WHAT IS FAITH? (Hebrews 11:1-3) Sunday, July 10, 2016 Summit EFC Series: Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11), Message #1 Pastor Doug Corlew Video: The Things Unseen (1:30) http://media.preachingtoday.com/mini-movies/59871/faith-the-things-unseen?tcode=d3f00c7275&dcode=aed4d55e2d Living without faith is like going to the beach and never getting wet. I think that s true, in the sense that people who live by faith really do experience life as a great adventure taking risks and trusting God and finding Him to be faithful. If you choose to live without faith, you do miss out on life at its very best. But more importantly, you miss out on eternal life! This is what the Bible teaches. The only way we can connect with God is by faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And if this is true, then it s essential for us to consider, Exactly what is faith? Is it a blind leap into the great unknown? Is faith just a subjective feeling or impression that s unrelated to facts or truth? That s what people assume today. If you tell them what you believe, they re not likely to ask what your reasons are. After all, they figure, there are no objective criteria to measure the validity of a person s faith. It s your religious preference. That s how faith is often understood in the modern world. But this is not the way the Bible describes faith. In the Bible, faith is the divinely given ability to perceive what is actually true. Faith is the bringing of your mind into accord with what is real and factual. Something doesn t become true simply because you believe it. And your unbelief can t nullify the existence of something that is real. Nowhere is this more apparent than Hebrews 11. It s a famous chapter, treasured by the church through the centuries. It s been called the Hall of Faith, because it catalogs all the famous people in the days before Christ who were commended by God for their faith. Over the next few months we ll study each of these heroes. But today we want to look at the first three verses for God s perspective on this question What is faith? 11:1-3 - Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 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. Those are some beautiful words, but you might be thinking, What in the world does it all mean? Verse 1 is the summary statement, so let s take it phrase at a time. 1 st of all, Faith is THE ASSURANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. If we say we re hoping for something, then it s still future, we don t have it yet, and we re not totally sure if it will come to pass. We Cubs fans understand this. We hope they win the World Series, but we realize this hope may or may not materialize. Despite the intensity of our hope, we might be forever disappointed and frustrated! But as Christians, we learned in Romans 5:2, 5 that when we rejoice in hope of the glory God, that hope does not put us to shame. We ll never be disappointed. It will always come to pass. It s a sure thing. Why? Because it s not a dream or a fantasy or a wish projection; it s based on the promise of God, who is always faithful to His Word. Suppose you re a young father, and one night your wife says, Honey, will you please check to see if the children are sleeping? So you go into your little boy s room and discover that he s not sleeping, he s wide awake, obviously troubled about something. What s the matter? you ask. He says, All the other boys got a bike for their birthdays this year, but I don t know if I m going to get a bike for my birthday. Loving father that you are, what do you say? You say, Don t you worry, son, you will get a bike for your birthday this year. Now go to sleep. You come back two minutes later, and then what? He s fast asleep! Why? Because his father, who loves him, made a promise to him. Since his father has given the promise, as far as he s concerned, that bike is as good as his. He has the assurance of what he hopes for. 1
Interesting that the King James Version says, faith is the substance of things hoped for. A substance is something material, tangible, something weighty or real. When it s God who makes the promise, there is a real substance to our hope. And things that are not yet ours become as if we already possessed them. That s what the writer is saying here. Faith is not a blind leap in the dark. It s a holding on to the promises of Scripture. We know they re as good as fulfilled because they are God s promises to us. That s a key lesson we ll learn in the Hall of Faith. What faith locked onto in the lives of these heroes was never their own fancies. They locked on to a word from the Lord. There s a big difference. Sometimes when we say, That person has great faith, maybe we should be saying, That person has a great imagination! Faith is not my imagining something, claiming it s mine, and then mustering up the confidence that I ll have it someday. Faith is the resting of my soul in what God has promised to do. And that s why it s so important to be reading God s Word and chewing on His promises. When you are worried or discouraged or angry or sick or tempted by various sins, can you call to mind a promise of God that is relevant to your situation? How will you cling to God s promises if you re not familiar with them? The incredible thing about Hebrews 11 is how these saints clung to the promises of God even when they did not live to see the fulfillment of those promises. It s not that they had so much faith that they received whatever they wanted. No, as v 13 says, These all died in faith, not having received the things promised. God is looking for faith, and where would the faith be, if God were like a candy dispenser, automatically releasing a candy bar every time we put four coins in, or said four prayers? If you pray in faith and then quickly receive, that s great. Praise God! But if you pray in faith, and have to wait a long time without wavering in doubt, and then you receive that s even better. That s worthy of a greater reward. But if you want to be considered for the Heisman trophy of faith, then you have to pray in faith, wait a long time without wavering in doubt, and never receive the things promised. In v 37, some of these faith heroes were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated The world would conclude you re a fool to hope in a God who lets those things happen to His people. But our horizons are way beyond this life. Worldly people are only living for the here and now. But v 38 says, the world was not worthy of these men and women of faith. 