Please have Hebrews 11 open, page 1007.
Conversations about religion and faith are back on the table again.
! After a while where they were completely unacceptable topics of conversation,
! People are talking again about religion and faith
and the conversations are taken seriously and people are engaging
and there is interest again.
People like Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan and other high profile people that have a huge
following in the world are bringing this topic to bear and people are engaging and the question
of faith is back on the table.
People talk about something called a vibe shift.
I don't know what I make of that particularly but it's certainly the case that God, religion
and faith are talked about in ways that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago.
But one of the things that I've noticed in lots of these conversations is that when people
talk about faith, it is often quite generic.
It is definitely not clear what or who that faith is in and so I'm listening and people are saying,
well faith is very important.
I would like to be a person of faith. I would consider myself a person of faith.
faith is the way that we're going to get through this.
Faith is a really central theme in the lives of people that seem to be living well
at the moment and I'm saying to myself, you keep using this word but it's not clear what you mean by it.
And that's all well and good. We can say that. We can ask that question and it's an important
question to ask but I wonder as Christians how many of us would be able to describe what it means
for us to have Christian faith? If someone asked you what your faith was in, you'd be okay there.
The answer is Jesus. Okay, we're clear on that. That's all right. But then they say, well what does
that actually mean? What does the life of faith involve? We might say, well following Jesus,
living for God, trusting what the Bible says or something else along those lines. And all of those
things are true obviously but is there more that we could say? Is there something else that actually
would give substance and clarity to that question? And that's the question the author turns to now in
Hebrews chapter 11. We follow up where we left off last week. If you look back chapter 10 verse 35,
he's saying, listen, don't give up. Don't give up. Don't throw away your confidence which has great
reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what
is promised. Keep going. Don't go back. Keep going. How will you do that? How will you keep going? How
will you not throw away your reward? Chapter 10 verse 38, he quotes Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4,
my righteous one shall live by faith. There it is. And what he's saying is you live this life,
you persevere by faith in the God of the covenant. That is what you will need if you're going to
persevere and endure to the end. That's what we need if we are going to persevere to the end. And
having then quoted that text, what we need is to live a life of faith. He says, all right,
and what I mean by faith is this. And he gives us chapter 11. And we get a definition at the beginning,
followed by examples of what that looks like in the lives of the Old Testament saints.
And it's like he's pointing at them and he's saying, do you remember him? Look at that. Look at
them. Look at him. And he's saying, that's what faith looks like in real life situations.
And then he says something as well about the motivation for that. He holds out something to us
in the chapter to say, look, here's why the life of faith is worth it. So that's where we're going to go.
An explanation, examples, and then the end, the end goal. Point number one, an explanation. Look at
verse one. There are two parts to what explanation or definition. The first is this. Faith is the
assurance of things hoped for. Hope is a big theme. We'll have seen that in the book of Hebrews. We hope
for, or we hope in something that we're looking forward to. And much of this letter has that forward
focus. Looking ahead to the world to come. Chapter two, verse five, our Sabbath rest. Chapter four,
our eternal inheritance. Chapter nine, and the great day of the Lord. We saw that last week, 1025.
The great day of the Lord that is in the future. And we're looking forward to those things. The future
holds the fulfillment of those things. Each one, the world to come, Sabbath rest, our inheritance,
the great day of the Lord. And faith is the assurance of those things in the present.
And what does that mean? Well, I think the word here is assurance is tricky to translate.
Confidence or foundation, some translations go with. I think given the context, the best translation
is substance. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. What this means is that faith gives substance
in the here and now to things that we don't yet hold in our hands. Things that we can't touch. Things
that we can't actually physically see. Such that it's as if we possess them already.
You see this in the life of Abraham. Look at verse nine.
By faith, Abraham went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise for he was looking forward to the city that has
foundations, whose designer and builder is God. He is looking forward. He is hoping in something in the
future. And the way he lives in the presence gives some substance to that. It demonstrates it.
His eyes were fixed on the heavenly city. And by faith, that reality in the future was so real to him
that he lived the way he did in the present, trusting that God would work out his plans.
Now you think about it, that's our experience, isn't it? The world to come that we
we have our faith in, that we are looking forward to. It lies in the future. We will receive our eternal
inheritance in the future. But our faith takes hold of it in the present in such a way that our life
decisions now are shaped by that day. We live with confidence. We live with certainty. They are the
substance of our future hope. The substance of things hoped for. Faith is also the conviction
of things not seen, verse 1. The conviction of things not seen. Now again, this word translated
conviction here is tricky. I think proof or demonstration are actually better options. So what
he means is the life of faith demonstrates or proves the existence of a reality that we can't see by
ordinary sense perception. Life lived by faith in the invisible God. He is invisible. He is spirit.
