Richard Dawkins - a torchbearer for Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution describes faith this way: "faith is blind trust in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence." Discover Magazine, August 2005 I would submit that Richard certainly didn’t consult the Bible for his definition of faith - but oddly, even for many Christians, faith is seen as blind - almost like: if you don’t know then just "take it on faith." Or someone gives an objection and we just reject it without taking the time to consider how to respond.
For those who believe faith is "blind" - it is like stepping out on a precipice and hoping you’ll not crash. This kind of faith reminds me of an old Indiana Jones movie - where in order to get to the treasure they have to cross over thin air - and as it turns out there is a picture of the ground superimposed on a small ledge - but they had to actually step out to see it. Or it might be like stepping on the accelerator and hoping you’ll make it into the lane before that oncoming semi smashes into you. You don’t have any reason to trust, you just do. That is not faith.
For some, faith is demanding that something be true. You believe in something so hard that it will happen - and if it doesn’t, then you just didn’t believe hard enough. It’s kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz tapping her ruby slippers and wishing herself back to Kansas. This is the kind of faith where you put a picture of something up on the refrigerator and visualize it into reality. The proponents of this kind of faith are also those that tell you if you are sick or poor - believe God for it and it will happen and if not, then you didn’t have enough. This too is not faith.
For others faith is simply a system. My faith is Christian - like a last name or something. There’s nothing really beyond that - nothing internal anyway - it’s just a nametag you wear that identifies you. But it’s not faith.
In essence - faith is very simple: it is believing that God is who He says He is, and believe that He’ll do what he says He’ll do. More on that as we make our way through chapter 11.
This chapter is actually a parenthesis - albeit a very famous one. The point of Hebrews as we’ve seen is that Jesus is better - better than the old Jewish system that the Hebrews were accustomed to. The author is encouraging them to hang on despite persecution - go all the way into in Jesus and don’t turn back.
"How do you do that?" they ask. "How can you survive a difficult life? How can you remain faithful when everything and everyone around you tells you not to?" Faith. It’s really the key to everything - and so the author spends 40 verses talking about faith. He does it by showing examples of those who had faith - people that suffered a lot more than they were - and people they looked up to.
It also serves another purpose in my mind - to show that the heroes they admire related to God by faith - not by works of righteousness. It’s important in the discussion of the differences between the Old Covenant and the New. The Old relies on meeting an external set of requirements by your own efforts. The New relies on trusting in someone else’s meeting that set of requirements, then passing on their obedience to you internally.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Assurance has three possible meanings: 1-substance (an underlying reality) 2-Assurance or conviction and 3-guarantee (the word was often used in legal documents)
There is truth in all of these - there is an underlying reality to God and to salvation that we hope for but have not seen or experienced. Because of the witness of those who saw and who heard from God we are assured of that reality - and the guarantee that God gave us in the Holy Spirit who works in our lives and is a "down payment" for what God will do for us (2 Timothy 2:14).
Conviction means "to be certain" - it’s not objective proof, but "evidence for convincing people of the truth"
In a trial, a jury has to decide what is truth - different accusations require a different level of truth. For some it is the preponderance of the evidence - the scale weighs down on one side or another. In another setting it might be "beyond a reasonable doubt" - so that if there is any doubt about it then there is no conviction.
As a jury in ourselves, sometimes we set too high a standard for having faith in God so that no prosecutor will ever meet it (so to speak). We want God to come and stand before us - then we’ll believe. Actually, you wouldn’t. But having faith in God is not putting aside your mind - blind faith - it is putting aside your will - you decide that the evidence is there, so you are "convicted."
So it’s not - "boy I hope God is real even though I can’t see Him." Faith is not stepping off the gang plank hoping someone will catch you before you land in the shark infested waters. Faith is trusting in something that you know to be true through evidence - you long for it, but don’t have it yet - you can’t see it, but know it’s there.
It’s like a ship traveling over the ocean. The captain has radar and maps and satellite images telling him that land is ahead. The passengers hope land is over the horizon, and the captain has assured them that it is there. They can’t see the land - but trust the evidence the captain has told them about, even though they themselves are not on the bridge.
So for the rest of what we will cover today we see examples of how faith operates:
2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.
Faith is not just another deed to do - like the Law. Faith is a gift from God - the One who is really doing the saving. Faith is trusting that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do - when that was operating, that’s when those in the Old Covenant were commended. Even in the Old Covenant, salvation came by faith through God’s grace, not deeds.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Who was there to witness the creation? God made it - new, not out of anything pre-existing that could be seen. You have to accept or reject God’s word on the creation - by faith. He said He did it, do you believe He did? By the way, I think it takes more faith to believe that we all evolved through a series of cosmic accidents than were created - but that’s another message entirely!
