"What is Faith"

Hebrews 11:1-3

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Introduction: The Apostles Creed says: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.”

The creed was originally written around 180 A. D. to combat Marcion. Marcion believed that Jesus Christ revealed a good God of love and mercy, but that He was not the Messiah; He was not God in the flesh; He was not the savior of the world. Marcion’s beliefs became a movement that lasted several centuries. All along time, Christians have been challenged in their beliefs. What are we to believe? What is faith? Using Hebrews 11:1-3, I want to look into just that this morning.

I. Assurance of things hoped for- (Hebrews 11:1; Matthew 7:7-8;

Psalm 37:4; James 4:3; Hebrews 9:27; John 14:1-3, 13)

a. Earthly hope- Hebrews 11:1 starts out by telling us that the faith

we have in God allows our lives to be founded in hope. Now we can hope for many things: we can hope for a better job; I can hope for Tyler to do well hitting; we can hope for our problems to go away. Hoping for something in some ways can be like wishing for something to happen. This is not the hope that is being talked about here. The hope that faith brings us is a knowing of something that will come to pass.

Even though the future is uncertain, the faith the writer of Hebrews talks about, can be counted on because it rests in God. God who created the world. God, who showed His love and concern for us by sending His Son Jesus so that we could have eternal life. This is the God on whom our faith rests, on whom our future rests.

Our faith then is on God, and on what God determines. That means that our faith rests in the will of God. For Example- You might read the verses in Matthew 7:7-8, which says: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” This verse makes it sound like anything we ask for from God will be given to us; anything we hope for in faith, God will do.

However, we need to be careful not to take the Bible (or Jesus’ words) out of context. It needs to be balanced with the whole truth of the Bible. So let’s turn over to the gospel of John, 14:13, where Jesus says: “I will do whatever you ask in my name….” Sounds the same as what Jesus said in Matthew; right? But the verse continues, “…so that the Father may be glorified.” Let’s list 2 more scriptures to put everything in balance: Psalm 37:4- “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” And James 4:3, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” So, as we put these verses all together, we see that we are to have faith that God is a God who desires to bring His will into our lives, and when we believe and trust, and ask in faith, we can have hope that God will work out for us what is best for our lives, and for His kingdom. Our faith assures the future of our lives; it benefits our tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.

b. Eternal hope- But this faith also gives us hope into the eternal

future. We are told in Hebrews 9:27 that we are destined to die once. Death is a certainty. But it can actually be something that we look forward to. The apostle Paul looked forward to it. He talked about wanting to be with God in heaven, but knowing that it was good to be here on the earth as long as God still had work for him to do.

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can look forward to the life we will live in heaven after our life here on earth is done! We can be assured of what is promised to us about heaven. That is why Jesus said in John 14:1-3, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ²In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Illus. There is a story of a man who was talking to his doctor, worried about the fact that he would be dying soon. He asked the doctor: “How can I know what heaven will be like?” The doctor thought for a moment, and then responded: “We can’t know exactly what heaven is like; but we don’t need to worry.” At this he heard his dog scratching on the other side of the door. He looked at the man, and a thought crossed his mind: “My dog doesn’t know what is in this room, but he hears my voice, and knows that I am here. Because I am here, he wants to be in here with me. We know that Jesus is waiting for us on the other side. That should give us hope enough!”

Hebrews 11:1 reminds us that we can say no to despair, because we have hope of the wonderful blessings God can and will do in and through our lives. But we also have great hope because we know the eternal future in store for us. We can know that someday, we will talk to Jesus about our lives. Because of this hope, we should choose wisely in how we live in the present.

II. Convictions of things not seen- (Hebrews 11:1; John 16:5-7, 12-14;

1 Corinthians 2:10-12, 16; Micah 5:2; Isaiah 53:4-7)

a. The invisible present- The writer of Hebrews goes on to talk about

how we can not only have hope for our future, but we can be certain about our future. Even though the things that have not happened are unseen, we can be certain about them.

There are things in this world that are unseen; angels, demons, God’s power, the Holy Spirit. We cannot prove scientifically that they exist. But by faith we can be certain that they exist. Through the Bible, and through experiences, we have information about them. For example, the Bible talks about our bodies being a temple for the Holy Spirit; through God’s Spirit, God lives in us. We can’t prove this, but it is important. How is it important? It is important for 2 reasons:

1. It is important because we can receive revelation from God. One of the

greatest aspects of our relationship with God, is that God can speak to us.

