Faith changes everything

Hebrews 11:1

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

Title: Faith changes everything

Theme: Living in faith brings the approval of God

Text: Hebrews 11:1

Goal: Living in faith brings the approval of God

ME: ORIENTATION: FIND COMMON GROUND WITH THE AUDIENCE

God is speaking am I listening?

I tried to make sense of last Sunday into Monday and the most I could say was it is my belief that God moved in the worship service.

WE: IDENTIFICATION (MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU STRUGGLE)

We said last week hear, surrender, follow God.

What next?

Devotional lenten journey is important.

AS I have been sharing this has not been an easy road.

I believe God wants to do something but I am not sure what?

It does involved a life change for me.

I think it needs to be a life change for you.

Awhile back we talked abut stagnate water. Maybe that water was my water and maybe yours. You will need to decide.

You will say well you are leaving we will wait for the new pastor. You can do that.

I ask you this question what if God wants you to prepare for the days to come?

What if this is a time for revival and import season in our lives?

God is speaking am I listening?

Follow Jesus because we are all called.

GOD: ILLUMINATION (THE GOAL IS TO RESOLVE THE TENSION

I. What is faith

Hebrews 11:1

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

11 Now faith is the assurance( Realization, substance) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith Now, faith is. “Faith” encompasses both trust in God and faithfulness to God

Koester, C. R. (2008). Hebrews: a new translation with introduction and commentary (Vol. 36, p. 472). New Haven; London: Yale University Press. b.Trust. Faith means hearing and receiving the gospel message

c. turning from sin to God

d. drawing near to God with confidence

e. God’s word and revelation given to us

f. We respond by trusting God and being faithful.

B. Faithfulness. Faith entails perseverance (6:12) and holding fast to the promises of God.

a. Faithfulness is a way of life for the people of God. Faith manifests itself in steadfast assurance in the face of threats,

as Moses and his parents defied the king’s wrath in order to do what was right (11:23, 27).

b.The opposite of the assurance of faith is shrinking back in the face of difficulty and falling away from the living God rather than holding firm until the end.

Faith is based on what God says, not on what our senses discern.

C. The Assurance

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

The word “assurance” (NASB; NRSV) is useful because objectively it is a pledge or guarantee and subjectively it is a personal state of certainty (OED).

It comes from sources beyond are self.

The faithfulness is God’s guarantee that we receive eternal inheritance.

God gives what he promised to the faithful

Sure confidence

II. Things Hoped For

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

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

Now faith is the assurance( Realization, substance) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

A.of things hoped for. The object of hope in 11:1a is the unseen reality mentioned in 11:1b. The word “things hoped for” (elpizomenōn) is neuter plural, referring to the world to come (2:5), everlasting Sabbath rest (4:1–11), an eternal inheritance (9:15), heavenly Jerusalem (12:22–24), and an unshakable kingdom (12:28). Faith is steadfast assurance concerning what is hoped for, yet the assurance of faith comes from what is hoped for. Faith is evoked by the promise of future things and is directed toward the fulfillment of that promise.

To the writer to the Hebrews, faith is a hope that is absolutely certain that what it believes is true and that what it expects will come.

In the early days of persecution, a humble Christian was brought before the judges. He told them that nothing they could do could shake him because he believed that, if he was true to God, God would be true to him. ‘Do you really think’, asked the judge, ‘that the likes of you will go to God and his glory?’ ‘I do not think,’ said the man, SLIDE ‘I know of John Bunyan 1628 born converted after marriage

At one time, John Bunyan was tortured by uncertainty. ‘Everyone doth think his own Religion rightest,’ he said, ‘both Jews and Moors and Pagans; and how if all our Faith and Christ and Scriptures should be but a “Think so” too?’ But, when the light broke, he ran out crying: ‘Now I know! I know!’ The Christian faith is a hope that has turned to certainty.

This Christian hope is such that it dictates every aspect of the way Christians conduct themselves. They live in it and they die in it; and it is the possession of it which makes them act as they do.

1660 non conformist, became converted and preached.

1660 Monachy came back and he was said for his belief for 12 years

Three directions in which the Christian hope operates.

It is belief in God against the world. If we follow the world’s standards, we may well have ease and comfort and prosperity; if we follow God’s standards, we may well have pain and loss and unpopularity. It is the Christian conviction that it is better to suffer with God than to prosper with the world. Slide Example: In the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are confronted with the choice of obeying Nebuchadnezzar and worshipping the king’s image or obeying God and entering the fiery furnace. Without hesitation, they choose God (Daniel 3). Slide Example: When John Bunyan was to be put on trial, he said: ‘With God’s comfort in my poor soul, before I went down to the justices I begged of God that if I might do more good by being at liberty than in prison, then I might be set at liberty. But if not, his will be done.’ The Christian attitude is that, in terms of eternity, it is better to stake everything on God than to trust to the rewards of the world.

(2) The Christian hope is belief in the spirit against the senses. The senses say to us: ‘Take what you can touch and taste and handle and enjoy.

The senses tell us to grasp the thing of the moment; the spirit tells us that there is something far beyond that. Christians believe in the spirit rather than the senses.

(3) The Christian hope is belief in the future against the present.

III. The take away

Faith is a trust and faithfulness

Assurance

Of things hoped for

Will you walk in faith?

YOU: APPLICATION (TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO AND WHAT THEY HAVE HEARD)

Conclusion:

God is speaking am I listening?

Faith changes everything

Living in faith brings the approval of God

Seek God devotionally to develop faith