BUT WITHOUT FAITH... Hebrews 11:1-3; 6 (NKJV)

Transcription

1 Message for WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRAISE & WORSHIP, April 19, 2017 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Message 1 in Mountain Moving Faith Sermon Series BUT WITHOUT FAITH... Hebrews 11:1-3; 6 (NKJV) If you wanted to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame you would need to travel to Canton, Ohio. If you wanted to see the Baseball Hall of Fame you would need to travel to Cooperstown, New York. If you wanted to see the College Football Hall of Fame you would need to travel to Atlanta, Georgia. If you wanted to see the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame you would need to travel to Cleveland, Ohio. If you wanted to see the Cowboy Hall of Fame you would need to travel to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. But if you wanted to see The Faith Hall of Fame all you would need to do is open up your Bible to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11 is referred to by several names. It is known as The Faith Chapter... The Hall of Faith...and The Heroes of The Faith. The word faith is mentioned 24 times and the expression By faith is mentioned 19 times in this eleventh chapter of Hebrews. In verses 4-32 we find a list of sixteen named Old Testament heroes and heroines of the faith; and in the latter part of the chapter in verses we find the testimony of a host of unnamed heroes and heroines who were willing to suffer great persecution for their faith in God.

2 All of these people, both the named and the unnamed, did far more than just talk about their faith...they LIVED by faith...they put their faith into PRACTICE in their daily lives. These men and women were real, live demonstrations of the kind of mountain moving faith Jesus talks about in Matthew 21 and Mark 11. The purpose of HEBREWS 11 isn't simply to provide us with inspirational reading about what God did in the lives of the great men and women of faith of old. HEBREWS 11 is a call to each and every one of us to LIVE BY FAITH! And so, LORD WILLING, over the next couple of months or so we are going to spend some time in Hebrews 11 in a series of messages I am entitling: Mountain Moving Faith. For our scripture text this evening, let's read Hebrews 11, verses 1-3 ; and verse 6. H E B R E W S 11:1-3; 6 (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. Then skip down to verse But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. P R A Y E R

3 In this first message in our series we are going to look at four key points regarding FAITH. In verse 1 we will see The DESCRIPTION of FAITH. In verse 2 we will see The RECOGNITION of FAITH. In verse 3 we will see The FOUNDATION of FAITH. And in verse 6 we will see The STIPULATION of FAITH. First of all, let's look at... I. The DESCRIPTION of Faith (v. 1) 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 1. What is faith? The generic definition of faith in the dictionary is: confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability. By that definition, everybody has faith in something or someone. When you put your key in the ignition of your automobile you have faith it going to start. When you go see your doctor, you have faith he or she is going to provide you with the best care. When you fly on a jet, you have faith that your pilot is experienced, and sober, and he is going to get you safely to your destination.

4 People put their faith in certain brands of products such as Chevy pickups...michelin tires...craftsman tools...smith & Wesson firearms...apple computers... Levi jeans...and Calvin Kline or Vera Wang fashions. People put their faith in money...their stock broker... their insurance company...their surgeon...their lawyer... and even in their very best friends. Religiously speaking, the vast majority of the people in this world have placed their faith in a false god... the Pope...or a religious guru...or a cult leader. Everybody has faith in something or someone. 2. But what is FAITH according to the Bible? Sadly, many Christians have misconceptions about the meaning of faith. - Some Christians believe FAITH is simply going to Church for one hour on Sunday and plopping down a few dollars in the offering plate. - Some Christians believe FAITH is simply BELIEVING there is a GOD. James 2:19 (NKJV) You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!

5 - Some Christians believe FAITH is a BLIND optimism. In other words to have faith one must throw all reason and intelligence right out the window, or one must check his brain in at the Church door. Mark Twain used to say, Faith is believing what you know ain t so. Unfortunately, that is the perception all nonbelievers, and even a lot of believers have about faith. -And then there are those who believe FAITH is a FEELING...that if you shake...rattle...and roll that is evidence you have faith and you are near to God. 3. But here in verse 1, the Hebrew writer gives us a description of true faith. Warren Wiersbe says, This is NOT a definition of faith but a description of what faith does and how it works. Verse 1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Let me draw your attention to two key words, the word substance and the word evidence.

6 (A) Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for... The Greek word for substance here literally means to stand under or to support. FAITH is to the Christian what a foundation is to a house. When you build a house you have confidence and and assurance that your house can stand upon the foundation and that the foundation will support the weight of your house. That's what faith is to us. It is the substance or the foundation upon which all our spiritual hopes rest. Those who preach and teach the health and wealth gospel promote the idea that one can plug his or her wildest dreams into faith and all their dreams will come true. If you have enough faith you will receive unbelievable financial riches...or that brand new sports car you want... or you can own that dream home you have always wanted. That is NOT what the Hebrew writer means when he says, Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The things hoped for refers to the things Christ has promised...its confident assurance that we have been saved by the grace of God and the confident assurance that our sins have been forgiven...and the confident assurance that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us...and the confident assurance that Christ is coming back for us...and the confident assurance that Christ will take us to our eternal home with Him in heaven. Faith is the foundation upon which ALL our HOPES rest!