1 Corinthians 2:10-12, 16- “But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” We can know that God’s Holy Spirit is real in many ways, but one of the most profound, is how God speaks to us through His Spirit!

2. But a second reason of importance for having God’s Spirit within us is

that we can know the will of God. The Christian life is best lived when we allow God to guide us and lead us; when we live in the way God designed for us to live. That is why Jesus made sure His disciples understood (and that we understand as well) that when He left this earth, we wouldn’t be alone. In John 16:5-7, 12-14, Jesus says: “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ⁶Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. ⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you… I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”

There are many things in this world we cannot see, but by faith we believe.

b. The invisible future- Likewise, there are many possibilities of the

future that have not happened, but can. The future is indeed invisible. The prophets of the Old Testament regularly prophesied about what would happen in the future. And their prophesies all came true, because they were from God.

Example- Just the life of Jesus Himself had many prophesies foretold.

1. Where Jesus would be born what foretold in Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem

Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

2. Jesus death was foretold in Isaiah 53:4-7, “Surely he took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

How Jesus would keep His mouth shout and not offer a defense; how He would be pierced in His side; How He would be punished and led like a lamb to a slaughter; these were all foretold in the past, but it was a certainty that they would come true….. The future of our life is a certainty when we trust in God.

We will be blessed by God; We will receive God’s love and

forgiveness; We will be used by God to make a difference for the kingdom of God;

We will experience joy in this life; We will have meaning to our life!

III. By Faith we understand- (Hebrews 11:3; Colossians 1:26)

The writer of Hebrews then goes on to tell us, in Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we

understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” It is faith that helps us to understand the things of God. That is why the apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 1:26, “The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.”

The saints; those who believe in Christ, are able to understand the mysteries of God. That is why it is impossible for people who are not Christians to really understand the Bible. That is why there are so many who don’t know Christ, who also question God’s existence. They don’t understand the mysteries of God.

And the truth is, that God doesn’t always disclose His mysteries in the ways we might imagine. We don’t always find understanding by the normal means.

Example- There is a movie called “Evan Almighty,” starring Steve Carrell. In this movie, Evan goes from being a newscaster, to a Senator. But then Evan is chosen by God to do be a modern day Noah. So Evan is called upon to build an ark. In building this ark, he is seen by everyone around him (including his family) as being crazy. People can’t understand why he is building this ark. His wife begins to doubt their future together, and takes the kids and leaves for a while. But then she gets a visit from God (although she doesn’t know it is God), and God gives her some important insight. IN THIS SCENE, GOD (played by Morgan Freeman) SHARES SOME IMPORTANT THOUGHTS WITH EVAN’S WIFE… Let’s see the clip.

When we pray to God for us to have patience, God doesn’t just give us patience. God wants us to understand about patience first, so He gives us situations that lead us to learn how to be patient. By faith, as we understand about patience, we are then able to live it out in our lives. You see, there is so much of life that we cannot see, but we won’t understand it, until in faith we seek God and ask Him to show it to us.

Unfortunately, so many people, because they can’t see God, and can’t understand God, think that life is random. They believe that we were randomly made by some “big bang,” and then from there on, things just happen. In faith, we can understand that this is not true; we can believe in, and understand how everything is so intimately connected, because it was created by an intimate God.

Conclusion: Hebrews 11:1-3, gives us a wonderful definition of faith. Faith is believing in a God who is inseen. Faith is believing that this world was created by an unseen God. Faith is knowing that as God gives you hope, you can be sure that it will come to pass. Faith is believing, even when you can’t see how it can be done. Faith is hearing the word of God, and letting it percolate in your mind, but only as long as it takes to make it to your heart.

And yet, even though faith seems to come from that which is unseen and unknown, there is a way that our faith is proven to be true. And the way of proof is when God is faithful in answering His promises. If you are like me, God has come through as I have trusted in Him; God has helped me to understand when I struggled to understand; God has led me forward when I wasn’t sure where I needed to go. And in all of this, my faith is not only lived out, but justified. Let us give thanks to God, who helps us to have faith, live by faith, and trust in faith. Amen.