By Faith

The righteous live by their faith

Hebrews Sermon 8

By Faith

Hebrews 11: 1-4

Genesis 4: 2b -16

As we take a look at this great chapter, which for many people is one of their favourite chapters in the whole of the New Testament, we must always keep in mind the people to whom the letter was addressed. Yes, it is for us, too, and we can apply so much of it to our own lives. But it was the Jewish Christians, primarily, who were under great pressure to desert Christianity and to go back to the practices of the Old Covenant. That’s why the writer of the letter knew that they needed to hear and understand from their own history, that the people they knew about and looked back to were also, by faith, partakers of the New Covenant.

The writer had just reminded them of the prophet Habakkuk, who was living at a time of great uncertainty, and great trouble, crying to God for help:

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not listen?

Or cry to you “Violence!”

and you will not save?

Why do you make me see wrongdoing

and look at trouble?

Destruction and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

Those words of Habakkuk can surely be echoed in our day, when we see what is going on in our world right now. Like Habakkuk, we feel helpless and fearful. What was God’s answer to Habakkuk?

the righteous live by their faith.

This is the key theme of Chapter 11, where we are presented with a record of some of those whose lives were marked by faith in God and by their faith received God’s approval, or another version puts it:

This is what the ancients were commended for.

What does it mean, when we read the words :”The Just shall live by their faith” ? We need to go back to the context in which they were written. In verse 36 of chapter 10 we read this:

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

At the beginning of his story Habakkuk is an impatient man : “How long shall I cry for help?”

Here’s a bit of God’s answer to Habakkuk:

3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;

it speaks of the end

and will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it;

it will certainly come

and will not delay.

The ultimate goal of any believer is to receive what God has promised. Remember the words of 10:36

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

This was what Habakkuk needed to learn and it was what the ancients were commended for. It was their patient endurance that characterised their faith. They believed God and trusted Him even though in their daily lives they faced all the testing and temptations and trials that would lead them away from God. Hebrews 11.13:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth

A quote from John Calvin: “Faith directs us to things afar off which we do not as yet enjoy; it then necessarily includes patience.”

The first verse of chapter 11 gives us, not a definition, but a description of faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

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

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see

What faith does is to give us assurance that what we believe is sure and real, not just something fanciful. Paul writes about this in Romans 10. He had just made the statement that Christ is the end of the law, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Romans 10: 6-9

But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ”  (that is, to bring Christ down)  “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ”  (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Do you remember when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue and some of his words were: “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.”? Many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. Peter, however, said:

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

This is what faith does; it enables our hearts to fully accept that what God has promised us, eternal life, is the only sure foundation on which to build our lives. It give substance to our believing.

And faith allows the believer to see and understand the world from a new perspective.

There is a divide between the believer and the non-believer.

1 Corinthians 2: 14

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4: 18, encouraged his readers when he wrote:

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

And then in the passage that follows:

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight

Verse 3 of Chapter 11 reminds us that it is faith alone which leads to an understanding that it was God who created the universe. Scientists and philosophers have their place in the world, but a reading of Isaiah chapter 40 is something I would recommend to everyone.

Here are just a couple of small sections:

21 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

25 “To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

We come now to all those whom the writer has chosen to include in the list of the men and women who were commended for their faith. He begins with Abel

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

This verse leads us to think about the beginning of the life of faith. The story is told in Genesis chapter 4

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the first-born of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Abel was the first man to bring an offering to God. There was no precedent or example to follow. What was it that persuaded Abel that he needed to kill a lamb and offer it to God? Where did his faith come from? Romans 10: 17 says:

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Hebrew 1: 1 reminds us that in the past God spoke in various ways. It could have been that God spoke directly to Abel, but more likely that he learned about God from his parents. However it came about, it was clear that Abel had responded to God’s revelation and acted in faith when he brought his sacrifice, for sacrifice it was, involving the killing of a lamb — fat portions —.