7 (B) Faith is the EVIDENCE of things not seen. What this means is faith takes God at His word! Faith is having the CONVICTION that if God promised it, God will keep His promise. ILLUSTRATION I know I have told you this before, but let me share it with you again. Back in 2005 when I left Wilkinson Church of Christ and went into full-time evangelistic work, I left behind the security of a $35,000 a year salary to enter into a different kind of preaching ministry where I had no visible means of income. All I had was the promise of God in Philippians 4:19 which says, And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And as it always is with GOD, His promise was ALL I NEEDED! God started opening all kinds of doors for me to preach in places I had never preached before, even 10,000 miles away in India. And when it came time to prepare our taxes the following year, my income was actually $200 higher than it was the year before when I had the security of a weekly salary. GOD had done exactly what He promised He would do and what my FAITH was confident He would do, and even more! FAITH is the evidence of things not seen. The world believes Seeing is believing. But for the Christian, Believing is seeing. That's FAITH! FAITH sees God's provision even before God provides! 4. I love the way Oswald Sanders describes true faith. He says, Faith in God enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

8 5. The late 15 th Century Reformation forefather, Martin Luther said it this way: Faith sees the INVISIBLE... believes the IMPOSSIBLE...and receives the INCREDIBLE. Well now that we have looked at The DESCRIPTION of Faith, let's turn our thoughts to... II. The RECOGNITION of Faith (v.2) 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 1. I love the way Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, (and) set them above the crowd. 2. By elders the Hebrew writer is referring to the great heroes and heroines of the faith that we read about here in this eleventh chapter of Hebrews. But it can also apply to all who have lived by faith in the generations before us. 3. In their day and time people laughed at them and mocked them and ridiculed them when they chose to live by faith. Don't you know people mocked ENOCH for walking with God when no one else did. And imagine how much Noah was ridiculed for building that huge ark out in the middle of the Mesopotamian desert. And don't you know the people made fun of Abraham for pulling up stakes in Ur of the Chaldees and going to a land he had never heard of.

9 4. People of faith have always been mocked and ridiculed by the godless skeptics. But God has always validated the faith of the faithful! GOD causes the light of His faithful to shine brightly in the darkness of an unbelieving world. ILLUSTRATION When I was a freshman at Johnson Bible College in 1973, Dr. Floyd Clark gave a testimony one day in our Life of Christ class I will never forget. Just the year before in early June of 1972, Dr. Clark came under the conviction that God wanted him to go to Washington D.C. to see President Richard Nixon. At first he dismissed the idea, but the more he fought it, the heavier it weighed on his heart. Finally in mid-june Dr. Clark drove to Washington D.C. determined to meet with the President. Despite his intentions, Dr. Clark could not gain access to President Nixon. Feeling as though he had failed God, Dr. Clark got in his car and headed back to Johnson Bible College. The day after he returned The Watergate Scandal broke and over the course of time Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace as our president. Some had mocked Dr. Clark when he told them God was calling him to go see the President of the United States, but when the Watergate scandal broke, it validated Dr. Clark's faith. He truly believed that had he responded to God's call sooner without delay he might have been able to prevent one of the most disgraceful events in American history. 5. True faith honors GOD and GOD honors those with true faith.

10 Well we have looked at the DESCRIPTION of Faith...and the RECOGNITION of Faith. Thirdly, let's consider... III. The FOUNDATION of Faith (v.3) 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. 1. This is the first fundamental truth upon which the foundation of our faith is laid. 2. We can see the visible world all around us. We can see the sun and moon and stars above us. We can see the oceans, and rivers and lakes. We can see the animals in animal kingdom...and we can see all the plants in the vegetation kingdom. And of course we see a world populated with people. But what the vast majority of this world's inhabitants struggle with is where did this world and all living things come from? Is this all the result of a big bang... a cosmic explosion? Or is the result of some evolutionary process that began billions and billions of years ago? 3. True faith begins with the belief that In the beginning GOD created the world...the belief that God SPOKE and the world came into existence...the belief that God created everything that is SEEN in this world out of things that were UNSEEN...the belief that GOD created everything out of NOTHING.

11 4. We weren't there when God created the world. We didn't witness the creation with our own eyes. We weren't there when God created the very first man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. WE DIDN'T SEE ANY OF IT...BUT BY FAITH WE BELIEVE THAT GOD IS THE CREATOR OF EVERY LIVING THING. BY FAITH WE SEE GOD'S FINGERPRINTS ALL OVER EVERYTHING from the rising to setting sun...from the beautiful heavens above us to towering mountains and spacious oceans before us. We see God's fingerprints all over the beautiful flowers of spring and the glistening beauty of the winter's snow. 5. But this is only the foundation of our FAITH. This is only the starting point. If we have FAITH that God created this world, we must also have faith that God created you and me, and that He created us for a purpose, and that God is going to take care of us, and that God is going to see us through every trial and every trouble we encounter on our earthly journey, and that one day GOD will bring us to His eternal home. Well we have considered... The DESCRIPTION of Faith The RECOGNITION of Faith The FOUNDATION of Faith Finally, let's consider...

12 IV. The STIPULATION of Faith (v. 6) 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 1. The Hebrew writer cannot make it any more plain than that... Without faith it is impossible to PLEASE God. Without faith it is impossible to KNOW God. Without faith it is impossible to COME to God. Without faith it is impossible to have a meaningful RELATIONSHIP with God. Without faith it is impossible to be SAVED by God. Without faith it is impossible to go LIVE with God forever. 2. How can you and I possibly please GOD if we don't take Him at His word? How can we please Him if we don't trust that GOD will keep each and every promise He has made? 3. The Hebrew writer is telling us that if we have faith that GOD truly exists, we must also have faith that GOD will greatly reward us when we diligently seek Him with all our heart! 4. This is the STIPULATION OF FAITH... Without faith it is impossible to please God!

13 CONCLUSION It has been said, Faith is something better demonstrated than defined. Lord willing, in the weeks to come we are going to examine the lives of the Great Heroes of the Faith we read about here in Faith's Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. We are going to see how these men and women demonstrated their faith in GOD and how God greatly rewarded their faith. And by their example we will be challenged to live a life of Mountain Moving Faith.