By Faith Hebrews 11:1-7

-Faith is the critical component of a life that perseveres

The little girl was sitting with her grandmother, who had presented her with her first little children's Bible, in an easy-to-read translation, when she was very young.Now, a decade or so later, the elderly lady was ready to spend a few sweet moments handing down the big old family Bible, in the time-honored King James Version, to her only grandchild.Understandably excited, the youngster was asking a number of questions, both about the family members whose births and deaths were recorded therein, and about various aspects of the Scriptures themselves.Her grandmother was endeavoring to answer all the child's questions in terms she could understand, but the one that stopped her cold was this sincere inquiry:"Which Virgin was the mother of Jesus? Was it the Virgin Mary, or the King James virgin?"

I. Faith Defined: vv. 1-3

In the last passage that we studied, we received some reassurance from our author.

He is convinced that we are not the kind of people who shrink back from the challenges of the Christian life

Instead, we are the kind who have faith and preserve our souls

This leads to an important question: What exactly is faith?

He defines it in two ways:

It is assurance of the things that we hope for

Faith is not an uniformed leap

Instead, it is more like the title deed of a property that we have not yet taken ownership of

It is the conviction of things not seen

In important ways it is the evidence that unseen things are true

Faith is not blind; instead it is a way of seeing things differently

Faith like this has two very important implications for us:

First, it was how the Old Testament saints received their commendation: They believe God and it is credited to them as righteousness, a pattern that we will see repeated

Second, it is fundamental to our understanding of everything:

The most basic tenet of truth, God’s creation is an act of faith

Once we understand Creation as the intentional act of an Almighty God, it changes how we see the world and how we experience everything in it

If you do not have this faith, you will not persevere in Christ!

Most people thought it couldn’t be done. Flight—human flight—was a fantasy. People believed it was impossible, even dangerous to try. Engineers and scholars had tried and failed. Newspapers mocked anyone who believed otherwise.

But two brothers in Dayton, Ohio—Orville and Wilbur Wright—believed it was possible. Not because they had massive funding. Not because they had advanced degrees. They didn’t. They ran a bicycle shop.

But they had something far more powerful: faith in the unseen laws of aerodynamics. Faith in the power of perseverance. Faith that failure wasn’t final. They studied birds. They sketched. They built gliders. They tested. They failed—and rebuilt. They spent their own money. Traveled to the windswept dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Crashed again. Tweaked again. Believed again.

And on December 17, 1903, in the freezing cold, Wilbur ran alongside a wooden craft barely larger than a couch as Orville climbed aboard. The engine sputtered to life. The plane lurched forward—and lifted. Twelve seconds. One hundred twenty feet. The world was never the same.

While others dismissed, doubted, and delayed, the Wright brothers stepped forward in faith—faith in what they could not yet prove, but deeply believed was possible.

And that’s the kind of faith God often calls us to: not faith in what is, but faith in what could be. Not in what we’ve seen before, but in the promise of what He can do next.

II. Faith Exemplified: vv. 4-7

Next, the author enters into an extensive discussion of some of the great men and women of the faith from the Old Testament.

Abel v. 4

Abel is our very first exemplar of faith and we find that “by faith” he offered God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain in Genesis 4.

We do not know exactly why it was more acceptable

It could be the nature of his gift, as an animal sacrifice given in obedience to an unknown command

It could be reflective of the attitude with which the gift was given; it was received as an act of faith

It’s important to note that it provided him with a commendation: He is recognized as righteous

This faith does not prevent him from experiencing the worst kinds of persecution

It does insure that, in spite of death, his life still speaks!

Enoch vv. 5-6

Next, we see Enoch, the descendant of Seth from Genesis 5.

We see here that he was “taken up” by God

This is really noteworthy. He did not experience physical death

Instead, he seemingly passes directly to God

In Genesis, we read that Enoch “walked with God”

This is a really beautiful image of the life of faith

He did not walk with the Lord in the way that Adam and Eve did, before the Fall

However, Enoch’s walk is such that it results in a direct connection into the presence of God for eternity

Enoch is translated because His walk with God is pleasing to God!

We get an explanatory note here. Faith is a necessity:

We must have faith to please God; He wants our lives to be lived by faith in Him rather than on the basis of earthly sight

We must believe two things about God to live a life that please Him:

We must believe in His existence

We must believe in His character as a rewarder of the faithful

What we believe about God will either draw us to Him or push us away from Him

Noah v. 7

Noah is our final example for the night:

Noah is warned of impending danger; this warning comes as a result of his righteous life

However, his faith is demonstrated by action

He obeyed the Lord’s instruction to build an ark in reverent fear

There’s something really important that we see here:

Noah, by faith, saves his household

At the same time, Noah condemns the world

Noah’s life is a life of contrast

He is not a proclaimer of judgment; he just stands out in the midst of his generation

Noah receives God’s righteousness by His belief in and active obedience to God

Noah’s faith saves him in both a physical and a spiritual sense

Faith in Christ changes everything!

In 1741, the composer George Frideric Handel was facing ruin. He was broke. His operas were out of fashion. His creditors were closing in. His health was failing. He even suffered partial paralysis. Some people thought he’d never write again.

Then came a gift: a libretto—a set of Scripture-based lyrics—focused entirely on the life of Christ. It was called Messiah.

Handel opened the manuscript and something inside him ignited. For the next 24 days, he barely ate. He barely slept. He worked almost nonstop, as if caught in a divine whirlwind.

He later said he felt as if he saw heaven open before him while composing the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

What emerged from that creative storm was one of the greatest musical masterpieces ever written.

Today, Messiah is performed around the world—especially at Christmas and Easter—and has brought millions to tears, worship, and wonder. But none of it would exist if Handel hadn’t responded in faith, in weakness, in his darkest hour.

When everything around him shouted “give up,” he believed God still had something left. And that belief opened the floodgates of inspiration.

Handel’s story is a powerful reminder: faith doesn’t always look like confidence. Sometimes it looks like perseverance—one note at a time, trusting that God’s not finished.