Our Hope

Hebrews 11:1

English Standard Version Chapter 11

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Background: The Jewish believers faith was being challenged in a few ways. 1. By persecution. they were persecuted 3 times in Rome...only the first time was without bloodshed.

Claudius in a.d. 49, under Nero beginning in a.d. 64, and under Domitian in the eighties and nineties. Note that the passage refers to “earlier days” and says nothing about loss of life. Many believers died under Nero and Domitian, but the persecution suffered by the readers of Hebrews does not seem to have involved martyrdom (“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood,” 12:4 niv). In his persecution, Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, including Jewish Christians (among whom were Priscilla and Aquila—Acts 18:2). During this expulsion, they would have been publicly mocked, and they would have lost their property. That treatment seems to match the description in chapter 10.

2. They were being persecuted/pressured by the traditional Jews to return to a “good” way but in doing so they would be turning from the “best” and only way...JESUS the assurance and conviction of the hope of the Jews

believers of all backgrounds were subject to persecution and pressure to renounce their faith. Jewish believers were vulnerable to doubts about Christ and to thinking about turning back to their familiar rituals and old way of thinking. Many had been persecuted severely by their countrymen and branded as heretics

Faith

in greek the word faith is “pistis” it is an assurance a strong confidence in and reliance upon something or someone. it involves trustworthiness.

In our walk with God as Dr. Micheal Brown said in a recent article “(T)rue faith is firm trust in ultimate and absolute truth, even when all evidence is against it.”

“There is nothing more powerful than faith in God. Faith can move mountains, because it trusts in a mountain-moving God. Faith can change the destiny of whole nations, because it believes in the one who created the nations. That’s why the entire Bible puts such a strong emphasis on faith, from beginning to end.”

This is exactly what the Jewish Believers experienced in the roman empire at this time, in 49 ad they were persecuted for the first time, being expelled from Rome and losing all their possessions.

Believers, we need to know who or what we have our faith in. Who or what do we find ourselves really looking to in times of trouble, or hardship?

Our faith needs to be built on Jesus, on his promises. We can have faith that he will do what he said he will do because he has already done what he said he would do.

I love Hebrews 11 because we see different people showing faith

Hebrews 11:5–6 ESV

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 11:7 ESV

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 11:17–19 ESV

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Faith is Knowing that God is faithful to do what he said.

The disciples learned that Faith is this…knowing what Jesus said and that since he is with us he will do it.

Matthew 8:23–27 ESV

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

we see that they lacked faith because they didn’t have the understanding that since God was with them, Jesus was with them, they were in no harm.

Faith in Jesus isn’t the lack of doubt but the presence of absolute trust. When you trust someone you will not doubt them, but you can “not doubt” someone and still not trust them.

Hope

And because we have faith in God that he is faithful to his word we can have HOPE!

Hope in Hebrews 11:1 is an expectation, not a vain or wishful thinking hope, but an expectation that something will happen.

If we want people to experience this hope we need to first have faith that God will do what he said he will do, and act upon that hope

The believers in the book of Hebrews may have been struggling with that Hope, with that faith so the writer of Hebrews decided to remind them of all the times that God came through for his people. That even though they did not see the promise they placed their hope in God. and it was credited to them as righteousness

So what is our hope? many of us have began to experience it, our first hope is that Jesus would come in our lives and bring the change that we need. Our expectation or hope in Jesus is that he will continue to bring us freedom.

What are some examples of people who placed their hope in Jesus?

Look at Matthew 8:1-3

English Standard Version Chapter 8

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Or Matthew 20:29-34

English Standard Version Chapter 20

29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

we see men who were at the end of their ropes, who had no other option but to be healed by Jesus, to turn and hope in the son of God.

Faith leads to Hope. In fact you cannot have hope without faith.

If we are going to show the world the hope we have in Jesus, we need to make sure that he is our only hope, that we turn to him and keep our eyes on him. And we can only do that if we make sure that we can see clearly.

Matthew 7:3–5 ESV

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

It is difficult for us to show people Jesus when we have neglected to address the issues in our own life. What plank is in our eyes? what is keeping us from seeing Jesus in the way that we need to see him? If we don’t see him properly then it will be difficult to have faith in him and place all our hope in him. Many times we are too busy noticing everything that is going on wrong around us that we forget to look in our own lives and see what needs to be changed in us.

And we can only grow in Jesus when we allow him to prune things in our life Jesus wants us to have life, he wants us to have faith, he wants us to have hope.

John 15:1–5 ESV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

as long as we stay connected to Jesus, as long as we watch him, listen to him, no matter what is going on in the world around us we will bear fruit. Fruit is what the world is looking for, and that is what Jesus wants us to give them.

In Hebrews 11:13-16 we see how God saw those who had faith, who placed their hope in him even though they didn’t see the promise fulfilled in their lifetime…this is what it says:

Hebrews 11:13–16 NRSV

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

our hope, is not behind us, but ahead of us, we don’t hope for things we have already recieved but we hope for the things that we will receive. In this season lets place our hope, our faith on that which we haven’t seen yet. Things may need to get pruned, planks may need to be removed, but we need to remember that which he has already done, and know that he will do it again.

Our faith is a personal one, and each of us is responsible for our own growth

The jewish believers needed to be reminded of this and so do we. At times it may feel liker there is no hope left in this world, but that only truly happens when we take our eyes off of Jesus, but when we lift up our eyes and remember that HE is still with us in the middle of the storm, that he alone can calm the winds and the waves, that he alone can give sight to the blind and heal the lepper, that he alone can make us fruitful we will remember to place our faith and our hope in him, and we will see him do a new thing in our circle of influence.