Holding on to promises made centuries ago is unavoidably based on things not seen. We can't see the promises
that were made centuries ago and we can't see the invisible God. But through faith, the believer is
convinced of their truth, convinced of their reality, and so we live now accordingly.
This is what happens when the Holy Spirit does his work of illumination and conviction.
You think about it, there was a time for many of you
when you didn't believe these things and now you do. I know in my own life there was a time when I had
no interest in God and I thought the people that did were foolish. Now I'm convinced, utterly convinced
that Jesus is who he says he is. I am certain that he was raised from the dead for our salvation
and I'm confident that I'm going to be with him in glory for eternity and I would die for that truth.
It's all based on things unseen. But the Holy Spirit has granted me, he has granted us who believe,
faith and that gives it all substance in our lives. And the way that we live, those lives demonstrate
that these things are as real for us as things that can be seen. By the way, just to say, if you have the
privilege of being a covenant child, particularly boys and girls, those of you that are covenant
children, there may never be a time when you didn't believe these things. That's a great thing. That's
actually what you want. You want to grow up never knowing a day when you didn't believe these things.
But that faith is based on things you can't see, but that the Holy Spirit has convinced you of.
You believe them because the Holy Spirit has worked that faith in you and that faith will grow and grow and grow
and be more and more visible in your life as you get older.
See how it works with Noah. Verse 7.
By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for
the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that
comes by faith. He was told about something as yet unseen and it shaped how he lived in the present.
He was assured of its truth and he hammered away and painted and did all that he needed to do,
despite the complete absence of water anywhere nearby. And what that did was demonstrate a reality of an unseen God,
despite the mockery of those around him.
That is Christian faith. John Owen says the Christian makes his life on things invisible.
We make our lives as Christians on things invisible.
These Hebrews have shown this at the most fundamental level. Verse 3.
By faith we understand, collectively he's saying we who are listening, 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.
The author is saying, look at your own faith. You already believe that most fundamental thing,
that God is our creator and that the world he spoke into existence, the entire universe,
came about by his word out of nothing. You believe that. You didn't see it,
but you believe it and you shape your lives around its truth. Now at this point, I can imagine maybe
you're here and you're critical of this. You're looking into things. You're thinking to yourself,
well, look, that's all well and good. But what you're describing is just wishful thinking.
Like the fan who says that they know that their team will win. I know it. I know they're going to win.
And they talk about their team winning with great confidence and they do everything that they do in
their lives around the fact that they are unshakably confident that their team will win.
You could say that they're living in the present in light of what they hope for,
the as yet unseen victory of their team. Now I'd say, well, how is Hebrews 11 any different
than that? Well, because at root, our faith is based on the promises of God.
That fan's confidence might be reasonable. Their team might be better than the opposition,
but they can't be certain. They can't have absolute certainty. And therefore that hope
is always a hope for the best. There may be lots of factors around that mean that what they believe
in and what they're hoping for is likely to come to pass. But it's always a hope for the best.
It isn't founded on certainty. It isn't founded on promises that can be relied upon. That's why it's
different. And what we're talking about here is different. We are relying on promises that the God of
the Bible made from the beginning about His Son, and His Son, the Lord Jesus, then came into the
world and did what those Old Testament promises said He would do. He fulfilled them. He brought them to
pass. And He showed that God keeps His promises. And as we've told in Hebrews, Jesus Himself brought in
a new covenant and acted on better promises, promises of a future we can really trust. Faith in God is not wishful
thinking. It is not hope that is hope for the best. It is grounded on the promises of God.
Faith is an assurance, is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. Well,
next let's turn to the examples, point number two, the examples. We've had this method already in the
book of Hebrews. Back in chapter 6, the author called his hearers to be imitators of those who had gone
before. He even named Abraham as an example. But now he provides a long list of saints who remain
steadfast through persecution and trials, and he urges us all to imitate them. Just as back in chapter
3, he mentioned the wilderness generation as a negative example of being faithless, here this list is a
positive example of faithful people to be imitated. Look at verse 4. At the outset, we have Abel by faith,
Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as
righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died,
he still speaks. He's closely followed by Enoch, verse 5, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he
should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken,
he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever
would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Both these
men, Abel and Enoch, had faith. Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain, his brothers, was not. And Enoch
was taken into heaven because he pleased God through his faith. The basic point is that God cannot be
pleased apart from faith. If you will come to God, by definition, you must believe that he exists,
and that he is good, and that he wants to bless you. But if we come this way, if we do that, if we put
our faith in him, we come the same way that these men did. That gets to actually one of our big problems.
