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Finding the Faith of Our Heroes - Part 1
Hebrews 11:1-4
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - July 12, 2015
*One of the hymns I grew up singing was:
"Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whenever we hear that glorious Word!
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to Thee till death."
(1)
*That's the kind of faith God wants us to have, and Hebrews 11 can help us, because this great chapter is the faith hall of fame.
Hebrews 11 can help us find the faith of our biblical heroes.
But why do we need faith?
-- The opening verses of this chapter show us why.
1. First: We need faith because it gives us a rock-solid foundation for life.
*Faith in God is the only sure foundation for our future.
As vs. 1 says: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for. .
."
The original word for "substance" has the idea of something strong under us, something strong that we can stand on: A firm foundation.
And faith in Jesus Christ is the only firm foundation for our godly hopes and dreams.
*"Faith is the substance of things hoped for."
What are you hoping for today?
I hope you haven't given up on your hopes and dreams, because life would be terrible without hope.
There's probably only one thing worse, and that is a life based on false hope.
But when we have faith in Jesus Christ, we have a rock-solid foundation for all of our hopes.
We have something solid to build our hopes on.
*You see, real, biblical faith is not just positive thinking or having a positive attitude.
Faith is not "The Little Engine that Could" trying to get up that hill: "I think I can.
I think I can!
I think I can!"
*Biblical "faith IS the substance of things hoped for."
This means that right now, our faith in Jesus Christ is like a rock-solid foundation under our hopes and dreams.
Our faith is something that we can rest on today, knowing that God will bring our godly hopes to pass.
*The original word God used here for "substance" was also the word used in business documents for "title deed."
A "substance" then was a "title deed" or a legal guarantee of something you already owned.
(2)
*And we already own our godly hopes, because Jesus paid the price for them when He died on the cross for us.
So our faith in Jesus Christ is based on the perfect character of God, and the reality of what He already did for us on the cross of Jesus Christ.
Our faith makes it possible for us to stand with Paul in Romans 8:32, and say: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
*That's faith: It's the "substance of things hoped for."
And we need faith because it gives us a rock-solid foundation for life.
2. We also need faith, because it gives us a revelation of the unseen world.
*Faith gives us a revelation of the unseen world.
It shouldn't surprise us that there is an unseen world all around us, because our physical vision is so limited.
Of course we can't see the future.
We can't see the past.
And our eyes can only see a small portion of the total spectrum that includes light.
*There are many unseen things around us.
But vs. 1 tells us that faith is "the evidence (or proof) of things not seen."
Faith gives us a revelation of the unseen world.
Matthew Henry explained it this way: "Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be detected by the eye of the body."
(3)
*James Merritt tells us that: "Faith sees what the physical eyes cannot see. . .
Faith sees the invisible, touches the intangible, hears the inaudible, and attempts the impossible.
Our vision may be 20/20, but the eyes of faith can see farther, deeper, clearer, and better than our physical eyes will ever see." (4)
*"Faith is the evidence of things not seen."
Faith opens us up to a whole new dimension in life.
Faith opens us up to the most important things in life, because the most important things cannot be seen with our eyes.
This is true in the physical world.
We can't see air, but we can't live without it.
I've never seen my heart, my kidneys or my liver, and I don't want to see them!
But I sure am glad they are in here, doing their important work behind the scenes.
*The most important things in life cannot be seen with our eyes.
This is also true of the love, joy and peace in our hearts.
And this is especially true when it comes to the things of God: The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Heaven, angels.
We cannot see these things right now with our physical eyes.
But faith opens our spiritual eyes and we can see.
"Faith is the evidence of things not seen."
And Romans 10:17 tells us that this evidence comes by hearing the Word of God.
*One of the best-known preachers of the 20th century was Peter Marshall.
Years ago, they made a movie about his life, and something very special happened while they were filming that movie.
It was a scene where the actor playing Peter Marshall was preaching a sermon on faith.
*When the scene was over the cameras kept rolling.
Many actors in the pretend church got up to congratulate the actor for a great performance.
One of those cast members was a lady named Marjorie Rambeau.
As Marjorie walked down the aisle, you could see that she was very emotional.
The reason why is because Marjorie was walking, even though she had not been able to walk.
*Marjorie had been injured in a car wreck.
And for over a year she had not been able to take a single step.
But as she listened to those words of faith, God worked a miracle in her body.
Marjorie got up and walked.
And she kept on walking.
(5)
*Now a doubter would say that Marjorie just got caught up in the emotion of the moment.
But faith opens our spiritual eyes to see the Hand of God at work, even through an actor preaching God's Word.
*Faith gives us a revelation of the unseen world.
This is also important when it comes to creation.
Verse 3 says: "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."
In other words: This incredible universe and everything in it was made by the invisible God.
Another great hymn from my childhood was:
"This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought."
(6)
*"Our Daily Bread" had a thought provoking devotion that started by saying: "There is no God.
All the wonders around you are accidental.
No Almighty Hand made a thousand billion stars.
They made themselves.
The surface of our land just happened to have topsoil.
Without it we would have no vegetables to eat, and no grass for the animals whose meat is our food.
*The inexhaustible envelope of air, only 50 miles deep, and exactly the right density to support human life, is just another law of physics.
Water expands when it freezes, while other substances contract.
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