Supreme Faith
Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture Reading: Genesis 6:9-22
Kid’s Time: Noah and the toy ark demonstration.
Intro: King of Syria sends army to Dothan to capture Elisha.
15 Then the attendant of the man of God arose early and went out, and behold, a military force with horses and chariots was all around the city. And his young man said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 So he said, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Yahweh, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha’s knew by faith that the Lord would protect him. The army was unseen, but it was there in reality.
Proposition: We must understand the meaning of faith in order to live by it.
Interrogative: What must we understand about faith?
Transitional Statement: 2 aspects of faith by which we must live.
I. Faith Defined
I. Faith Defined
A. The Invisible Made Visible
A. The Invisible Made Visible
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Faith = Confident trust in the future that God has determined, promised, and revealed to us.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 31.85 πιστεύω; πίστις, εως
πίστις, f: to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust.’
Faith remains for now, but when Jesus returns, our faith will become sight and no longer be needed.
Assurance—inward truth formulated by our mind and enlightened by the spirit.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 31.84 ὑπόστασις, εως
ὑπόστασιςb, εως f: that which provides the basis for trust and reliance
Conviction—outward action based on the inward assurance that we have. Not just enough to be assured, we must also act based on that assurance even when when we can see the promises fulfilled yet.
29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
Pilots learn to fly their planes by using their instruments only. They cannot “see” the horizon, the ground, the runway, but they know that it is there by trusting in their instruments. They must learn this because there are times when the whether makes visibility impossible. If they have only learned to fly by sight, they will almost surely crash. The promises of God in the Word of God are our instruments. When the circumstances of life make it look like the promises can’t possibly come true and cloud our spiritual sight, we must trust in His word. His word is our instrument panel that guides us to safety.
What are some of the “invisible things” that we trust are true?
The blessing we will receive when Jesus returns.
Final glorification including a new, perfect body
The High priestly ministry of Jesus
Our access to God’s presence as we pray
Full forgiveness for sin
The origin of the universe — none of us were there when it was created. We did not “see” it, so we trust the word of the One who was there.
The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary 1. Introduction (11:1–3)
Faith in the Biblical sense is the assurance and conviction that what God has said is true, and is to be acted upon by the believer.
B. Our Means of Approval
B. Our Means of Approval
2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 67.27 πρεσβύτερος, α, ον
πρεσβύτεροςb, α, ον: pertaining to a person who has lived in ancient times,
Hebrews: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Illustration of Faith
An evangelist of many years ago told the beautiful story of two little boys he once visited in a London hospital.
The cots were side-by-side. One boy had a dangerous fever, the other had been struck by a truck and his body was badly mangled. The second one said to the first, “Say, Willie, I was down to the mission Sunday school and they told me about Jesus. I believe that if you ask Jesus, He will help you. They said that if we believe in Him and pray to God, then when we die He’ll come and take us with Him to heaven.” Willie replied, “But what if I’m asleep when He comes and I can’t ask Him?” His friend said, “Just hold up your hand; that’s what we did in Sunday school. I guess Jesus sees it.” Since Willie was too weak to hold up his arm, the other boy propped it up for him with a pillow. During that night, Willie died, but when the nurse found him the next morning, his arm was still propped up.
We can be sure that the Lord saw his arm, because the Lord sees faith and the Lord accepts faith.
C. Our Understanding of Creation
C. Our Understanding of Creation
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Worlds — the universe. All things in time, space, and matter.
Prepared — arranged, put in order for a purpose or use.
word — not logos.
ῥῆμαa, τος n: a minimal unit of discourse, often a single word
bird, dog, cow and they existed ex niloh (out of nothing). God is the uncaused cause of time, space, and matter.
Philosophy can’t explain the origin of the universe, science also can’t explain it.
Hebrews: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Illustration of Faith
Physics professor T. L. Moore of the University of Cincinnati has said, “To talk of the evolution of thought from sea slime to amoeba, from amoeba to a self-conscious thinking man, means nothing. It is the easy solution of a thoughtless brain.”
II. Faith Demonstrated
II. Faith Demonstrated
A. Abel
A. Abel
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was approved as being righteous—God approving his gifts—and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
The first murder followed Abel’s corrupted worship.
Joseph Parker — “A pastor knows the best side of man, the lawyer knows the worst side of man, and the physician knows the real side of man.”
You don’t really know the real side of people on Sunday morning, but you have a better idea on Monday morning or Friday night.
B. Enoch
B. Enoch
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for prior to being taken up, he was approved as being pleasing to God.
Not much is known about Enoch.
14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
How did God take him up? Like Elijah? How did God approve him as being pleasing to Him? By giving him the promise that he would not see death that gave him an inward confidence?
We have that kind of testimony in our souls as well.
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who draws near to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Faith is not just one of the optional ways to please God, It is the only way to please Him.
Draw near — we can draw near to God with confidence Heb. 10:22
Einstein told William Hermanns in an interview that "God is a mystery. But a comprehensible mystery. I have nothing but awe when I observe the laws of nature. There are not laws without a lawgiver, but how does this lawgiver look? Certainly not like a man magnified." Hermanns, William (1983). Einstein and the Poet. In Search of the Cosmic Man. Brookline Village MA: Branden Books, p. 60.
For all his scientific brilliance, Einstein and many others like him could not be pleasing to Him.
When men do not recognize God as He is, they are left to drift without an explanation for the unseen things that they inherently know must exist. Without faith, life becomes meaningless and purposeless. God is the only answer that brings substance and assurance to the unknown questions of our universe.
Primitive Enoch pleased was pleasing to God because of his faith, where the greatest minds of the modern era who deny God are not.
Do you have faith in God as He has explained Himself in the Bible? Then the shocking truth is that God is pleased with you! Added to that is another shocking truth, He will reward you for seeking Him!
C. Noah
C. Noah
7 By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Noah listened to God, he obeyed God, he preached to the world, and he inherited righteousness. All of this he did by faith.
Closing:
It is a great encouragement to see the example of faith by these saints. May we be assured of the hope that God has given to us and consider His word as the evidence of things that we cannot see.