You see, the truth is, our temptation is to believe all kinds of other things,
things rather than believing that God exists and he rewards those who seek him.
Our temptation is to believe that the things that the culture holds before us with the promises of life
and success and blessing are much more worth our time and effort. And especially that is the case when
life is tough, when life is tough, precisely because we're trying to follow Christ. When through our
decisions to be faithful and obedient, we come unstuck, life gets difficult. The temptation then
to go elsewhere is incredibly powerful. And that is why the example of these ancients in chapter 11 is so
vital for us. So let me go through a number of them here. When we are tempted to give in to the mockery
of those around us, when we feel the pressure from the culture to conform to the culture and not to the
things of God, again, consider Noah. Verse 7, he built an ark miles from any body of water. His friends and his
neighbors laughed at him for doing this. He had been told that God was going to bring a judgment. You can
imagine the neighbors coming past. Morning, Noah. Still waiting for that judgment, are you?
The sun's shining. The ground's dry. There's no water anywhere near. And this guy's building a massive
boat. But Noah took God at his word and he kept preparing his vessel. When we're tempted to doubt the
promises of God, the promise that God has given that he will save a people for himself and that he will
build his church and that the gates of hell will not prevail. When we feel like our evangelism is
unimpressive and a bit pointless. We don't seem to get anywhere. We share the gospel. We hold out the
hope of Christ to people and they just seem completely disinterested. In that case, consider the example of
Abraham and Sarah. Verse 12, by faith Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the
age since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead,
were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the
seashore. Why do we share the gospel with our friends and neighbors? Why do we go on doing it?
Why in the IPC do we go on planting churches despite the opposition in our culture? Because we are convinced
that God has given his son the nations as his inheritance. We are convinced that he has promised
descendants as numerous as the sand on the beach, the grains of sand on the beach, and we trust him to
use the preaching of the gospel to build his church. When we struggle with the temptation to give up the
fight. That happens, doesn't it? Some of you here this evening might be right at this point. Do you know
what? Actually, it's too difficult. I'm going to give up the fight. Well, consider Moses. Verse 23,
by faith, 24, by faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking
to the reward. By faith he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured a
seeing him who is invisible. The fleeting pleasures of sin. Moses knew that sin was enjoyable in the
moment. The temptation to sin that is before us is attractive to us because we know it will be
enjoyable in the moment. But what did Moses do? He didn't give in to that. Instead, he saw with the eyes of
faith that choosing obedience to God, choosing to identify with Christ all those years before Jesus
came was worth more than anything he would enjoy through sin. It's the same when we pass up the instant
pleasures that sin offer us now because we trust by faith that obedience is better.
When our heart breaks because we have to give up that relationship that isn't pleasing to God.
Or in that moment we fight really hard to hold our tongue despite the desire to say what we want to say.
Or we fight our appetites despite where those appetites want to lead us.
When we do that, by faith we are acknowledging that the fleeting pleasures of sin aren't worth comparing
to our heavenly reward. Often in these cases we can feel a bit hard done by. Or we can resent God
because we don't have the life that we wanted. Well, consider Moses.
The fleeting pleasures of sin are not worth choosing
at the expense of our reward. What about when we get frustrated with the regular, ordinary,
culturally strange, some would say boring nature of church life?
Doing ministry God's way. The slow work of preaching the word, observing the sacraments,
being diligent in prayer. Well then consider Joshua verse 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down
after they had been encircled for seven days. God told him to gather the priests to march around Jericho
seven times, seven times blowing trumpets. Very odd behavior. Very counter-cultural.
But he did it because God told him. And he stuck at it because God told him.
Don't despise the distinctiveness of the church in our culture. When we gather, we read God's word,
we preach his word, we pray to him, we come to his table and we feed on Christ by faith
because he told us to do this. There's nothing boring about it. What we're doing is engaging with
the living God, the God of all the earth. And we're doing what he has called us to do out of
obedience because we know that that is what he will bless. It's really interesting. And part of
these conversations about faith and religion and everything else, there has been research
that reveals a rise in church attendance in the UK over the last couple of years. And those who were
surveyed said that they were drawn to the Bible and to ancient religious practice. Now for years in the
church, we have been told that we need to be as relevant as possible. Well, it seems actually that
the world wants the church to be the church. But even if they didn't, this is God's appointed means to
gather a people for himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation. So we go on doing these things.