Note that when Abel brought his offering to God, he was acknowledging before God, that God was righteous and that he, Abel was a sinner, in need of forgiveness. By faith he knew that God was merciful and willing to accept the death of an innocent substitute in his place.

It was not the act of sacrifice that brought forgiveness and acceptance to Abel.

By faith Abel brought a better offering than Cain.

It was not his works that brought salvation, but his faith. If you go back to that scene in the Garden of Eden, you will remember this:

And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

That makes it clear that it would be impossible for man, by himself, to find a way back to life with God. It was Abel’s faith, demonstrated in the sacrifice that he brought to God, that made him righteous in God’s sight. And God gave him the assurance that this was so when God spoke well of his offering. To all who put their trust in him, God will always give assurance. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church:

Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.

And to the church in Rome: Romans 8:16

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children

The writer tells us that Abel’s offering was better, or more excellent than Cain’s.

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.

Cain was not what we might call an atheist. He acknowledged the existence of God; otherwise why would he bring an offering at all. But his offering was bloodless, it was merely the product of his labours. His worship was not “by faith” as it did not find favour with God.

Yet in this story, we still see the work of God’s grace. No immediate destruction, but a chance to repent:

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

Well, we know what course Cain chose to take. And even after he had murdered his brother and was questioned by God, he said these words:

Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.

There was still something in Cain, that continued to want to be accepted by God, and this restlessness in his conscience would remain with him. It is a restlessness that would not bring peace, but fear — “whoever finds me will kill me.’’

Even here we see the grace of God at work.

But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.

Is it probable that most people are like Cain in that there is a restlessness in their conscience that will not cease till they come to accept Christ as their saviour.

There are some commentators who refer to Cain as the first Hypocrite in a long line of those that Isaiah talks about in chapter 29 and quoted by Jesus in Matthew 15 when he says (Isaiah 29:13)

8 “ ‘These people honour me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

9 They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules

Jude says:

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Strong words for those who profess to believe, but whose faith is not genuine.

These two brothers, Cain and Abel, can be taken as representatives of two classes of people.

Both were the sons of Adam and Eve.

Both had, no doubt, received from their parents, and from the natural world in which they lived, a knowledge of God.

Both acknowledged that God was there, ready to receive them.

But it was Abel who honoured God with his heart, while Cain honoured God only with his lips. He did bring an offering, but his intentions were selfish. Here is what John says in 1 John 3:12:

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

Abel came to God in faith and offered the best of his flock.

With Cain’s offering there is no mention of faith, nor are we told that he offered the best that he could offer. Genesis 4:3 simply says;

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.

Hebrews 11:6 reminds us:

And without faith it is impossible to please God.

It was Abel’s faith that led him to offer the best that he had and this is the principle that holds true for Christians today. Faith in Jesus should spur us on to serve him to the best of our abilities.

Ephesians 6:7

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,

Col 3:23:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Hebrews 11:4b

And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead

We can’t pass over these words without giving them some consideration. By Abel’s faith and his understanding that a blood sacrifice as a substitution for his own sin was required, teaches that fallen man can only come to God through the death of an innocent substitute.

Righteous Abel died at the hand of his brother Cain. This was the first public display of the enmity between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the Serpent.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring a and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

While this came to its fulfilment in the death of Jesus at the hand of the religious people of the day, there is a real sense in which the battle continues today. Those whom God accepts and approves must expect opposition, and sometimes persecution.

However:

Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

There will come a day when God’s judgment will be on all who rejected or opposed him, or who caused God’s people to suffer: Paul, together with his friends Silas and Timothy wrote to the church in Thessalonica at a time when they, the Christians there, were showing an enduring, persevering faith in all the persecutions and trials that they were going through.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

Abel is among those who were killed for their faith and await that time John wrote about in Revelation 6:9-11

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

Faith does not guarantee a long life, nor does it guarantee a life without pain or suffering. But it does guarantee the reward that God promised. It does guarantee God’s approval or commendation. Continuing, persevering faith does guarantee eternal life with the Son of God in Glory.