Now Faith Is.

NOW FAITH IS.

Hebrews 11:1-3, Hebrews 11:8-16.

This chapter follows on from the quotation of Habakkuk 2:4 in Hebrews 10:38a: ‘the just shall live by faith’ (see also Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11). “Now faith is,” continues Hebrews 11:1.

The first thing that we learn about faith is that it is not nebulous: it is not cloudy, fuzzy, or hazy; not vague, indeterminate, or ill-defined. No, rather it is substantial, it is real, it is tangible. It anticipates the future: it is “the substance (or assurance) of things hoped for;” it is a conviction which stands as “evidence for things not (yet) seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith looks beyond the obvious to behold the hand of the invisible God behind it all (cf. Hebrews 11:27).

The second thing that we learn about faith is that “By it the elders obtained a good report” (Hebrews 11:2). Not only that, but that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Not that we are suddenly back into the realm of salvation by works, for “faith” is not a ‘work’ in that sense: but rather, as we launch out into ‘The Hall of Faith’ (as I entitled another sermon), we are encouraged to know that these men and women of old had a sense of God’s approval - indeed, His reward - through the exercise of the gift of faith.

The third thing we learn about faith is that “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). Something - everything - in the cosmos was made out of “things that do not appear”: the visible emerged out of the invisible.

Sometimes when we look at our Christian walk and life all we can see are our failures. Healthy self-examination all too easily declines into unhealthy introspection. It is good to be reassured that God views us not as we see ourselves, but as we are in Christ Jesus.

None of the heroes of the faith was perfect. Between the promise of a son to Abraham and the birth of Isaac there was the episode with Hagar (Genesis 16:1-6). Yet God’s final word on Abraham and Sarah was “through faith” (Hebrews 11:11).

Abraham stepped out in faith by obeying the call of God (Hebrews 11:8). The “father of all those who believe” (Romans 4:11) left his home and his kindred to go to a land which he did not know and had not seen. There he received no inheritance, but dwelt in tents with his offspring (Hebrews 11:9), trusting in the promise of something better beyond (Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 11:13-16).