Why? We do them by faith. What about when we're tempted to compromise because of fear?
We could consider the example of Moses' parents. Verse 23, they stood against the state.
They did what was right, even though the king's edict told them to do something else. But then also
consider Rahab. Verse 31, by faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were
disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. Joshua chapter 2, the king of Jericho
sent his men to find Joshua's spies. Rahab hid the spies and sent the pursuers away. She put herself in
danger for the sake of God's people. She trusted that honoring God was worth the risk. Faith puts its head
above the parapet in support of the gospel and in solidarity with God's people, whatever the risk.
And it does that. The life, the faithful person does that even when those people aren't as
sophisticated or as cool or as kind of savvy as we would like them to be. A quirky street preacher
gets arrested or a social media post gets a Christian canceled. We stand with them by faith
because faith triumphs over the fear of man. Surely one of the things that these examples teach us is
that Christian faith is therefore visible. Now there's a sense I know in which all faith is visible
because anyone's ultimate beliefs inform the way that they live. If you think being rich is the most
important thing in the world, the way that you live will show that. You'll be greedy, you'll be
materialistic, and so on. But if Christ is the most important thing to you, it will show as well.
And the last example I want to highlight here as we consider these examples challenges us when the
public nature of our faith brings opposition. So consider these unnamed men and women in verses 34 to 39.
Now some of this list, as he lists what's going on here, some of this were called the heroic things.
Shutting the mouths of lions, verse 34. Putting armies to flight. And we think, yes, Lord, use me to do
that. I don't mind being called to that life of faith. But look at the others, verse 36.
Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn
in two. They were killed with a sword. Now there were numerous others like this of whom the world is not worthy.
And they all bear witness, every one of them, to the goodness and the faithfulness of God.
So will we take it on faith that whatever we might endure by way of hardship or trial for naming the name of
Christ in our day is worth it? Because God has something better for us in the future.
He does. He does. In fact, there is a glimpse of that reward that bookends the chapter. And here's point
number three, the end, the goal. Verse two, by faith, the people of old received their commendation.
Verse four, Abel was commended as righteous. Verse five, Enoch was commended as having pleased God.
Verse 39, those who suffered, all of them were commended through their faith.
In the end, when you strip it all away, isn't that ultimately what we want?
The commendation of God on your life.
That we would hear, well done, my boy, my girl, when we stand before him and receive what these
ancients looked forward to. The current England rugby team has a culture now that when you get your
first cap, if it's possible, they invite your parents to come in to the changing room and give
you your first cap to present it to you. And what's happening in that moment on the one hand is the
England coach is saying, this is a much bigger thing than this individual. We want to honor their
family in this whole process. But there's something as well, isn't there? When that cap is handed over,
all the hard work, all the effort and all the sacrifice has been worth it. This is what you were
aiming for. And here you are. And they give over the cap. Well done, my boy.
There's a little hint there of what we're looking forward to when God on the last day commends us for
living by faith in his promises and persevering and enduring like the ancients did as we go forward to
that which is unseen. We can't see it. But by faith, it is a reality in the presence and we live like that now.
Look at these examples. Consider the way they lived their lives, the sacrifices that they made, the courage
that they showed, the way that they stood up because they believed by faith that it was all true and it was going
to be worth it. If we are going to persevere, if we are going to get that commendation, if we're going to keep
going with the kind of faith that these examples hold out, and we have an even better example to follow, of course,
from our perspective, we have seen the one on whom the ancients hope was founded.
The one who came and lived by perfect faith in his father and who because of that was rejected and
suffered the death we deserved and yet still faithfully endured. We have seen him. We're going
to remember all of that in a moment as we come to the table. We're going to taste it. We're going to smell it.
And by faith, we're going to participate. The one in whom the ancients hoped is the Jesus of our
history. And of course, we don't just have his example, but we have his finished work. We have
the presence of his spirit working within us. And so we have even greater promises on which to lean
our faith. Keep going. We look to an invisible future, but by faith, we believe it and we give
it substance in the way that we live now. And as we do that together, we encourage one another
to keep going. Keep going. Let's pray. Our Father.