Now the author gives us five examples - from Genesis - of how faith is a receiving of a promise, acting on that promise by trusting that even though you don’t have the fulfillment - God said it and will perform it:
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
Cain and Abel - from Genesis 4. Adam and Eve’s first sons. The two boys brought sacrifices to God - Cain from the crops he’d grown, and Abel from the flocks he’d cared for. Though there is a lot of speculation, we don’t really know why one was better than the other - but what we do see is Abel’s faith and Cain’s rebellious attitude. Cain ends up killing Abel when Abel calls him on that attitude. So faith is about our will - Abel’s was yielded to God, Cain’s was not because He took issue with what God said.
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Enoch is in Genesis 5. All we really know is that Enoch walked with God and God took him. He never died. The Septuagint version replaces "walked with God" in Genesis for "pleased God." So that leads to verse 6 - instead of using obedience as a way to please God, we must have faith. By the way - all it takes is to walk with God - have a relationship with Him. Nothing else matters.
And here’s where the idea of faith comes from: "believe that he exists" God is who He says He is, and "that he rewards those who seek him." Seeking God and His promises is worth it - He will do what He says! In Enoch’s case, God took him home - to His house, without having to die.
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Noah believed what God said - and his life responded to it. That’s another activity of faith - it does things to you. James says "faith without works is dead." That means that if your faith has absolutely no effect on your life then you better question whether you ever really believed. It also brings up something else - you must choose - faith or unbelief. There is no middle ground - to ignore what God has said is to choose unbelief.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
Again - Abraham took action based on what God said - trusting, but not seeing. And Sarah "considered him faithful who had promised." This speaks to the attitude. Cain didn’t have that attitude. Abraham didn’t have a clear chart on the future - but God said "go" and he went. Sarah didn’t have the power to bring the promise about, but she trusted that God was big enough to do it.
The real key to this, though, and to faith - comes in the next paragraph:
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. ESV
The city is the New Jerusalem - heaven - the real Promised Land - filled with innumerable descendants of Abraham - not descended by blood, but by faith.
In Romans, the Apostle Paul says that we are now Abraham’s seed because we, like him, trusted in what God said: that His Son Jesus would bring them eternal forgiveness and an eternal home with God.
But look what verse 13 says: "these all died in faith, not having received the things promised." Sometimes we think that to be a "giant of the faith" you have to be like Elijah or Elisha - calling down fire from heaven, or like Peter whose handkerchief healed everyone it touched. Not at all - in fact from these examples and I’m sure there are many in your life - a real "giant" is someone who doesn’t see the fruit but still trusts.
Jesus said to Thomas "blessed are they who don’t see and yet believe."
Faith isn’t about results, but about trust. Faith isn’t about us and what we can do, it is about God and what He says He will do - even if we don’t see the results.
Talk to Jeremiah - no one listened to him, no one got saved, no ministries were born. All Jeremiah got was thrown into a muddy cistern, kidnapped to Egypt and later murdered - yet he trusted God and kept going.
Conclusions
1. How are you commended?
Is it by what you do - when you accomplish great things for God then you feel God is pleased and commends you? Or are you really commended by sticking with God even when life and the world says not to?
2. Do you believe the word of God?
The Bible forms much of the evidence on which we base our faith. The Bible has come under much fire lately. Do you trust it as God’s word? If not - why not? I would encourage you to really examine your position. If the Bible is not God’s word - much of the basis for your faith - and your salvation - is gone.
3. Are you willing to come to God on His terms? (Abel)
Having just any old faith will not actually work. Faith in faith is worthless. To have faith that matters you have to believe in something real. You can’t make up religion - that truly is just an opiate of the people. Relationship with God has to come on His terms - terms He has laid out very clearly in His Word.
4. How important is your relationship to God? (Enoch)
Enoch lived in a time when not many people walked with God. It wasn’t popular or cool. How much of a priority do you place on walking with God even when those around you put you down because of it?
5. Does your faith lead to real trust when it counts? (Noah)
Many people can trust God when things are going great, but what about when your faith is put to the test?
6. Do you consider God faithful?
I think sometimes we serve God because we realize He’s the boss - but like our earthly bosses we don’t really trust that He’s got our best interest in mind - He’s got a universe to run, after all. Have you placed yourself so surely in His hands that even if you don’t see your prayers answered you still trust Him? We’ll see in chapter 12 that God always has our good in mind.
7. What is your verdict?
Every one of us is on a jury of one. You’ve seen the evidence for Christ. If you haven’t then let us talk to you about it. You’ve been in the jury room debating in your heart. So why are you a hung jury? There is substantial, reasonable evidence to support faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be convinced, be convicted, turn yourself over to the judge of the universe - on His grace and mercy. Have faith!
For more Bible studies, plus an audio version of this study, go to: www.CalvaryChapelNewberg.org
