Heroes of Faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
Hebrews 11 is a sort of survey of Old Testament faith leaders. The names that receive the most attention are Abraham and Moses.
The central idea about faith in this chapter is that God’s people are all characterized by faith and the kind of lives that faith produces. By faith so and so did such and such.
Notice that the main point is not so much about the things that these people did as it is the motive for those things. It is the motive of faith in God that answers why they did what they did.
They were all commended for the motive of their actions. And the actions themselves are faith actions.
What exactly is faith? Verse one has two words in it that are loaded. Let’s look at just a few translations and I’ll show you what I mean.
KJV & NKJV says: 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
NIV: 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
RSV and NASB 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
NLT: 11:1 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
Two words: one translated substance or assurance, and the other translated evidence or conviction. Now that is a wide range of meaning if you ask me.
Faith in this chapter is a motive of life. It is that quality of heart and mind that God favors, and that motivates God’s people in powerful, obedient ways. It makes our hope have substance and assurance, it makes the unseen reality of God’s presence and promises a conviction that is evidence in our hearts and acted upon in our lives. Faith! Faith is both an Old Covenant and a New Covenant requirement. While the stipulations of worship may have changed from the Old to the New, faith remains a foundational element in the lives of all of God’s people. Faith connects us with the past and projects us into the future.
Let me ask you a question that is both profound and all encompassing:
What do you do by faith?
Are you here today because of your faith? What will you do this afternoon that is motivated by your faith in Jesus Christ?
I like the church sign I saw down the road. It said, People may not believe what you say, but they will always believe what you do. James said, don’t tell me about your faith, show it to me. And faith without works is dead. Faith always works. The greatest influences for good in the church today are people who live and die by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you something that I told Jay Bischell last night as we were coming home from visiting someone in the hospital.
When I was 16, my best friend, Johnny Foust, was my spiritual mentor. Johnny rode a church buss every Sunday and Wednesday night and worked as a teacher on that bus for little kids that they brought to church. It was the Macedonia Church of Christ, just outside of Florence, AL. Johnny was also a very good athlete. He was a starting player on the basketball team at Mars Hill Bible School, where I went to high school. When the schedule of games came out, Johnny noticed that there were three games scheduled on Wednesday nights. The coach had planned to have a devotional with the players before the games, but he was a tough coach and expected all the players to give it their all. Johnny had played the year before and they hadn’t had any Wednesday games. So Johnny went to the coach and told him that he worked on the bus at church and asked if he could be excused from those games. He even offered to step down from starting player. Johnny loved basketball. Mars Hill had a good reputation for good teams, we went to state every year that I was in high school. The coach told Johnny he would either be there or he was off the team. I remember how much this shocked him. He came to me with tears and told me he would have to quit the team. He said, “I tell those kids that God is more important than anything in their lives. How can I expect them to believe me if they see me put basket ball ahead of being there at church with them?”
Now I don’t know what you think about this, but let me tell you what that did for me. I saw a high school teenager demonstrate living by faith. He made the decision to give up something he loved, to do something he believed would honor the Lord. His faith was an incredible encouragement to me. My decision to pursue the ministry grew out of my relationship with Johnny Foust because of his faith.
Faith is contagious. It spreads. It influences. It attracts and encourages some, it infuriates and baffles others. John said it overcomes the world. 1 John 5: 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God
Let’s talk about the object and content of Christian faith for a minute.
Look back at chapter 10 where the foundation of this chapter is laid.
10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Did you hear it? Did you catch the object and content of our Christian faith?
The object of Christian faith is none other than the Son of God. Jesus Christ. The Word of God, the final Word who, though far greater than all the angels, became a man to be our brother, Savior, High Priest, and to sacrifice his own blood for our sins. He is our hope and the object of our faith.
The content of Christian faith is that knowledge of the truth that we receive, giving us confidence, assurance and boldness to enter God’s presence. This new and living way opened up for us by his blood through his body.
This faith has enemies. Not the least of which is our own fleshly weakness. Our own willingness to turn our attention away from Jesus Christ our hope, and to seek to satisfy our temporal fleshly desires. To forsake coming together with the saints for encouragement and to do the unthinkable: to trade heaven’s treasures for sinful pleasures. So many love this present world and lose their precious faith! Read 1 Peter 1:3-9. Be like Abraham who looked for a city whose author and builder is God. Be like Moses who gave up the treasures and pleasures of Egypt to suffer for Christ! These walked by faith and are received by God!
Listen to the last five verses of chapter 10:
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
37 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
