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Historical Evidence for Faith
Hebrews 11:1-6 June 22, 1997
Scripture: Responsive Reading #662, Hymnal
Introduction:
Recap: Hebrews has been talking all along about faith in Jesus Christ.
How would you define faith?
I mean, you can’t see it, touch it, taste it, hear it, or smell it?
Or can you?
It would seem to be an intangible figment of anyone’s imagination to empower them in whatever direction they feel good about.
Our politically correct world puts a premium on anyone’s right to believe whatever they want to believe - whatever makes them feel good - that all religions (or patterns for faith) lead to the same place.
And they do have that right to believe whatever they want.
But is all faith equal?
We have been given absolute proof all along in Hebrews about the superiority of Jesus Christ as our Great High Priest by his person and his work and by the Word of God.
We have been told about God’s faithfulness to us through his promises.
We have been told about the privilege of faith that we can draw near to God in full assurance by faith in Christ, having a pure heart, a pure conscience, and a pure body.
We have been told that it is faith in Christ that gives us forgiveness of sins and victory over sins.
We have been invited to remember our testimony of what God has successfully brought us through in our spiritual journey of faith.
We have been invited to remember our coming reward for faith.
Faith in Christ Jesus: can you take it or leave it?
Sure you can.
But to do so you will have to ignore the evidence and make a conscious decision to reject Christ.
It is faith in Christ alone that saves us for eternal life by adequately dealing with man’s sin problem.
The key to greatness with God is faith in God.
Here in Chapter 11 we are overwhelmed with evidence for faith in God and his plan for mankind.
The culmination of that plan is faith in God’s Son Jesus.
Let us look at the historical evidence for faith.
This is the great faith chapter of the Bible, God’s great hall of fame.
It is a running commentary on 10:23 regarding the faith of God and the faith of men in response to God.
*I.
The Description of Faith: its characteristics.
(vv.
1-6)*
* *
* A.
The meaning of faith.
(v.
1)*
{Faith that saves is visionary.}
1.
It is sure.
2.
It is certain.
This is the only time the Bible ever defines faith.
Time and again the Bible discusses faith and the great importance of faith.
It gives us many examples and tells us the great things that happen to those who do believe God.
It also tells us in very clear terms of what happens to those who do not believe God.
So it is very important that we clearly see just what faith means.
Now faith being sure means that faith has substance.
It is the foundation, assurance, title-deed, and guarantee of things hoped for.
Faith being certain means conviction based upon evidence.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Faith is being described as an act of the mind and heart.
Our mind and heart believe something and we have assurance and conviction that it is true.
But it is also more than this.
In considering this passage, Vincent sees it as describing faith as a “moral intelligence directed at an object.”
In this sense it is more than an act, it is an actual possession of reality.
This is what the definition of ‘title-deed’ refers to; that whoever holds the title-deed to property actually possesses the property.
Certainly from God’s perspective, we already possess his promises; he has already seated us in the heavenlies; and we already possess eternal life (through faith in Jesus).
It is not that we are going to possess it; we already possess it.
Holding the title-deed to property and possessing something is more than assurance and conviction; it possessing reality, something substantial and real; the land, the promises of God.
So we possess by faith the substance of the promises of God, the evidence of things not seen.
If I possess them, the substance and evidence are there; they are my assurance and conviction.
The substance and evidence are the fact that I possess eternal life; the basis of my assurance and conviction, of never tasting and experiencing eternal death.
So faith is both an act and a possession of the thing believed.
We may not be able to see it, but it is real and existing, and we can possess it by believing and having faith in it.
We who believe can truly see what others cannot see.
We see what is hopeful.
But it is not hopeful in the sense of wishful thinking, it is hopeful in the knowledge and experience of truth and spiritual reality.
There is spiritual and historical evidence all around us.
Examples of being sure and certain in faith:
* B.
The reward of faith.
(v.
2)*
{Faith that saves is recognized.}
The reward for faith is having God’s approval.
Ch.
11 goes into a whole list of those who lived by faith and gained God’s approval.
We are not alone in this faith journey.
Verse 39 of ch. 10 says we are of those who believe and are saved.
If we believe, we are together with them.
We are commended along with them.
When we turn away from the world - its possessions and pleasures - and follow God, we are commended.
We believe that God has much more to offer us than what we can see here.
Common sense tells us that there has to be more to life than this.
And there is.
There is an eternal land and an eternal life and there are others who have staked their earthly lives on it and won it by faith.
They won it because their faith in God pleased God; he accepted them and honored them.
We are about to hear of many examples of those who believed from past generations to challenge us in our faith.
Will our faith challenge those of future generations?
God has fulfilled their faith and he will fulfill yours.
When God approves of us he accepts us into his eternal presence.
This means he looks after us and cares for us, giving us victory over all the enemies of this world, including death, for all eternity.
God fulfills all his promises to us which become a living reality in our daily and eternal experience.
* C.
The basic understanding of faith.
(v.3)*
{Faith that saves is conclusive.}
The basic understanding of faith is creation; that God made the world.
This, in fact, is something we truly can physically see.
Yet it is amazing how many people refuse the evidence.
If we refuse the overwhelming evidence of God’s eternal power and divine nature in creation (Rom.
1:20), how can we believe anything else about him?
We have the testimony of God himself as well as that of creation that he made it, and no other made it, it did not make itself, it is too intelligent.
On the one hand, in verse 1, we understand that we can have faith in what is invisible to the eye.
On the other hand, in verse 3, we understand that we can see visible evidence of what is invisible.
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