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The Twin Rails Of Faith
INTRODUCTION
Today we are launching into Hebrews 11, sometimes called “the hall of faith.”
Hebrews 11 refers to a number of men and women in the Bible who believed God: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses’ parents, Moses, the people of Israel, Rahab.
Several are mentioned in passing: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets.
We see a summary of both their victories and their miseries.
In a sense, Hebrews 11 is a series of real-world case studies on faith.
There is some direct teaching on faith, especially in the early verses, as we will see this morning.
But for the most part, Hebrews 11 teaches by way of example.
There are many differences among these people.
None of them was perfect, in any sense.
By the way, while many more could have been mentioned, there is one who is NOT mentioned who is conspicuous because of His absence, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Charismatic teachers today are fond of saying that Jesus emptied Himself of His deity, and lived on earth as nothing more than a man, doing all of His works and miracles by faith.
They tell their followers that if they have the faith that Jesus had, they can do everything Jesus did.
Now, if Jesus did His works by faith in God, the writer of Hebrews threw away a golden opportunity to illustrate the best possible example of human faith.
But, Jesus didn’t do His works by faith in God, but through His own power and authority as God.
From the moment of His incarnation Jesus has been and ever shall be the God-Man, fully God, and fully man.
Let’s read Hebrews 11:1-6, and dive in to our study.
A FOUNDATION OF FAITH
Faith is something that is often hard to describe.
People will say that they have faith, but don’t really understand what it means.
Even non-religious people might talk about having faith in the human race, or faith that things will work out somehow.
They use the word “faith,” but they can’t define it.
The way many talk about faith, it’s just the feeling that things will be ok.
Now, it’s sad when unbelievers are that confused, but it's really inevitable.
Their beliefs are self-defined, and so they lack consistency and reason.
But tragically, Christians often have the same confusion about faith.
(That’s one reason that the so-called “faith movement” – which is actually very legalistic – has been able to deceive so many.)
Praise God, Hebrews 11 begins with a brief teaching on the nature of faith: it’s existence, it’s effect, it’s enlightenment, and it’s exclusivity.
FAITH’S EXISTENCE
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
(Hebrews 11:1)
Faith exists.
It is real.
It is not a subjective interpretation of events.
It is assurance, conviction, reality, confidence, substance, certainty.
Let’s understand what faith is not.
Faith is not a feeling or an emotion.
Faith is not making up things for God to do, as when many people say, “I’m believing God for ____________,” and then describe something that is never promised in Scripture.
Faith trusts what the Scripture reveals about God.
He cannot lie (Numbers 23:19).
Nothing can prevent Him from doing what He pleases (Psalm 115:3).
God doesn’t just tell the truth, He is truth itself (John 14:6).
The purposes of God have been in motion since creation, and nothing will prevent Him from having His way (Isaiah 46:9-10).
You can believe what God says, and in fact, you are commanded to believe what He says.
FAITH’S EFFECT
2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
(Hebrews 11:2)
“Approval” here means the only approval that matters, which is God’s approval.
It is God’s commendation of the one who trusts Him, His testimony that those who trust Him are favored by Him.
All of Hebrews 11 is a review of the “men of old,” but this especially refers to Abel and Enoch.
These two men reveal that faith moves along two rails, like a train.
Before we look at them, however, we need to understand that faith enlightens us to the character and work of God; this was what they themselves believed.
FAITH ENLIGHTENS
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
(Hebrews 11:3)
This is the first principle of faith: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
He made everything from nothing.
This isn’t mythology, but history, revealed to us by God, who was there at the time.
We can read the words, and of course many do, but reading them as history, as real events that God did at the outset of history, as truths that show us who we are as beings created in God's image, requires faith.
When someone dismisses Genesis 1-2 as mythology or a fairy tale, they are are destroying the foundation and cohesion of the Bible, using explosives planted by the devil himself.
If the Bible isn’t true when it says that God created the world in six 24-hour days, why would it be true when it says that God took on human flesh in Jesus Christ, died for sinners, and was resurrected in glory and majesty?
Faith understands that God is the Creator, the direct cause of all things.
This was the faith held by Abel and Enoch.
And wonderfully enough, their stories show that faith moves along two rails, like a train: suffering and blessing.
Abel - The Rail of Suffering
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
(Hebrews 11:4)
Abel’s story shows the rail of suffering.
It’s just a few verses, Genesis 4:1-11.
1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel.
And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.
4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.
And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.
So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?
And why has your countenance fallen?
7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?
And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
8 Cain told Abel his brother.
And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
And he said, “I do not know.
Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 He said, “What have you done?
The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.
11 “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
(Genesis 4:1–11)
Why was Abel accepted and Cain rejected?
Hebrews 11:4 tells us it was because Abel came in faith, and offered his sacrifice in faith.
God commended Abel, affirming him, and testifying for all of history that Abel had His favor.
Here’s the rail of suffering.
Faithful Abel was murdered by his own brother, one of the worst sorts of betrayal there is.
It is abundantly clear that faithful, trusting, righteous people can and do suffer at the hands of unfaithful rebels.
Abel didn’t die because he lacked faith, but because he had faith.
Abel proves to be a model of faith because he took God seriously, trusted Him, and obeyed Him.
His faith and obedience was unaffected by his brother’s rebellion.
Enoch – The Rail of Blessing
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. (Hebrews 11:5)
Enoch’s story shows the rail of blessing on the train track of faith.
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