39 - And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. The promise of heaven could not be received until Christ came to provide a salvation for us that is something better than they could have ever dreamed of. When things don t go your way, are you able to trust that God is working out something better in your life, that He has a better plan? Non-Christians would scoff at that and think we re foolish. But to live by faith means when life disappoints us, we always look for explanations consistent with God s faithfulness. Because we know He is faithful, He is good, He is powerful, He is trustworthy so His promises can t fail. John Newton taught us that in Amazing Grace. Remember the verse, The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secures. We re able to sleep like children, because our Father has made a promise to us. We re not home yet, but eternity has substance for us right now, because faith is the assurance of things hoped for. 2
And 2 nd, faith is THE CONVICTION OF THINGS NOT SEEN. Obviously this is connected to the first statement, since things that are not yet would be things that are not seen, by definition. But it seems there s something more being communicated here. One of the most important ways we gain knowledge is through our sense of sight. Seeing is believing, people often say. Show me and I ll believe. The New Testament writers are sympathetic to that concern. Peter says, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty (2 Peter 1:16). John says, That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life we proclaim also to you (1 John 1:1-3). And in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, we know Christ is risen because of all the eyewitness testimony. And then he says, Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me (v 8). So we re not asked to take some irrational leap into the darkness when we believe the gospel. But our faith is based on what others saw, not we ourselves. Thomas said, Show me and I ll believe it, and Jesus showed Him. Then He said, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29). So even in the first century, the people who received the New Testament letters were in the same situation as we are. Peter says to his readers: Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice (1 Peter 1:8). So the writer of Hebrews describes faith as the conviction of things not seen. But that s not the same as blind faith. We re not called to close our eyes, take a deep breath, cross our fingers, and make a wish that something will come true. This is talking about a conviction. King James Version says, faith is the evidence of things not seen. Evidence is tangible and objective. When a crime is committed, police gather evidence, and the judge weighs the evidence to determine what really took place. God leaves evidence all around that He s perfect in all of his ways, and He never lies. We can t see Him, but we know Him and love Him. We can t see heaven or hell, angels or demons. But if He says these things are real, then it s not irrational to believe Him. In fact, it s the most rational thing in the world. God is a credible witness, and our faith provides us with the evidence. Did you know, this is one mark of a person who is truly converted to Christ? They start to see the invisible. Before coming to know Jesus, all you live for, all you care about, all you can see, is the visible. But when you are born again, you have new eyesight. You begin seeing the visible in light of the invisible. An unbeliever is convinced that the world in which we live is the really substantial world, even though the reality is that this world is very temporary not only our experience in this world, but the world (itself) is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:17)! Faith is the conviction of things not seen. v 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. And now the writer is giving us a hint about where he s going with this discussion. He s about to review the history of God s people all the way back to the book of Genesis, showing that this has been their experience all along. They took God at His Word, when it came to things not yet and things not seen. Think of Noah, spending all those years building an ark when everyone thought he was crazy! Why? Because he saw what God promised. Though the flood was not yet and not seen, he treated it as a certainty. 3
