Show me your faith!
Notes
Transcript
What is faith?
What is faith?
Friends, as we continue to study the letter of Hebrews, we come this morning to the practical side of what faith is!
Last Sunday’s sermon, was mostly an exposition of verse one:
Faith is, according to Heb. 11: 1
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
We saw that as we consider what faith is, we discover that faith can be seen, even though it is in essence, invisible;
We saw that our works is indeed a test of our faith!
Important that we understand that it is not our works that leads to faith, but faith that leads to works!
Our faith (which is an invisible gift we receive from God) is seen by our works, (as a visible reality of our faith).
In this regard, in the letter of James (Jesus’ brother), who did not always believe, but came to faith only after much witnessing the death and resurrection of Jesus, wrote:
James 2: 14-19
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
As example, we considered a young man who had promised before God on his wedding day that He would be faithful, but still had to learn that to say one believes, or “I do!” means very little unless you live a life that shows you realise what price has been paid for you to understand, to remain secure in the faith!
There is an object to our faith!
In short: we don’t believe in believing; we believe in Jesus, who showed us what faith looks like, and who makes rightful demands on our lives, so that our lives will reflect our confession!
We see that Jesus demands
trust
obedience, and
gratitude
On the strength of those demands, then, we are able to understand what faith is not!
What faith is not!
What faith is not!
Faith is not ...
a feeling!
(Not a fuzzy feeling). “Kindness”; “pity”; “love”! Without an understanding that these characteristics are the visible characteristics of who we are in Christ, is no more than a selfish, proud expression of who we think we are, in our own kindness and pity and love!
It is for this reason, the author of Hebrews reminds us to (Heb. 10: 19-25)
Jesus showed us on the Cross who He is! The Son of God, displaying the true character of God: Holy, Just, the Perfecter of our being, who made us in His image - towards this end, Jesus fights against the Lying One, who schemes to teach the world that worldly kindness, pity, love is more important than obedience to God! (As such, He becomes our great High Priest who sacrifices Himself for us, so that we gain the attributes of true trust and obedience and gratitude!
So, we must ask ourselves, do we believe in that Jesus - and is our faith seen in what we hope for in that regard:
Matthew 16: 24-26
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?
1 John 3: 16-18
16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.
Faith, we can say, is our sure trust in the historical fact that we, who have been wrong with God ever since our ancestors turned against God (even as we are in our inheritance of them are inclined to do the same); have been made right with God again, through our inheritance in Jesus, and therefore we will see Him in glory in the fulness of time! And in the meantime, our hope and trust (our faith) is illustrated by the very deeds of our lives!
All this implies that in this life, ever since Adam and Eve, there is a constant battle raging in the universe - a battle for faith, no less!
And we are soldiers in that battle, one way or another! We fight either in our conviction of the truth of our salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, under the command of Jesus; or on the side of those who oppose that truth and will have us believe there is no sin in our lives, and therefor no salvation required, under the command of the great lier!
Gen. 3: 4
4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman.
Well, it turns out that we do die, and will die, dead, unless for the salvation to be had by faith alone, faith in Jesus alone!
And that faith can be seen in the lives of those who trust in Jesus!
To explain this, the author of Hebrews now supplies us several historical accounts to illustrate the prevalence and practical implications of faith.
A record, we might say, of how people have been tested, and how they fought the fight in the name of their Commander - and how they were rewarded for their steadfast
A moment of testing: Abel
A moment of testing: Abel
To understand what faith looks like, and what its benefit is, our author presents Abel as exhibit A!
You know the story.
We find the story in Genesis 4!
It starts of as a love story:
God made the heavens and the earth, and saw that it was good!
He sets the scene, we might say, for all things bright and beautiful!
Then He makes Adam - and God declares Adam good! Because, after all, Adam is made in His image!
Gen. 1: 26
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
And as he considers His God-like creation, He discovers something which is not good! - Loneliness!
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”
A woman, God made for Adam, "man and woman He made them, so that they would be together, not alone. Equal, but different, so that they would have children in the way God made them, and be a people, who would live their lives under God’s instruction! (Genesis 1: 28).
And so,
1 The man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.” 2 She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground.
By this time, mankind had an understanding of what it meant to obey God, and what the result would be if they didn’t!
3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Sin’s consequence was implanted on mankind’s heart and mind!
It is a knowledge we may call our the product of our conscience!
We know that God is the giver of life, and that it is wrong to take a life of a fellow God’s image bearer!
Living your life in trust, that God is the giver of life - and the one who gets to say how we are to live - is called faith!
Faith in God!
Adam and Eve had this faith, even as they tested God’s resolve, and came to know of his wrath!
Yet God was merciful to them! They had remorse! And they had hope, that one would come who would restore them in full status before God!
And so they were intimate, and became pregnant!
