Hebrews - By Faith

Hebrews 11 is often called the Westminster Abbey of faith. I have visited Westminster Abbey in London on several occasions, and I've concluded that Hebrews 11 and Westminster Abbey have very little in common. I think I know why people use that comparison. In the Westminster Abbey, you have the great heroes—literary, military, and so forth—of the British Empire. And in Hebrews 11, we have the great heroes of faith.

But there are some differences. The people in Westminster Abbey were famous because of their genius. The people listed in Hebrews 11 were famous because of the God that they trusted. They were ordinary, everyday, garden-variety kind of people who did amazing things simply because they trusted God. I don't want you to read Hebrews 11 and get the idea that these people were different from you—they perhaps had a higher IQ or a greater opportunity for service than you do. No. The distinguishing mark of the people in Hebrews 11 is their faith in God.

Something else is true. The people in Westminster Abbey were accepted and lauded and honored by the nation. The people in Hebrews 11 were rejected, criticized, even killed. The world was not worthy of these people whose names are given in Hebrews 11 and those who are not named. And yet we have them before us in the Word of God—rejected, despised, laughed at, and yet the great heroes of the faith.

The thing that distinguishes the people in Hebrews 11 is what God did in and through them in response to their faith in the Lord—the same kind of faith that you and I can exercise today. We're going to be spending the next four weeks in Hebrews 11. We're going to find out what it really means to serve God and walk with God by faith.

Let's look now at the teaching in Hebrews 11. The outline is really quite simple. Hebrews 11:1-3, we have a description of faith—not a definition of faith, but a description of faith, how faith works. Then in Hebrews 11:4-40, we have a demonstration of faith—what faith did in the lives of the people.

And I want you to notice that there are two kinds of people given in Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11:4-35, these are people who were delivered by faith—they were delivered from their difficulties. But when you get to Hebrews 11:36, it says, "and others," and that means others of a different kind. "And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings," they were stoned and so forth.

You see, there are some who are delivered from difficulty by faith, and there are others who are delivered in difficulty by faith. Please get this: faith operated just as much in the lives of those who were stoned and rejected and tortured and killed as in the lives of those who were delivered. I hear people say, "Well, if you have faith, God will deliver you." He may, and then again, He may not. He may honor your faith by giving you a martyr's crown.

And so you'll notice in Hebrews 11, we have two kinds of believers—those who believed and were delivered from their difficulties, those who believed and were delivered in their difficulties. Now the key word in Hebrews 11 is the word witness. Hebrews 11:2, "For by it," by faith, "the elders received witness."

And so as we study Hebrews 11, we're going to find that these people witness to us that faith works in all kinds of situations. Faith works at the altar, faith works when you are martyred, faith works when you face difficulties that cannot be surmounted. Faith works no matter what the problems may be—faith works. God will either bring you through, bring you out, or He will put in you the grace that you need to keep on going in spite of difficulties.

Which leads me to say this: do you believe? Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? You cannot walk into Hebrews 11 unless you've been born again through faith in Jesus Christ. Do you believe that God can be trusted? Do you believe His Word? "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," Romans 10:17. Are you able to study this chapter with us because you really have surrendered to God by faith?

I hope that you have. Because as we walk through Hebrews 11, our hearts are going to be encouraged, our hearts are going to be enlightened and excited at what God can do when we trust Him and we walk by faith.

What is faith? How does faith work? How can our faith grow? Can anyone live by faith? These are the questions we're going to answer from Hebrews 11, focusing on Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:2, Hebrews 11:3, and Hebrews 11:6.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders received witness. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Our modern world laughs at Christian faith. Some years ago, Professor Huxley wrote, "Theology claims that the just shall live by faith. Science says that the just shall live by verification." And yet if you push a scientist far enough, he'll finally have to say, "Well, I believe," because even science has to operate on the basis of faith in something, if only faith in scientific law.

William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, wrote something that was a lot more sensible. He said, "Faith is one of the forces by which men live, and the total absence of it means collapse." A wise man to write like that. Everyone lives by faith in something. People say, "Oh, I wish I had faith."

Everyone has faith—faith in their bank account, faith in their muscles, faith in their job, faith in the economy. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is not that one has faith and one doesn't. The difference is that the Christian has his faith in God. Faith is only as good as the object.