How about Abraham? Why would he pack up and leave his homeland to go to a place he had never seen? All he had to go on what just a promise of God; that s it. He believed God s Word was reliable. His great grandson, Joseph, died without entering that land of promise, but he knew it would come to pass. To show his faith, he told his family to carry his bones with them when they took possession. And look what is said of Moses in v 27 - By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Have you seen Him? Have the eyes of your heart been opened to see that the most important things in life are the invisible things? None of us see have 20/20 spiritual vision, but if we could totally see the invisible world of God s dwelling place, this world would look about as substantial and lasting as if it were made of cardboard. Like it says at the end of v 13, we would see ourselves as strangers and exiles on the earth 14 - seeking a homeland 16 desiring a better country, that is, a heavenly one. There would be something radical about our lives. We would live by every word that comes out of God s mouth, following Him into situations we ve never experienced, and obeying His voice because we know who He is, and we trust Him. And we would be in good company. That s what this writer wants us to know! If you ll walk in faith, then you too will receive commendation from the Lord. You re not alone in this battle. You belong to a great company of believers who have struggled and faced opposition. The original readers were facing persecution and suffering. They were tempted to give up on Christ and return to their old lives. Look at 10:32-39 - But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Then comes chapter 11, and this great hall of faith, as if to say Don t you realize what a great and glorious family you belong to, if you continue in faith and don t go back? They persevered; they endured, and so can you, by God s grace. But you should expect your experience to be very similar to theirs. You ll need to trust that God keeps His Word, even if your experience makes you wonder sometimes. And why can we be so confident? Because, as v 3 says, 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. If we would say, Show me some evidence so that I may believe, the Biblical writers would say, Go outside and open your eyes. Look around you and behold the universe you are living in! The creation itself is a visible testimony to the glory of God and the power of His Word. Psalm 19:1 says, The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. The universe is preaching to us every moment of every day; it s screaming out the reality of the Creator. Romans 1:20 - God s invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that are made. So they are without excuse. 4
In our day, many people want to exclude God from the discussion by talking about the Big Bang as an explanation for the origin of the universe. They say there was a massive outward explosion of incredibly dense matter. But the one question they can t answer is, Who or what caused the big bang? And where did that incredibly dense matter come from? Because something can t come from nothing. As you reason backward from what you can see, eventually you run up against the necessity of an uncaused Cause an eternal and sufficient, uncaused Cause. When you consider the beauty and majesty of creation, it s order and complexity ( irreducible complexity as it s called), then it s certainly not foolish to believe in a personal, powerful Creator who formed the world by His Word. No scientist was present at the beginning to observe what took place. The only way we could really know what happened is for the one Person who was there to tell us what happened, and for us to believe Him. That s what the writer of Hebrews is saying. Faith is not mindless acceptance of God. It s understanding. By faith we understand. There s nothing unreasonable here. But at some point we have to trust the Word of God. Psalm 33:6 says, By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. Genesis 1 tells us that God merely spoke and it came to be. Let there be light, and there was light. Let there be dry ground and vegetation, and animals of various kinds. He created the universe out of nothing, with no pre-existing material. That s power! So what s the point of all this? The point is, if God s Word can do that, then His promises can be trusted for sure. If God can bring the cosmos into being through His Word, then you can be sure that every promise He has given us on every page of Scripture is absolutely reliable. Besides, God has already kept the most difficult promise He could ever make. God promised to send His Son for us and He did. The Father saw His son despised and rejected, beaten and persecuted, nailed to a cross, crying out, My God, why have You forsaken Me? If you are father or mother, can you imagine that? Promising to offer up your child in order to save someone else, and then to hear your child cry out, Why have you abandoned me? and you standby silently and do nothing? If you can keep that promise, you can keep every promise you make. Romans 8:32 says, He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? When God promises something to us in His Word, it s as good as ours. All we have to do is wait for it, trust Him, and live accordingly. Saving faith isn t about believing in God. The Bible says, Even the demons believe in God; big deal! Saving faith is more than believing in God; it s believing God. Believing God s promise that those who repent and rely on His Son will have forgiveness and eternal life. Do you have such faith, or are you living without it? Are you enjoying the life of faith, a personal relationship with God through Christ, giving you the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen? Faith begins by resting in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Then everything becomes clear. The not yet becomes real, even now. And the not seen becomes visible in ways that you would have never expected. If you ve never exercised saving faith in the Lord Jesus, I invite you to take the plunge even now, as we close in prayer. 5