And into this world is born first Cain, and then, Able!
And now the author of Hebrews, says: “Do you want an example of faith?” Well, consider Abel” he says.
Abel brought an offering to God, just like Cain did!
Abel’s offering was acceptable to God.
Gen. 4: 4
4 And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
God had seen Able’s heart, had known Abel’s heart as he brought his offering, and his offering was acceptable to the Lord!
God also knew Cain’s heart as he brought his offering. He knew even then Cain’s heart (which would soon be revealed) and the Lord did not have regard for Cain’s offering, because God knew Cain’s heart. And that heart would soon be revealed - he murders Abel out of jealousy and anger and rebellion against God who alone is the one who is to determine the days of our lives, the life of the living and even the life of the baby in the womb, and the life span of the old and the infirm.
Cain’s heart rejects this decree, and it is with such a heart he brings a token sacrifice, which the Lord finds unworthy!
But Abel’s heart and life of trust is revealed to have been worthy! He did what is right!
And his offer is accepted!
Cain, however, even after a warning from God, to do what is right, goes on to murder Cain!
He succumbs to the Commander of Evil, who convinced him that he should protect his own honour, even before God his maker.
11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
My way, Lord; not yours, even if I have to kill my brother for it, says Cain, says the unrighteous ones!
And even as Abel lies dead in the ground, we see that he is vindicated by God, and offered to us as an example of faith!
Heb. 11: 4
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.
How does he still speak?
Hear what Gen. 4: 10 says
10 Then he said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
we get toi understand this passage when we turn to Rev. 6: 9-11
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given. 10 They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.
God does not forget any who have died for His name’s sake; those who acted righteously under all kinds of circumstances!
Their honour will be restored on the day of the great trial!
And until then, there names live on as an example of true faith, for the sake of those who seek God, and find Him also in His proven mercy and justice!
And of this there is no better example that the life and death and resurrection of Jesus!
Then the author presents another example, that of the account of the life - and “translation” (translated from this life to the everlasting, without dying) of Enoch:
Loved ones, even before we consider this account, we should recognise here a personal test of the nature of our faith.
You see, there is no other way to receive this story with any credulity, but with faith!
If I were to tell you that a man once lived, and then disappeared; that he was, and then “he was not” and asked you to believe it, you may call me mad or at least ignorant of the reality of things that are! You may call for scientific proof, which you know I cannot give.
Unless you believed in God to start with!
And you believe that the Bible is His word, given us to get to know God all the better, and trust in Him for what we know of Him!
Then I can tell you this story, and you will believe it, and will have the full benefit of your faith, namely that you, too, will ultimately be taken away out of this life of misery and sin to “be” with God forever more!
We are introduced to Enoch in Gen 5: 18
18 Jared was 162 years old when he fathered Enoch.
So, here we have Enoch, the son of Jared.
Jared, we learn, is from the line of Seth, Cain and Abel’s other brother!
And that is important, because there is another Enoch, who is not the son of Jared!
There is Enoch, the son of Cain!
17 Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son.
Chapter 4 of Genesis is of the line of Cain, and we discover that his was a corrupt, revengeful, jealous line!
Seth’s line is described in chapter 5, and this line is filled with men who “walked with God.”
In fact, Noah would come from Seth’s line, only four generations after Seth, and we know of Noah that “Noah was a righteous man”!
9 These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.
Do you believe these stories, so far?
Believe, not as in I think they might be true, or, well, I believe that they were stories written thousands of years ago, but they are probably myths, which have no claim or influence on my life!
Believe, like I believe that God has given us these accounts of the lives of the people of ages past who have shown the benefits of what it means to believe in God - shown it by the very way they lived - and therefore we should long to live this way, too!
If you believe like that, then hear the rest of the story:
23 So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.
He was … and then he was not (nowhere to be found) because God took him!
You see, that is the story and the affirmation that God God exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him!
5 By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God.
Like Able!
The Lord had regard for the way Able trusted in Him!
It had nothing to do with the type of offering, but everything to do with Able’s faith!
Not like Cain!
Cain, the pre-mediated murderer
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Cain the lier!
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 Then he said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
No, you see, not like Cain, who believed he could lie to God, and by so believing, showing his heart that he did not believe that God knows everything, and thius no god at all, really.
What kind of a god can be fooled?
Cain had no faith, you see! And so …
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Do you believe God’s word?
Do you believe the story of Cain and Abel?
Do you believe the story of Enoch?
And as they point to Jesus, do you really believe the story of Jesus?
Do you believe that Jesus is Lord of your life, and that in your faith in Him you will be rewarded?
If you do, by the grace of God, your life will bear testimony to your Saviour, Jesus!
And even your death will proclaim him, as you will gather to meet Him on His return!
Then, your faith will be sight, and you will be declared righteous - because he does reward those who seek Him!
Amen!
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.