Without faith, it's impossible to please God or to accomplish all that God has for us. God has some marvelous plans for our lives. The Bible tells us that our eyes have never seen, our ears have never heard, our minds cannot begin to comprehend all that God has prepared for us.

You do not have to stay the way you are. You do not have to be in defeat and discouragement. God can open the way before you as He opened the way for the nation of Israel when they crossed the sea. God can knock down the walls around you as He did for Joshua when they entered into the Promised Land. Our God is a God of mighty wonders, and He performs those wonders for those who believe.

We want to answer now four vital questions about faith. First of all, what is Bible faith? Well, let's begin with what it is not. It is not blind optimism. There are those who say, "Well, all things are going to work out now, and so I'm just going to forget about it"—sort of a blind optimism. That's not Bible faith.

Or a "hope-so" attitude. Many people sort of work up with self-hypnosis, as it were, a kind of hope-so feeling, and they say, "Well, I have a feeling that mother's going to get better. Well, I have a feeling that a job is going to open up." That's not Bible faith.

Some folks have the idea that Bible faith is just simply a mental assent to some principle or doctrine. "Oh, yes, I believe God is able. Oh, yes, I believe that God can do anything. Sure, I believe that God answers prayer." But faith is much more than just mental assent to what the Bible teaches.

Some people have faith in faith. They're always trying to build up their feeling of faith down inside, and they have faith in faith. And they feel that if they get enough faith and build up enough energy, something's going to happen. Some of the shallow modern songs that are being sung these days emphasize faith in faith. Makes no difference what you believe in, just as long as you have faith, something is going to happen. That is not Bible faith.

Some folks have the idea that Bible faith means believing in spite of evidence. God puts before us a blank sheet of paper and says, "I'm not going to give you any evidence of anything, just believe Me." Well, sometimes God does lead us out into the unknown, but we don't operate on the basis of the unknown.

Let me give you a definition of Bible faith. Faith means thinking and acting according to God's Word in spite of circumstances or consequences. I'm going to repeat that. Bible faith means thinking and acting according to God's Word in spite of circumstances or consequences.

Now think of the people in Hebrews 11 and apply that definition. Abraham went out in spite of circumstances, not knowing the consequences, and God honored his faith. The three Hebrew children said, "God is able to deliver us from this furnace, but even if He doesn't, we're not going to bow down to your image." They believed God and they obeyed God in spite of circumstances and consequences.

The object of Bible faith is God—not ourselves, not some doctrine, God. We believe God because the Word of God reveals a God in whom we can believe. He can be trusted. There has not failed one word of all His good promise. You see, Bible faith is more than a feeling and it's more than a mental assent. Bible faith results in action. We prove that we believe God by doing something.

The object of our faith is God. The sphere of our faith is the invisible. Notice now: faith is the substance, the assurance, the solid footing of things hoped for. Now it doesn't mean we hope for it and then our faith develops. No, no. We're looking to the future. Faith brings the future into the present—the evidence of things not seen. Faith brings the invisible into the visible.

Those who walk by faith live in the future tense because their hopes are realized by faith. They can see the invisible, they can do the impossible. Now this is Bible faith. Faith doesn't depend upon circumstances and faith doesn't depend upon consequences. The word substance really means to stand under. Faith gives us a solid footing as we walk with God. We're walking into the future and our hopes are realized as we trust God. God keeps His promises.

Faith is the conviction within our hearts of things not seen. They had never seen a flood or a rainstorm, but it came. Abraham had never seen that land, but he arrived there. Joshua had never seen walls come down, but they came down. Faith is confidence that God is going to keep His promise and acting upon that confidence, no matter what the circumstances might be, no matter what the consequences might be.

Now question number two: how does Bible faith work? Well, there are four steps in Bible faith. Here they are: Relationship, Revelation, Response, Reward. All of these are found in Hebrews 11.

Relationship—look at Hebrews 11:6. "Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God," that means he who draws near to God, approaches to God, "must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Faith begins with relationship. A stranger walks up to me on the street and says, "Would you loan me ten dollars?" I say, "No." He said, "Don't you trust me?" I say, "Trust you? I don't even know you."

Faith depends upon a relationship. We believe that God is, and then we believe in God. We trust Him. We're saved through faith in Jesus Christ. We become His child. It is characteristic of children to trust their parents—until their parents prove that they are not trustworthy. A child by nature will trust mother and dad until at some point mother and dad prove they can't be trusted, then the child gets suspicious and hurt.

