our calendars. And the faithful work that you do today may one day prove the means of protection for your family. Just because it’s not raining doesn’t mean that you don’t need to build. Faith hears the promises and commands of God and looks down through the years, even generations, and acts today.