We Believe Series

WE BELIEVE

Text: Hebrews 11:1-6

Introduction

1. Every week we all recite the Apostle’s Creed together. But I can’t begin to tell you how many times people have come up to me and asked, “why do we say that and what does it mean?”

2. Over the next couple of months, we will explore the Apostle’s Creed line by line, and look not only at what it says, but also what does it mean.

3. Why is it important? Because it’s important not only to know what you believe, but why you believe it.

4. Read Hebrews 11:1-6

Transition: Let’s take a journey together through…

I. What We Believe

A. What is the Apostle’s Creed? Why do we recite it together every Sunday?

1. First, a creed is a summary statement of what we believe as Christians.

2. The creeds were written at a time when most people were uneducated and unable to read.

3. So, the creeds gave them easy lists of belief’s they could memorize and help them to know what Christians believed in.

B. The Apostle’s Creed was not written by the Apostle’s, but it is a summary of their teachings, and a number of them wrote letters and gospels that are part of the Bible.

1. The original form was written in the second or third century, but the form we use today was written and finished between the fourth and eighth century.

2. While it was not written by the apostle’s, it is based on what they did write. As we know, a number of the apostles wrote many of the books in the New Testament

3. So, as we will see, the Apostle’s Creed is based on biblical principles.

C. Why do we recite the Apostle’s Creed?

1. Today, many churches don’t use the Apostle’s Creed. They would rather make up faith statements of their own, kind of like writing your own wedding vows.

2. But in reciting the Apostle’s Creed, we are joining with the historical, and traditional Christian church.

3. The “I” believe,” refers to the body of Christ around the world that stands on the historical and traditional teachings of the church.

4. Instead of separating the church, it unites us with others who believe what we believe. It’s not just what “I” believe, but what “we” believe.

D. To understand what it means to believe, we need to turn to the Bible. The best place to turn is Hebrews 11 - the faith chapter. In Hebrews 11:1 it says, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

1. In this amazing chapter, we are told that faith shows the reality of what we hope for.

2. Faith begins with believing in God’s character, that He is who He says He is.

3. It means that we believe in God’s promises, that He will do what He says He’ll do.

4. The word “reality” comes from a Greek word that means “a standing under,” and was used as a technical term as a “title deed.”

5. A deed is the proof that you own a piece of property. In other words, faith is proof of what we hope for.

6. Now, biblical hope is different than what we think of when we talk about hope. We say things like. “I hope we have nice weather this week.” There’s an uncertainty about it. However, biblical hope is a desire based on reality. It’s not something we wish for, but something we know is real.

7. Our daughter learned at an early age that shot oven will burn you because she set the palm of her hand on the inside of a hot oven door. She knows that a hot oven will burn you because she touched the heat.

8. We know the reality of faith because we have been touched by the one in which we believe.

9. Additionally, faith is the evidence of what we cannot see. This means that we have complete confidence that God will keep His promises, even when we can’t see the evidence with our eyes, but we know it with our hearts.

10. This means we have confidence in heaven, eternal life, future rewards, and other things we can’t see, touch, or smell. This confidence allows us to believe in all of God’s promises by faith.

E. Next, the writer of Hebrews tells us in v. 2, “Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.”

1. People of faith God make God happy. However, faith is not something we do to earn salvation because we can’t do anything earn salvation.

2. If we could earn salvation through faith, it would just be one more deed that won’t save us.

3. “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” (Gal. 2:16).