When you're born again into the family of God, you have a relationship with a Father—not just God, a Father. We believe that God is and that He is God and He is our Father. Bible faith begins with a relationship. Do you have that relationship to God? Can you look up to heaven and say "Our Father"? He is my Father in heaven.

Now relationship leads to revelation. God speaks to us. Each of the persons listed in Hebrews 11 had some kind of revelation from God. God told Abel what kind of sacrifice to bring. God told Enoch how to walk with Him. God told Noah how to build an ark. God told Abraham how to walk by faith. God told Moses how to deliver the people from Egypt.

There was a revelation from God. That's the major theme of Hebrews: God has spoken. Hebrews 1:1, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past... has in these last days spoken to us in his son." Hebrews 1:1 begins this marvelous book with: God has spoken.

Now because God has spoken, we have to respond. "See that you refuse not him that speaketh," says the Word of God to us. So the Word of God comes to these people, and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God—Romans 10:17. Relationship—we belong to God. Revelation—God speaks to us, God shares some promise with us.

Response—now we have to respond totally. The mind understands what God says. The heart responds to it. We read that Noah, when he heard God's Word, was moved by fear. Nothing wrong with good emotions that are stirred by the Word of God. So the mind understands what God says, the heart is stirred by it, and the will obeys.

Remember now, it is not Bible faith unless there is obedience. By faith Abraham obeyed. By faith Noah refused. There's always action, action. Many people have the idea they have faith because they just sit and meditate, but they never obey that on which they meditate.

First there is relationship—we belong to God. Then revelation—God reveals some truth, some promise to us. Then response—the mind understands, the heart is stirred, the will obeys no matter what the consequence might be, no matter what the circumstances might be.

That's why the world laughs at us, because when we obey God by faith, they think we're crazy. How crazy it was for Abraham to give up all that he had in Ur of the Chaldees and go out to a land he'd never seen and none of his neighbors had ever seen. How foolish it would be to build a boat on dry land, and yet Noah did it. How foolish it would be to march around a city very solemnly and then blow trumpets and shout, and yet God responded and God kept His promise.

Relationship, revelation, response. Step four: Reward. "He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." Now God Himself is the reward—no question about that. But there are other rewards that come as we walk by faith.

Our character is built. We have a witness from God that we're walking with Him. We see things happen in our lives, in the lives of other people. If you want things to happen in your church, start living by faith. How does Bible faith work? Relationship, revelation, response, reward.

Question number three: how can our faith grow? I notice in the Bible that there is no faith, faith, little faith, and great faith. Well, faith begins with salvation—the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8-9. But it grows with cultivation.

The better you know God, the more you'll trust Him and the more He can entrust to you. That's why Hebrews 11:6 says we want to please Him. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. You want to grow in your faith? Determine right now you're going to please God. Diligently seek Him. He's talking here about worship, about getting into the Word of God. He's talking about following Him no matter what the price may be.

In Hebrews 11:3, we read: "Through faith we understand." Now if you want understanding, it's by faith. What do we understand? "The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Psalm 33 talks about this. We read Psalm 33:6, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Psalm 33:9, "For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast."

The same Word of God that made the worlds and that runs the world can run your life and accomplish great things if you'll just trust Him. How can our faith grow? By cultivating our relationship with God, seeking to please Him, worshipping Him, seeking Him, getting into His Word. The more we have of the Word of God, the more we're going to grow in our faith in God.

Question number four: who can enjoy this kind of faith? Only special people? No. No. When I read Hebrews 11, I discover, first of all, that faith cleanses all kind of sin. You can go through Hebrews 11 and not find one single sin mentioned of one single person.

We don't read a word about Noah's drunkenness or Abraham's deceitfulness. We don't read a word about Jacob's cheating. We don't read one thing about Moses losing his temper. We don't read a thing here about any of the sins of these people. When you're walking by faith, when you've trusted Jesus Christ, all of your sin has been cleansed. Your past is no handicap to a walk of faith.

As I read Hebrews 11, I discover that faith not only cleanses all kind of sin, but it changes all kind of people—young people, old people, kings, commoners, Jews, Gentiles. Your birth is no handicap. Your past is no handicap. I read that faith conquers all kind of problems. No circumstance too great for God. He is able to do anything. And so you can enjoy this kind of faith if you'll cultivate your relationship with God. Because when you cultivate your relationship with God, then you start living and walking and working by faith.