Turn with me to Hebrews 11. Look through and you’ll see these words: BY FAITH…
• We have here a list of men (and woman) in history that have exercised faith in God and saw the acts of God in their lives.
• Biblical faith is not an emotion or a feeling. It is not abstract or intangible. It is real, practical and experiential.
CHARACTERISTICS of these experiences in Heb 11:
(1) God is central. Faith is dependency on God.
• Faith is to trust in God that God will do what He said He would do.
• God acts in response to man’s faith in Him. When we trust God’s Word, we see God’s works!
(2) Faith is practical. We exercise faith by acting on what we believe.
• James says, “Faith without works is dead” (2:26); faith is not a theory or a belief.
• Real faith works, because God responds to the faith that we place upon Him.
• When we act on faith, we will see the fruit of faith. God’s will is done because men chose to trust Him.
A tourist came too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and plunged over the side, clawing and scratching to save himself. He went out of sight and just before he fell into space, he stumbled upon a bush which he desperately grabbed with both hands.
Filled with terror, he cried out, "Help! Somebody please help! Is there anyone up there?"
A calm, powerful voice came out of the sky, "Yes, I’m here."
The tourist pleaded, "Help me, I’m stuck.”
The calm voice replied, "Yes, I can help. What happened?"
"I fell over the cliff and am now dangling by the side. I don’t think I can hold on much longer."
The voice said, "Don’t worry. Trust me. Just let go.”
There was silence for a moment. The voice said again, “Trust me, just let loose of the bush and everything will be fine."
There was another pause, then the tourist yelled out, "Is there anyone else up there?"
He can’t trust his word. The tourist was dangling only about 2 metres from a pavement below. Let go and I’ll catch you. But that’s not easy for many of us.
It’s one thing to talk about faith – it’s quite another to act on faith!
All of us struggle with this issue - whether you are a young believer who has just taken the first step of faith and accepted Christ, or a seasoned Christian trying to grapple with a great tragedy in life - we all struggle with having faith in God.
• We are going to look at Hebrews 11 and derive 4 Principles (practical statements) that can help us better exercise faith in everyday life.
(1) FAITH IS BELIEVING WHEN YOU DON’T SEE IT
11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
11:7 “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.”
The order is very clear here. Faith must come before seeing it.
• We’re called to trust God even when you cannot see it.
• I don’t like this. I want to see and then believe, but then, if you see it, you don’t need faith.
• Faith is what God expects from us. Faith is what God is please with. If you truly trust me, you don’t have to see it to believe it.
A pastor’s small son was told by his mother that he should wash his hands because there were germs living in all that dirt. He was reprimanded many times for this.
One day he complained: "Germs and Jesus! Germs and Jesus! That’s all I ever hear around this house and I’ve never seen either one."
They are both real, it’s just that you don’t see them.
• Some things have to be believed before you can see them. We have to believe it in advance.
• It sounds like a contradiction, but the Bible teaches that faith is visualizing the future in the present.
• Because God has full knowledge, but not us. He sees the end from the beginning, not us.
The earth rotates on its axis once each day. Since the circumference of the earth at the equator is 24,901.55 miles, a spot on the equator rotates at approximately 1,037.5646 miles per hour (1,669.8 km/h).
In addition to the rotational speed of the earth spinning on its axis, the earth is also speeding at about 66,660 miles per hour (107,278.87 km/h) in its revolution around the sun once ever 365.2425 days.
It is moving, but we feel nothing. We don’t always see or feel what is true.
So if we are doing everything by sight and nothing by faith, we are only doing what is humanly possible. We are going to see only the fruits of human efforts. There is nothing supernatural, nothing miraculous.
• But when faith is exercised in God, we see the acts of God.
• When we put our trust in Jesus Christ, He comes into our heart and transforms our lives. We experience His love, His forgiveness, and His power.
• Faith is trusting God to turn sorrow into joy, mourning into gladness. Faith causes the weak to say, "I am strong", the poor to say, "I am rich", and the blind to say, "I can see."
In a sense, you have to have faith that it is going to happen, FOR IT to happen. God responds to faith, not unbelief.
• So I ask myself, what are some things I’ve not seen yet? I know it is God’s will, it’s something that will please God, but I have not seen it yet.
