Faith - Hebrews 11:1-3
This morning I want to talk about faith.
- The idea of faith is so familiar among Christians that it is just accepted without necessarily having a full comprehension of what it is.
- Even for those of us who have been Christians for a very long time I believe there is value in revisiting our understanding of faith.
- Our faith is so common to us we take it for granted.
- Our faith is the very foundation upon all that we believe stands.
- Anyone involved in the construction knows that it is very wise to periodically check the foundation that the structure stands on, because if something isn’t right with the foundation the whole structure is in peril.
- You check to make sure there aren’t any significant cracks in the foundation or that the foundation has not deteriorated in some way.
- Just as important you want to make sure that the structure that is supported by the foundation is in fact still sitting squarely on the foundation.
- If a structure isn’t squarely on the foundation it is just as much on the verge of disaster as one that sits on a faulty foundation.
- I think that may be what has happened in some denominations today.
- Their doctrine has slid off the foundation of the Bible, because I know the Bible hasn’t changed.
- Witnessing such shifts underscores for me the need to reexamine faith.
Let's begin by looking at [Hebrews 11:1-3 NKJV] "1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a [good] testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."
I want to work through these few verses because I believe they tell us so much about the foundation that we have built our lives on as Christians.
Looking at verse 1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
- This verse tells us that faith is both substance and evidence.
- Regarding faith as substance, in the most literal sense we could understand faith as having weight and measure.
- Something that we could touch, see and/or taste or smell.
- The translators in choosing the word substance are trying to convey to us the understanding that our faith is real.
- In fact depending on the translation you look at this word is variously translated reality, confidence, assurance and certainty.
- So our faith is more than just some notion we carry around in our head.
- More than that the writer of Hebrews called it evidence.
- Evidence is proof of what is believed.
What we know in our mind is proved by the belief in our heart.
The verse goes on to tell us that our faith is the assurance of the things hoped for.
- Unfortunately, the word hope has been seriously watered down in today's usage.
- Most of the time when people use the word hope what they are really doing is making a wish or simply stating what they want to happen.
- People say I hope my team wins, or I hope I get that job, or I hope I win the lottery or I hope I don’t get a ticket and on and on.
- This hope, the hope that we have isn’t some wish or whim.
- We don’t just wish to go to Heaven, we have a confident expectation that Heaven will be ours.
It is because we have faith that we have hope and it is the proof that all we have been promised will be received.
- Without faith that gives us an assuring hope we have nothing.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
How do we know we have faith?
- We must understand that faith is more than just mere belief.
- Simple belief exists only in our head - life giving, life changing faith must rest in our heart.
Romans 10 tells us "9 If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."[Romans 10:9-10 NIV]
Paul tells us we must believe in our heart.
- We can’t just believe in our head or our mind, we have to believe in our heart.
- Our heart is the essence of who we are and so if we believe in our heart the essence of who we are is changed.
- We can’t believe something in your heart and not be changed.
- When our heart is changed, we become a new creation and our nature is changed.
- This new nature is demonstrated in us, not necessarily because we look differently, though that can happen as well.
- Our new nature is most clearly shown because we begin to act outwardly very differently.
- As Philippians 2 tells us we stop acting in selfish ambition and vain conceit and begin to value the good of others ahead of our own and we look out for the interest of others even as if they were our own.
Genuine faith compels us to action, and the most significant of all actions is that we speak of our faith to others.
Verse 2 speaks to this “For by it the elders obtained a [good] testimony.”
- Every translation that I have looked out suggests that the elders were either spoken of well by others because of their faith or were commended by God because of their faith.
- Regardless of which is correct one thing is certain, their faith demonstrated itself through both word and deed.
- They were witnesses to the truth in all that they said and all that they did.
James spoke extensively of this in Chapter 2 beginning at verse 14 “14 What use is it, my brothers [and sisters,] if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? ... 17 In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, [being] by itself.
18 But someone may [well] say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? ... 26 For just as the body without [the] spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”[James 2:14, 17-20, 26 NASB20]
Let's be perfectly clear, we are saved by faith alone.
- But James asks, “Can faith without works save us?”
- And the answer is a resounding NO!
- James is concerned about the quality or nature of the faith that we have.
- He was drawing a distinction between a faith of simple belief and a heartfelt faith that stirs us and causes us to testify of our God through our works and our witness.
- Do we have a faith that is alive and working in us that compels us to testify to the truth and to do good works that give glory to God?
- Or do we have a faith that at most prompts us to come to church, read the Bible but not really study God’s word and to pray for needs?
- The most striking thing that James said in this passage is that even demons believe in God, but their belief in God will not save them from eternal damnation.
- It is possible to believe in God and yet not be saved.
- To be a saving faith it must be a life changing faith that causes us to take our eyes off ourselves and focus on the needs of others, moving us to action.
- A living faith is not just about doing good things for others.
- There are many good people in the world that do many good things for many people but who do not believe in God.
- Such people will never enter the gates of Heaven because we are not saved by works.
- Our saving faith will motivate us to do good not only for the people we know or love,
- but also for people who are unknown to us,
- for people that don't deserve our kindness,
- for people we dislike,
- for people who hate us,
- for people who hold us in unforgiveness.
- There is no greater need and there is no greater good that we can do for another person than to love them enough to share with them the truth about our God.
I saw a sign outside of a church many years ago that said, “If being a Christian was a crime would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
- Is there enough evidence from the life we live today to convict us of the crime of being a Christian?
- More importantly is there enough evidence from the life we live today that on that day our God will look upon us and say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
In the last of these verses from Hebrews we come to the defining belief of our faith.
Verse 3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
Notice that this verse says, “By faith we understand.”
- By faith we recognize, we discern, we comprehend, we grasp, we perceive, we ascertain, we elucidate.
- By faith we know it to be true with unshakeable certainty.
- By what we know we come into agreement with God, we become one mind with God.
- This is what we know that God by merely speaking brought into existence the entire universe and all that is in it, all of its worlds.
- We know that God made each one of us.
- But more than that we know that God knows each one of us.
And God knows us intimately as Matthew 10:30 tells us "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." by God [Matthew 10:30 NKJV]
And we know that we have been made with a purpose as Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” [Ephesians 2:10 NIV]
And so, we know “that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible”.
- It is a great misfortune that so many in the scientific community deny this truth.
- I know this, that our God gave us His Word and that our God made all of creation by speaking His Word.
- And so, I know that everything that science claims to know about God’s creation will ultimately be corrected and reconciled with everything revealed in the Bible because God spoke both His word and His worlds into existence.
So, from these verses we know that if we have a living saving faith, we attain a confident expectation that all that God has promised us will be received by us.
And proof of our living saving faith is that we are compelled to do good works that bring glory to our God and to testify to the truth of God’s saving grace given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And finally, we know that Our God made us from nothing but even so He knows each one of us so intimately and cares for us each so deeply that not only did He number the hairs on our head but that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us that we might gain eternal life in His presence.