• The salvation of a friend? For you, passing your year-end exam? Seeing this hall filled up with people worshipping God? Seeing that more will come to year-end Christmas event and get to know Christ?
You are not seeing any of these yet. What would make them come true?
• Of course, we can say, “God will make them happen”.
• But more precisely, Heb 11 tells us when men like you and I respond to God’s call with faith, believing that it can come true, God will make that happen.
• Do you tend to lean on “Yes, I believe that it can come true” or “I don’t think this can happen”?
When I was preparing this, God spoke to me, “Believe me enough for it!”
• If you can’t, you will get what you can humanly envisage. What you see is what you get. You don’t need faith. You are living by sight. You are living by human effort and strategy. You are achieving what is humanly possible.
• But if I believe God enough for it, then I must commit this to Him. I must act on what I believe. I will pray and expect God to do as He said He would. I will obey Him and do what He calls me to do and then wait for His promise to come true.
• We believe God for great things because He is a great God.
BELIEVE GOD ENOUGH FOR IT. I was preparing this on Wed. It has been raining on Tue and Wed (and later Thu and Fri too). I wish Sat will be fine, so we can fly kites. I was dampened by the rain and God said, “Do you believe me enough for it?”
• Ask the God of the Universe to clear the sky for us to fly kites? Sounded ridiculous. I laughed in my heart, just like Sarah when she heard she is going to have a child.
• I know this event is good. We can have fellowship together, and have fun flying kites. God our Father will be happy to see His children happy.
• So I prayed, convicted by my own sermon! Faith is believing God when you don’t see it!
• It did not rain on Sat. In fact, the sun came out. It was a windy Sat afternoon!
(2) FAITH IS OBEYING WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT
11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Abram is living in the land of Ur. He was 75-years-old when God sent him on a journey.
• He didn’t tell him the name of the place he is going and He didn’t tell him how far away it is. Would you go? Would I go?
• God was asking Abraham to make a major move with very little information to go on.
• Faith is obeying when you don’t understand it. At 75 years of age, Abraham starts out on the greatest journey of his life and becomes the father of a nation.
How then will Abraham know if he has reached the land? He will know it when he reached it!
• Gen 12:6-7 “Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.”
• There were occupants in that land but Abraham took God at His Word. He built an altar to worship and thank God for His gift.
• It was just a promise. When did Israel (Abraham’s offspring) eventually take possession of the Land? Nearly 700 yrs later!
Would you obey God, even when you do not understand everything?
• Chinese proverb: "He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg."
• You do not know what God is doing. You are facing a problem, a difficulty. Things have not been good. You wish to know why. You want some answers.
• And God only words are, “Trust me!”
• This was probably what He says to Abraham: “Keep moving, you’re on the right track. You’re moving along well. I’ll tell you when you reach it.”
We obey because we believe God will keep His promise.
• On hind sight, we will understand. Sometimes, we can only have that hind sight when we reached heaven. But that’s fine – God knows best.
• We choose to obey Him. God honours our obedience.
There is a story about a monastery in Europe perched high on a cliff several hundred feet in the air. The only way to reach the monastery was to be suspended in a basket which was pulled to the top by several monks who pulled and tugged with all their strength. Obviously the ride up the steep cliff in that basket was terrifying.
One journalist got exceedingly nervous about half-way up as he noticed that the rope by which he was suspended was old and frayed.
With trembling voice, he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they change the rope.
The monk thought for a moment and answered brusquely, "Whenever it breaks."
Faith is as good as the object of your faith.
• It does not matter how much faith this person has, it is the rope that will hold him up. It is not so much how big your faith is, but how big God is.
• If the God we trust is all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing, then we have nothing to fear. The only thing we need to fear is that we are not trusting God.
• Don’t ever lose faith in God!
Prayer:
If you’ve not invited Christ into your life, you can take that step today. Pray these words:
"Dear God, help me to trust you. Today I turn away from my sins, and ask for the forgiveness that Jesus Christ provided for me. I want to get to know you. And I want You to manage and bless my life and teach me how to live by faith in You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen."
Dear God, help me to remember that you are the God of the impossible and whatever it is You want me to do, You will enable and provide what we need. Help us trust you and persevere. Let not people nor circumstance dampens our spirit and rob us of faith in God. Do your work through us today. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.
